April-14-2022: Possum Tracking

Mixing up the order of things: 

 

From my Excel log: 

• -> BayLeafChRd-PossumTrack-Lindley-RavenRidge-Koupela -> 
• i.e., a typical "one-loop" PossumTracking training ride 
• ~ 82 degrees, SW wind, pollen 
• 18.1-miles;  1:24 in-motion;  12.9-mph avg in-motion 
• and given the 60+ ft of climbing per mile, that avg pace in-motion is:
• just fine -- thank-you very much 

 

And the real reason for making this plain-Jane post is: 

I have this photo taken of the Mtns-to-the-Sea sign.  Which sign, I have previously published quite a few photos, but as the sign at one of the places where the trail crosses the road is something I like to stop and take a photo, I took a photo, and I think this photo came out pretty well (sharp, bright image -- and the only drawback being my shadow).  Timestamp  1627 (i.e., 4:27 pm). 

 

Apr-03: Possum Track + Deer Trail

I waited until the afternoon to ride.  Actually didn't get around to riding until later than I intended, but hey, at least it was 57 degrees, or supposedly so, when I rode. 

Turned out 57 degrees felt chillier than I expected.  I was wearing a long-sleeved jersey the origin of which I don’t know.  Anyway, wherever the black jersey with the full length zip came from, it seemed like it would be plenty warm, so I dispensed with any other arm coverings.  I did wear a short-sleeved jersey from a circa 2008 MS-150 ride over the black long-sleeved jersey.  To get to the point, my arms and shoulders were chilly from the get-go, and never felt as if they were warming up.  

IF I had been doing a 100k perm-pop, I probably would have finished the 100k.  IF I were doing a 200, again I probably would have completed that ride.  But I was only intending to do a 30 mile ride with a lot of repeat climbing near the south side of Falls Lake.  After about 7 or 8 miles, I decided that I would short the ride, but would "work" the shortened ride harder than if I were doing a 200k, or a 100k, or even a 30-miler. 

Btw, instead of staying only in the 39/14 gearing, while on a false-flat downslope at about the 5.5-mile mark. I decided I would use multiple gears on the ride.  Ha!  I ended up only using two gears during the ride:  (1) the 39/14 for the first and last mile of the ride and for all the inclines, and (2) 50/14 for downslopes and the few flat-tish portions of the route. 

Net result?  19.0-miles in 1:19 in-motion.  That works out to 14.3-mph average, which is the fastest ride I have done so far this year.  

Assuming 5m00sec for the first mile and last mile (almost all of which were on sidewalks), the 17.0 miles that made up the core of the ride was done at an average of approximately 14.7-mph -- I reckon that is pretty good given the climbing I did -- and I should acknowledge that there was 1.5-miles on the flat Brassfield Rd followed by 1.2-miles of gentle downslope on Durant Rd near the end of the ride -- those two sections obviously contributed to a significant increase in the avg pace of the ride, but hey ... fastest avg pace so far this year. 

My legs were a bit stiff a couple hours later, and that lasted until after I took a "nap" starting just after 8 pm Saturday night.  I am typing this at [now 12:50 am Easter morning -- yes, just after midnight] because I woke up a few minutes after twelve midnight needing to pee -- what does one expect when one retired for the night hours earlier than usual without one's evening discharge of bodily fluids?

Mar-13: TLC Baptist Marina plus Some Possum Tracking

So that I wouldn't wimp out on riding, I arranged to ride with the TLC group, 

Which supposedly would start their ride at 9 am. 

But I knew they would start late, so I arranged to arrive right at 9. 

No one was ready, so I rode another 2 1/4 miles or so on neighboring streets and 

Also made at least three loops around the Layfayette Square shopping center.
The ride started about 0915. 

 

I mostly rode with Gary + Wendy, the latter I hadn't seen since before the pandemic. 

In a reasonably safe side-by-side manner, we chatted about subjects of interest to each of us. 

 

The TLC Saturday morning ride usually goes through the "Coachman's" neighborhood, 

Then crosses Six Forks Rd onto Norwood Rd, 

Then turning onto Mt. Vernon Ch Rd to Old Creedmoor / Carpenter Pond Rd. 

They then turn onto Kemp Rd to Southview Rd to Baptist Rd. 

They ride Baptist down to the boat ramps (marina) at Falls Lake, 

Where they take a break, and then reverse their route back to the store. 

[While taking the break, riders from three or so other small groups also congregated near the rest rooms. 

I decided to keep well away from that mingling crowd (for pandemic reasons).] 

 

TLC group riders other than G+W zoomed ahead, but I stayed with G+W for some more chatting. 

However, as I told G+W, when we got back to Carpenter Rd, I "zoomed" off to get in some extra miles. 

And climbing. 

 

Apparently, some of the TLC riders were new and missed the turn onto MVC Rd. 

I found a frequent TLC rider waiting at the intersection where MVC crosses NC-50. 

Rather busy at that intersection -- I think she would have been better served to ride 50 yards and 

Wait at the Peed Rd / MVC Rd corner. 

 

Anyway, I continued on MVC to Norwood to Six Forks Rd. 

I turned left on Six Forks and continued straight onto Possum Track, and 

Then rode Bay Leaf Ch Rd down to the dead-end next to the lake. 

There, I reversed to climb back up to Possum Track, but 

I did detour through the Falls Bridge neighborhood alongside Bay Leaf Ch Rd, 

Thus adding a little distance and some additional climbing. 

[Because point be told, the exercise of extra miles was more about the climbing than the miles.] 

 

Down Possum Track to its dead-end, then 

Reverse to Lindley Rd to Shallowford Rd, etc., 

Finally popping out on Hardee Rd to Raven Ridge Rd. 

[As I type this on March 27th, I'm not sure if I turned onto Brassfield Rd, or 

If I stayed on Raven Ridge to Koupela -- the latter would have meant more climbing.] 

 

• 51.1 total miles.    ~ 4:01 in-motion.    12.7-mph avg in-motion. 
• Btw, I guestimate that I was avg'ing 11-mph (or about that) when I broke off from riding with G+W.  Since slightly more than half the total distance was with G+W, one can imagine that I maintained a pretty good (for me) avg pace in-motion during the later half of my ride -- where more than half the climbing was encountered. 

 

Mar-04: No Clouds, 60+ degrees, but Very Windy

Another "PossumTracking" ride. 

This one rather short as I fit it in between some work and a planned recreational phone call. 

 

First 3.3-miles round trip to drop off some health + injury claims paperwork back to a friend. 

Then, about 40 minutes of on-line work, which I learned of just as I arrived at the friend's. 

Then, an 18.5-mile "PossumTracking" ride. 

• all of Honeycutt, then 
• Bay Leaf Ch Rd to the lake, turn-around and climb back to the intersection with Possum Track Rd, but I did add the Falls Bridge neighborhood loop on the return climb, then 
• Possum Track all the way to the end, then reverse to 
• Lindley Rd and through that neighborhood, 
• to Hardee, Raven Ridge and then onto Brassfield Rd all the way to Durant Rd, then 
• down the incline of Durant Rd to 
• Honeycutt, and then back to my abode.  

 

All while wearing short sleeves and short-legged bibs and short-fingered cycling gloves. 

 

Perhaps not as much looking around as I might have done, but
I did realize that I was pushing up against the time for the recreational phone call to come in, so 

Even though I thought of taking a couple photographs (of previously photo'd locations), 

I just kept pedaling on. 

 

IF there is ever anyone that reads this and would like to see a map of the course, 

Check some of the previous "PossumTracking" posts for embedded maps of prior ride maps.

Feb-24: Possum Tracking + Reversing

Instead of doing another "Possum Tracking" ride with multiple different loops as I have done several times in the previous 6 or 9 months, I decided to ride Bay Leaf Ch Rd and then Possum Track and then through the usual neighborhoods to Deer Trail, at which time I would essentially reverse my route, thus doing all of Possum Track in both directions for the first time in about 12 years.

 

Let's start with an embed of the route ridden, except that this starts from a public location, to whit, "TLC-4-Bikes" in Lafayette Village, whereas I actually started from my abode, which is where the extra distance between the embedded route and that reported later in this post (IF I remember to include the actual ride stats): 

Recently, I've been doing rides staying in faux single-speed gearing of 39/14.  And that seems rather strange that I've been able to complete the rides in that gearing.  Typically, if I faux single-speed a ride, a route north of Raleigh, or even south of Raleigh, I've used 39/15 gearing, which is 7 or 8 % easier.  Maybe if I had been doing a lot of cycling about, 39/14 would make some sense, but I've barely been doing any bicycling.  Perplexing as that seeming contradiction may be to me, I guess I've learned that I can do the rides I've been doing, even the semi-recent 100+ km ride in late November, in that 39/14 gearing, and having at least some measure of stubborn determination, I have refused to go to easier gears within the ride and nearing the end.  I cannot, however, claim that I won't change to an easier gear if I add a bit more tough repeating roller climbing. 

 

And, to come clean, I had intended to finish the ride on Honeycutt Rd instead of cutting through the "Coachman's Way" neighborhood.  IF I had finished on Honeycutt, the route / ride would have been a tenth-of-a-mile or two shorter, but I am confident that there would have been more total climbing -- and knowing that, at around the 19-mile-mark of the ride, I decided that I would do the "Bay Leaf Ch Rd" loop, which would include steep-enuf climbing into the strong south wind, but I would skip Honeycutt in favor of Coachman's Way. 

 

Although my head was often on a swivel during this ride in the 65 to 70 degree temps with plenty of sunshine, I took no photos.  As an aside, this was the first 70 degree day for the Raleigh area this winter -- we usually get a 70 degree day once every week or two during the winter.  This winter has been chilly and WET -- 14 days with at least some rain in January, and February looks to be headed toward 22 +/- days with at least some rain. 

 

I've been including Deer Trail (Rd) in my recent "Possum Tracking" rides because the ramp to get back up to a flat portion of Honeycutt Rd gets steep enough to knock my speed down to 4.5 - 4.8 mph (for a short section); I'm usually back to 5.3 +/- mph by the time I slip past the stop-sign onto Honeycutt.  If one zeroes in on that point in the ride, approx 13.3-mile-mark of the embedded map, one will find that that RWGPS will report a climbing incline significantly in excess of what shows in the "Metrics" section of RWPGS.  I took a screen-print and copied into a Word document -- if I knew how to embed that screen print here, I would.  The best I can figure out is to put the Word document out on Google-docs (or whatever that is now called), but I haven't put anything "out there" for several years, and I've forgotten how to do that. 

 

There was another steep bit -- an unexpected steep bit -- at approx the 16.1-mile-mark.  Very short, but steep enough, and catching me unprepared, my speed dropped to roughly 3.2 - 3.5 mph.  I thought it was to serpentine a bit at that point.  I was also concerned I might be about to fall over,  However, I was able to muscle the bike and me to stay upright and to get up that section. 

 

Total ride stats: 

• 29.5 miles, 
• 2:17 iin-motion, 
• 12.9 avg mph, 
• 2h18 or 2h19 elapsed -- i.e., no noticeable automobile traffic. 
•  
• However, there were several fast, intense cyclists, and one group of two with whom I crossed paths at least twice, and I think it was actually three times (those two did not seem to fit in the "intense" category. 
• Oh, also a few walkers and runners. 
• Almost everyone enjoying the exercise in shorts and short-sleeves -- although the two-some cyclists reference just above appeared to garbed for 50 - 55 degrees instead of 65 - 70.   

That's my non-humorous story for this ride, and I reckon I'll be sticking with this story. 

[Unless I figure out how to do "Google-docs" -- in which case, I might edit this.]  

 

Feb-06: Short Possum Tracking Ride

On Saturday, February 6, 2021, 04:01:41 PM EST, <skiffrun@yahoo.com> wrote:

Whopping 18.8-miles today. 

Repeating roller climbing miles. 

All in the 39/14 gearing. 

[I pretty much needed to short the ride because I decided to NOT shift from the 39/14.]

IF I had used gears, or had ridden in the 39/15, I could easily have gone further, but ... 

I was being a bit stubborn. 

Actually, the 39/14 was not even a hint of a struggle -- although I did do a fair bit of just spinning / grinding on several climbs, e.g., the third climb outbound on Honeycutt Rd, Bay Leaf Ch Rd back up to Bay Leaf Ch from the lake -- until after I rather unwisely decided to include Deer Trail Rd in the mix. 

 

Deer Trail gets steep before getting to the stop sign at Honeycutt -- I recall Lynn expressing how difficult / steep that was a year or two or three before she did her first rando ride in 2009.  We used to do almost all our riding on the roads I've been "keeping" to since late July-2020.  

 

Anyway, I thought I was fine, despite the speed having dipped to 5.4-mph on Deer Trail just before the stop sign (and 4.6-mph as I turned onto Honeycutt without actually stopping at the stop sign), once on the FLAT section of Honeycutt and then on the flat of Brassfield Rd, and was going to do some more rolling / hilly stuff, but then I realized that I had forgotten to bring my phone with me and I remembered that my last real ride was in mid-December and I want to be able to walk tomorrow, and whatever. 

 

So I turned to take the 1.3-mile decline on Durant Rd to return to Honeycutt.  The first mile or a bit more on Honeycutt is a climb, with varying percentage inclines of course -- and although I kept the pace up to a semi-reasonable one, I was tempted to shift to an easier gear, but I refused to do so.  

 

Honeycutt on the southbound return flattens considerably once it gets to / crossed I-540, and suddenly it felt as if I was moving quite quickly -- a check of the confuser revealed 12+ mph.  That was not the first time on the ride that I had experienced an apparent fast speed only to find that I was only going 12+ or 13+ mph.  

 

However, Honeycutt's southbound flat is rather long and I may have been motivated by the slowness of the "fast" pace and suddenly I was going 14+, then 15+ -- I don't know if I made it to 16+, but if I did, it would have been just before cutting through the gas station at the corner of Honeycutt with Falls of the Neuse Rd (and after the gas station, it is almost all sidewalks to get back to my hovel. 

Sheesh! 

  

I was intending a simple three or four or five line / sentence summary, but suddenly found myself explaining and explaining and explaining. 

18.8 miles -- 1h29 in-motion -- elapsed probably the same -- a whopping 12.6 avg mph pace. 

--------------------------  

 

The route? 

 

Honeycutt - Bay Leaf Ch down and up (but without the extra loop onto the side residential road) - Possum Track to the bottom -- back up to Lindley Rd to Shallowford (actually, I missed the turn onto Shallowford, but that only added a couple hundred yards as Lindley cul-de-sacs shortly after the intersection with Shallowford) - Shallowford to Pendelton to Hardee to Raven Ridge to Brassfield - straight on Deer Trail - right onto the flat section of Honeycutt - left on Brassfield - left on Durant - right on Honeycutt. 

I think I'll draw a RWGPS track just to get a gross climbing estimate -- but I won't save the route. 

To get an idea of what the course entailed, this RWGPS track is a longer version of what I did today: 

- ( https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34746838 ). 

--------------------------- 

 

Anyway, training has renewed.  I think. 

--------------------------- 

  

RWGPS came up with 970 ft gross climbing in those 18.8 miles --> avg 51.6 ft climbing per mile. 
I conclude that I got in a decent workout. 
Maybe? 
 

 
Enjoy the ride, 
...Martin 

Nov-26: Thanksgiving Afternoon Ride

After the roads dried out from the overnight and morning drizzles, I did sneak in a short ride late in the afternoon.  Delayed afternoon start even more because I noticed that my phone was almost out of juice.  Started riding at about 2:55 pm, intending to ride about 30 miles and finish around 5:15 pm. [A 30-ish mile ride would have looked something akin to this from the other day.]  

 

However, almost from the first, I recall it was on Durant Rd, so between 2.0 and 3.4 miles into the ride. I felt the occasional water droplets alighting on my knees, so I became amenable to something shorter, and if I was going to go shorter, I should "attack" the ride with more gusto.  
 

Similar to that shown in the above-linked GPS route, I did ride down Bay Leaf Ch Rd all the way to the lake (or rather to where the gate is across the road), and then rode thru the neighborhood off the west side of BLC Rd.  However, while descending Possum Track, the occasional water droplets became a mist, and then a heavier mist; then, as I transited the finger of the lake that Possum Track crosses, I could see the rain drops splashing on the lake and thought, "oh, it is going to actually rain; I definitely better cut this short and head for [the barn]."  So I turned onto Raven Ridge to head to Brassfield, Durant, Honeycutt and then on in via the sidewalks. 

 

When I turned onto Raven Ridge, I was averaging 15-mph, but the incline on Raven Ridge (which is not all that steep, but does keep going and going), put me at least a minute behind 15-mph pace.  Flat-tish Brassfield and downslope on Durant got some of that back.  But, then, on the steep part of Honeycutt (near the bottom), I lost momentum and cadence and pace.  In-motion pace dropped to 7-mph (or maybe slightly less) and, combined with the sidewalk riding and navigating a car or two blocking said sidewalks while they waited for traffic on the road cleared them by, I ended up two minutes over the time that would have meant a 15-mph avg pace for the entire 16.6+ miles rather hilly ride.  

 

I can't avg near that pace for 40 or 60 miles, but shorter rides are the time to practice speed, right?  

 

Oh, stayed in the 39/14 gearing the entire ride today (and also did that on the ride shown in the GPS linked route).  [Earlier this year, I did some similar rides staying in the 39/15 all ride, but 39/14 always seemed too hard.  I don't understand how the 39/14 could have felt more-or-less almost comfortable the last two rides, because I haven't been cycling about enough to get into reasonable enough shape that might make 39/14 logical.] 

 

 

So, yes, a boring / annoying ride report.

Nov-22: Short Climbing Ride

 ( "center" portion of the ride this date )

My cycle confuser ended up with 29.6-miles (with luck, the above RWGPS map will come out to be approx 2-miles short of that -- because I rode about a mile on the sidewalks at the beginning and end of the ride to essentially get to where that route starts and ends).  

29.6-miles, with approx 1680 ft climbing (per RWGPS), in 2:09 in-motion -> 13.7-mph avg.  

[AMAZING -- the draft route, starting/ending at my abode come up with ~ 1680 ft of climbing. 

But the revised route linked above comes up with only about 1330 ft of climbing. 

The approx 2-miles of sidewalk riding should account for only approx 60 ft, 

Yet RWGPS estimates are a whopping 350 apart. 

For those that think that RWGPS has reasonable estimates of the amount of climbing: 

HA! 

(I have other weird RWGPS results that put disbelief on RWGPS estimates.)]

The first mile (on the sidewalks) took 5-minutes & that is an avg of 12-mph 

- - I put in more effort that first mile than I often do. 

- - Often that first mile takes 6-minutes in-motion. 

 

Only 4-minutes for the second mile, and I must have been holding back, because that is all downhill on Honeycutt. 

 

Anyway, from there until near the end I was avg'ing 14-mph (+/-). 

- - My legs were feeling the effort on the second decline on Possum Track all the way to the "lake". 

- - - - I imagine I started losing a bit of pace on the climb(s) back up from the lake after that. 

- - - - - - And the ride across Koupela can drag the pace down -- esp. after a repeating hill climbing exercise. 

Oh, one more thing -- the entire ride in 39/14 gearing. 

- - Usually, if I set out to use only one gear on a ride, I use the 39/15. 

- - - - 39/15 is a 2.60 ratio.  39/14 is a 2.786 ratio, which is 7.1% harder. 

- - Lots of standing on certain of those inclines. 

- - - - E.g., Bay Leaf Ch Rd, Possum Track, Deer Trail (where even RWGPS reports the incline exceeds 6%).

Possum Tracking

Realizing that I've mostly been riding only two different routes, but with variants, and 

Consistent with the beginnings of this blog when I was using it mostly as a data back-up, and

Having nothing worth actually typing ("saying") about the rides, I decided to 

Group nine rides into two categories:  (1) Possum Tracking, (2) Carpenter Pond / "TT". 

This post captures three Possum Tracking rides from late August thru the end of November. 

 

First, an embed (I hope) of a RWGPS map of a route using Possum Track Rd. 

This map includes all the roads ridden during the three rides 

(Except for a portion of Raven Ridge Rd, a portion of Brassfield Rdm and 1.4-miles of Durant Rd).  

 

 

 

Aug-29 

• -> Honeycutt-PossumTrack-Lindley nhood-Brassfield-Durant-H'ct -> 
• 0850 start, solo  --  1h08 elapsed  --  775 ft climb  --  39/14 faux ss 
• 15.9-miles.  1:08 in-motion (no pauseage time).  avg 13.9-mph in-motion.
  
• no photos  

 

Nov-07 

• -> Hcutt-BLChRd-Possum-Lindley-Brassfld-Coachmans-Raven-Koupela -> a friend's 
• 1410 start, solo    --    also Deer Forest, warm (for November) 
• 27.0-miiles.  1:55 in-motion.  avg 14.0-mph in-motion. 
• no photos 

 

Nov-14 

• ->Hcutt-Possum-Lindley-Brassfld-Coachmans-Hardee-Koupela- a friend's-> 
• 1350 start, solo    --    also Deer Forest Rd 
• 25.0-miles.  1:50 in-motion.  avg 13.6-mph. 
• When the ride ends at or includes the notation "a friend's" that means I went to their house to deliver something, pick something up, or help with some household or yardwork chore. 
• no photos 

 

And that is all I'm "typing" for those three rides. 

"Typing" meaning mostly copying notations that are in my Excel ride log. 

 

Aug-05: In Which I Intersect the Mountains to Sea Trail, Again

Beating a dead horse, "some information from my Excel log": 

• the course:  -> Honeycutt-PossumTrack-Brassfield-Coachman's-Honeycutt -> a friend's who needed some help with ... something,   22.1-miles. 
• "misc" info:  1300, solo, heat and climbing training? 
• 1:39 in-motion, avg 13.3 mph 
•  
• a comment on the route defined above:  there is a fair bit of route "missing" between the reference to "Possum Track" and the next reference to "Brassfield."  Namely, reversing on Possum Track for half-a-mile, and then riding thru the "Lindley Rd neighborhood" to get to Hardee Rd and then to Raven Ridge Rd and finally to Brassfield Rd. 
• the reference to "Coachman's" translates to Coachman's Way and then a couple other roads to get thru that neighborhood before emerging onto Possum Track for half-a-mile and then turning onto Honeycutt to reverse the first 5+ miles.  

 

I took a couple photos at the "bottom" of Possum Track Rd.  When I published the photos on Facebook (on or shortly after August 5th), I noted that the first photo was for everyone and the second was for TonyG. 

Time-stamp 1335, so it took 35 minutes from the start location (my abode) to reach this location.  This isn't the first photo of this sign at this location, but (so far) it is the best I've taken of this sign/location.

Time-stamp 1339 -- it took several attempts to perfect the angle of this "selfie" using my flip-phone.  Photo not perfect since the "a" is missing from "Carolina," but everyone ought to understand the original source of the jersey in the photo.  [Btw, to clarify:  I've never ridden the "Taste of Carolina" (nor the "Carolina Spring 1200'), but I have done three or four days of volunteer service on several occasions, and Tony figured that was worth a one of the jerseys.]

 

 

And that's my story, to which I'll be sticking for this blog post of the ride in question.
 
 

Jun-18: Variations on a Theme -- V-50 #10

V-50 #10
Variations on a Theme

No plan for a route when I started.
Just ride wherever/whatever in the nearby neighborhood until the threatened rain materialized.
Gearing was in 39/14 left over from the end of my previous ride. A few miles in, while doing an early incline, I decided 14 was a bit much, so I shifted to the 15, and proceeded to do the rest of the ride in the 39/15.

Only one climb got difficult in that gearing. Deer Trail, at about the 4-mile mark of the linked route [oops, it appears that I deleted that RWGPS route -- :-( ], I was working HARD as the speed slipped to a low of 3.8-mph. After that, though, everything was much easier, although I did a LOT more standing to pedal than I usually do.

I didn't start and finish at the TLC-4-Bikes shop (as indicated in the map), but instead started and finished at my abode, approx 0.9-miles from the bike shop. I didn't bother to detour off Honeycutt Rd to ride past the shop at the start; however, I did ride up to the bike shop a mile before finishing in order to deliver a message to Gary, the shop owner / mechanic.

An interesting thing about 5 or 6 miles before the finish of the ride. I happened to look down at the gearing and discovered I was in the 50/21 -- not 39/15. I conclude that I must have automatically shifted from the 15 to the 21 unintentionally. However, I am confident that I would not have unintentionally shifted from the 39 chain ring to the 50, so I conclude I had ridden most of the ride in 50/15. That gearing would explain why the climb on Deer Trail early in the ride had been so hard.

The nice things about this ride: (1) it turned into a decent hill workout (I manually created the RWGPS the next day in order to get an estimate of the climbing), (2) my legs felt great after the 2:14 in-motion / 2h28 elapsed ride, and (3) it never did rain in the north Raleigh area on the 18th.

photo didn't turn out so well. I was trying to get the asphalt of "Bayleaf Ch Rd" where it disappears into Falls Lake and also the impossible to detect slight gap on the other side of the lake where I think the original road was located. 

It is my understanding that "Bayleaf Ch Rd" is the original routing of "Six Forks Rd" from before the Neuse River was dammed up to create Falls Lake. 

approx mile 13.6 of the RWGPS map.

another crappy photo. Taken at the bottom of Possum Track Rd. The sign on the left is the logo for the "Mountains to Sea" hiking trail. 

approx mile 18 of the RWGPS map.

This photo for Bob -- approx mile 17.4 and 18.6 on the RWGPS map.

Apr-19: Possum Track(ing)

Possum Tracking
or
Return From Broken Spoke (see previous post re:  "Broken Spoke")
or
Putzing in the Housing Developments Near Falls Lake
or
Roller Coasting in the Housing Developments

Started easy, thinking I was in the 39/15 gearing.
Figuring I'd do a faux single speed ride in that gear.
That would be satisfying and have a training effect.

Then I noticed I was in the 39/17.
Okay, I'll do a faux single speed in that gear.
That will be satisfying and have a training effect.
And be easier on all the short, sharp inclines.

Thinking of many things after 20.5-miles,
But not shoes nor ships nor sealing wax nor ...
And certainly not thinking of the riding,
While on a 1% false-flat incline,
I instinctively shifted to a faster gear.
Immediately silently exclaiming "aargh!"
"There goes my single speed ride."
So I determined to finish the ride in the 39/15.
And I did succeed in that.

I won't try to describe the course,
Nor list the roads in the order ridden.
(I probably can't recall them, anyway.)

32.7-miles. 2:34 in-motion. 2h42 elapsed.
 
V-50 #4.

At the very bottom of Possum Track Road.  [photo credit:  me]

maybe shoulda' cropped this photo?  [photo credit:  me]