Once again I'm again late with the blog post.
Bob had continued his R-series earlier in the month.
His P-series, also.
I, however, had been too lazy to do either when it would have been easy.
So, my last chance to rescue my P-series, we rode Lynn's "Raleigh-Berea-Raleigh" 107k pop.
We met for an 0600 start.
Dark for an hour, it was.
But being between Christmas and New Year's,
No school traffic,
And not much work traffic (we assumed many people had the week, or the day, off).
Even less traffic after we turned off New Light Rd onto Old Weaver Trail.
And no traffic at all on Whitt and Dove roads up to and into Creedmoor.
I think it was on one of the inclines on Dove Rd that I remarked to Bob,
That my legs were feeling the ride from two days before, and
That if a mild 100k and the 12-miles so far could make me this tired,
There was no way I should even attempt Tony's Jan-07 two hundred km brevet,
What with all the serious climbs on that route.
We paused at the corner of Dove Road and NC-50 before proceeding through Creedmoor.
Waiting for a little traffic to pass and probably also to turn off lights not already switched off.
Slow progress up Brogden Rd from Creedmoor to Stem, into the increasing NW breeze.
We paused again at Tally Ho Rd in the middle of Stem.
I don't recall why, maybe just because I needed a breather.
Onward onto Culbreth Rd, still into the NW breeze and chilly temps.
My toes, esp. my left toes were cold enough, thank-you-very-much.
I forget what Bob indicated about his toes and fingers.
Across the Tar River and up to the control in Berea.
2h35 in motion, approx 2h45 if I recall correctly.
[That latter being what the control cards indicate.]
We took our time eating some breakfast biscuits purchased at the control.
I was playing for a little time for my toes to warm up a bit.
Back on the bikes at 0905 or 0910, probably the latter.
The breeze now sorta' at our backs.
But more a cross-tailwind, actually.
Not as much help homeward bound as I had expected.
But, I must back up for a moment:
The Tar River is about a mile-and-a-quarter from the control,
Well before we got to the river, there were white flakes floating down from the sky above;
Each of us felt a few of the flakes land upon our respective faces and immediately melt.
We commented that we hoped no local drivers panicked in the snow.
The cross-tailwind did seem to be helping my pace;
At the very least, riding away from the wind, and sometimes into the sunshine,
My toes were warming, and by the end of the ride, the left toes seemed fine,
Whereas the right toes were still a bit chilly (they were exposed to that cross-tailwind).
We paused to take a good drink when we reached New Light Rd home-bound.
Other than that, the only pauses home-bound were due to traffic lights or stop signs.
We got to the finish at 1156, i.e., 5h56 after the start.
Total time in-motion was 5h09.
That was quite a surprise -- surely we had ridden better than a 1-minute in-motion negative split.
But, facts don't lie.
Bob's ride put him beyond 12-thousand RUSA kms for the year.
He would put that figure further behind him next day on his "Ala-Orange" populaire.
We rescued my P-series, making P-24, on the last ride on Lynn's populaire.
Or at least the last ride under Lynn's auspices as she is taking leave of RUSA, at least for awhile.
[Hmmn, my sixth ride on RBR, but this was the first I've blogged.]
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