I came.
I rode.
I finished.
On time.
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It only took three attempts.
In June, the high was 96F, I had an explosive front flat, and a T-storm caused about an hour's delay.
In July, the high in Leasburg was 101F. Need I say more. 10 minutes late to finish. 10 minutes.
Today, morning low probably below 50F, afternoon high about 80F, maybe.
I may be in better condition than three and four months ago, but
I think the difference was almost entirely due to the lower temperature.
It was a GLORIOUS day for a bicycle ride.
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Some highlights of the day:
The Simple Green / Trek/Volvo / All-Star training ride passed me on Stagville Rd on my way to Bahama.
Straight lines, evenly pace bikes, in a double pace-line. It was beautiful to see.
I detoured off the course onto Wiley Mangum Rd for about 200 yards to get the view from there.
Beautiful. Sorry, no photo.
The leaves are starting to turn. Mostly green with some mottled color.
But on some trees, the leaves are already brown.
And a couple wafted gently down in front of me.
On a clear day, you can see forever.
Many of the homesteads and farmsteads along the course looked very appealing,
As they always seem to do.
But I have to admit, some of them did look better in HOT-HOT-HOT summer,
Because they had more flowers, etc., in the Summer, I think.
One elderly couple just outside Timberlake were arranging their pumpkin / Halloween display.
I shouted to the woman "don't get it too perfect".
She laughed.
The store at Mt. Tirzah is getting new management effective Oct-15 or 16.
Some of the locals were making BBQ chicken dinners when I arrived at just after 10 in the morning.
I took extra time atop Mt. Tirzah in the afternoon to eat one of the dinners: chicken, potatoes, green beans.
They gave me an extra leg-thigh quarter.
They intend to cook out about once a month during the Winter months.
Vegetarians and Vegans will not be interested in their meals.
The time-stamp from the cash register at Mt. Tirzah was about 23 minutes FAST.
Luckily, I was well ahead of the cut-off time.
The time stamp from the cash register in Leasburg was about 1 hour, 18 minutes slow.
It was that way in June and July.
And it was still that way, today.
So much for cash register receipts.
I refilled my water bottles at the Bahama Fire Station in the afternoon.
Shared a couple laughs with the chief(?) and a couple others.
I don't care for that Control on Red Mill.
Rough crowd.
The place, outdoors as well as in, REEKS of tobacco.
17-miles into the ride, just when I'm getting into the swing of things,
Just after the tough Ray - Boxelder - Victory Ch - Kemp start is about wrung out of the legs,
A tobacco REEKING Control.
My fastest speed today was on one of the downhills on Hester Store Rd, there was a following breeze/wind.
38+ mph.
My second fastest speed was outbound on the downhill on Boxelder Rd.
36+ mph.
Boxelder is a very short sub-division road. But steep.
You can imagine how steep because I hit that 36 mph coasting.
And I was not in an aggressive aero position.
The afternoon climb up Boxelder was not the slowest moving speed of the day,
I forget where that was (maybe on Hester Store Rd - about 4.7 mph - into the breeze/wind),
But that short climb on Boxelder was likely the second slowest speed of the day,
And my legs ACHED a lot more on that climb than anywhere else.
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Oct-09:
Leesville-Leasburg-Leesville 204 km Permanent; 128.6 m.; 8 hrs, 35 min in-motion time; 15.0 mph; rando time: 10 hours, 54 min elapsed clock time.
Q-1 tot: 16 rides; __938.2 m.; _60 hrs, 39 min; 15.5 mph.
Q-2 tot: 31 rides; 2,263.3 m.; 151 hrs, 29 min; 14.9 mph.
Q-3 tot: 37 rides; 2,293.2 m.; 156 hrs, 31 min; 14.7 mph.
Oct tot: _4 rides; __315.9 m.; _20 hrs, 34 min; 15.3 mph.
YTD tot: 88 rides; 5,810.6 m.; 389 hrs, 15 min; 14.9 mph.
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