Awesome! Makes me want to go out and ride...!!! Sent from my iPhone 4
On May 1, 2011, at 7:41 PM, Leslie <leslie.bri...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yesterday was the 17th riding of the Burnsville Metric (http:// > www.burnsvillemetric.com/). I'd not ridden it before; I wanted to > last year, but, didn't have enough miles under my belt to attempt. I > decided to give it a go this year, though. > > Burnsville is a small town in western North Carolina, about 25 miles > north of Asheville, and is 45 miles south of me here in Kingsport, > Tennessee. As my dad's mom was from a small community seven miles > northwest of there (Bee Log), and my mother-in-law's father was from > another small community 10 miles to the northeast (Bakersville), that > was part of the attraction of wanting to make this ride. (I should > mention, these distances are as the crow flies... to drive it, > sometimes you have to double your distances in our terrain here). > > Although this ride is in the mountains, it's probably about as flat as > you could find in the region. The ride left Burnsville heading west > on 19E, then turned north, going up the Cane River to its confluence > with the Toe River, where they form the Nolichucky River. There, the > course turns eastward and runs up the Toe River, to Bakersville. > There, it turns south until it hits 19E on the east side of > Burnsville, then turns west to return to town. > > Weather was unbeatable. Beautiful day. Cool in the morning to start > out, and though it warmed up it didn't get hot. My son and I got up > early and stopped for a quick bite enroute, before hitting the road. > On the interstate, we passed several other vehicles carrying bikes, > which we guessed were also headed that way. Arriving before 8am that > morning, we registered, then started warming up, riding around the > town square where the ride begins. In several of the parking lots > around the square, were numerous other bikers, all checking tires, > pinning on numbers, talking with friends. We found the vehicle we'd > encountered on the highway, met two really nice gentlemen, also from > the Kingsport area (Bob and Larry). We continued riding around, > eyeing other bikes, checking out various biking jerseys, chatting with > several of the locals who were assisting with parking and directions. > I do believe, not only was I on the only Rivendell there (only one we > saw), I was also the only bike present that was fendered. My son's > Motobecane is an aluminum-framed crossbike; I know I spotted one other > bike that was steel (perhaps an older Raleigh); but every other bike I > saw was carbon. The ride started prompt at 9am. > > The first thing I noticed when everyone started moving, was the > sound. Waves of clicks after clicks. Alex and I started chuckling, > as we may also have been some of the very few who were riding free, > also (I did spot one person with toe straps as we started). The > quickest riders started towards the front, then mid-pack riders, and > we were near the back of them, perhaps near the front of the 3rd-tier > riders (was interesting, that the packet had an instruction sheet > explaining how to arrange yourselves for the start as such). Have to > admit, it was a very cool site seeing a couple hundred bikes taking > off down the hill from the square, leading us back out to the > highway. > > The ride started well. The state police had held traffic on the > highway as the ride started, so we could all get those first few miles > out of the way, before reaching the turn towards the north. At that > point, the car traffic became much lighter. This was the first time > my son and I have ever ridden with a larger group of people (not that > we were with a club, the way many clubs were there, but, that we were > riding with any other riders other than family). We noticed how the > distance segregates people out... that we'd reach a hill-climb, and > some could pound ahead, others would drift back... as distance grew, > some faded, while all the time, others from somewhere behind would fly > by and continue on. We were doing well, as well as I could have > hoped, was feeling good. We rolled through the small communities of > Higgins, Bee Log, Ramseytown. When we reached the first aid-station at > mile 20 at Sioux, noticed how crowded it was and not feeling > particularly tired or thirsty yet, continued on, passing it by. At > this point, we started noticing that we weren't around as many riders; > we were mostly on our own, that there were fewer pelotons that would > catch and pass us. We passed the community of Green Mountain, the > midpoint, in under two hours. But shortly after that.... > > Alex had remarked at some point along the way, how easy this was. I > would tell him to not worry, that he'll have to earn this easy ride in > a little while. There was a turn where you had to climb over the > railroad track where he first thought was what I meant, but I assured > him no, that that didn't count as a climb at all. The first climb > came right around mile 35... We rolled across a bridge at at Red > Hill, where the road gets away from the river for a bit... and you > have to climb up to run along the ridgeside. At the top of the ridge, > a small clinic was evidently having a 'prescription medicine > collection' event, and had a sun awning set up. I think they were a > bit flustered; all of the riders thought it was the next rest-stop, > having just climbed the first hill... we automatically stopped, and > seemed a bit bewildered that there weren't water coolers, etc. But, > we still caught a breather there before continuing on. We passed > through Loafers Glory, on into Bakersville, and stopped at its > official 2nd rest-stop there at mile 42. We did take a break > there. Banana halves, orange wedges, pretzels, water refills, and > some friendly chat with other bikers. But, I didn't want to tarry > too long, knowing the next leg was coming, left there before noon. > > The 3rd rest stop was at mile 55.6, right before reaching the highway > at Micaville. The views over the next 13 miles were incredible, but, > wow, the climbs, I really am not that strong of a climber. My 15- > year-old son, carrying half my weight (but is a few inches taller than > me, and I'm 6-foot), he can rocket up the hills. He won't be anywhere > other than right on my heels as we ride the flats, but when we get to > a hillclimb, he rides to the top, then waits at the crest for me to > get there. More often than not, when I reach it, I don't stop, I go > ahead and continue rolling, and he falls back in behind me again. On > several of the hills, I had to stop part-way up, walk up a portion, > before remounting and continuing on up. On a particular hill or two, > I had some pretty intense thigh cramping for a minute, but found it > after a bit of a rest, I could continue on. But I was ready for > another break when we reached stop #3. (note: must go back to Kona to > take pictures of the views.) > > With seven miles to go, we left out of station three. It's a moderate > climb, much easier grade, from that point back to town, but, is right > on the shoulder of 19E, with a LOT more traffic than anything we'd > encountered all day long. A half-mile from the rest-stop, I felt > like my legs were about to start cramping again, when suddenly, I > must've hit a piece of glass on the shoulder... Whoosh, and my rear > tire is down and flat, a nick on the sidewall. I have to admit, I > would've hopped on a SAG wagon if it happened by about then. But, I > sat down, and while resting my legs, pulled the rear wheel, peeled the > tire off, changed out tubes... discovered I didn't have any of my boot > material w/ me, so, I used one of my granola-bar wrappers to wrap the > tube inside of where the sidewall cut was. Very effective > improvisation. After pumping back up, on we went. > > If the last six miles had occurred right after the midpoint, would > have been cake. After the preceding 14 miles, though, it was > trudgery. But, we made it back to the town square, and rode our > victory lap around it. There were several bikers still there, but, > most of the lots were empty by then. We watched another rider or two > come back in after us, cheering them on making it, too. We wondered > how many riders there had been (we had numbers 318 and 319), and how > many were still out there behind us somewhere. We loaded up our bikes, > and pulled away. > > I neglected to reset my trip computer; our arrival back at the square > was five and a half hours after our departure. With the rest-stops, > the flat, I'd say it was about five hours of ride time... two hours > for the first half, and three hours for the second half. No records > set, but, a personal accomplishment, to have ridden 62 miles. [I > also neglected to use sunscreen; my legs are fine, but there are these > squares on the tops of my feet (I was wearing Tevas), nicely red, as > also are my forearms. Quite the farmer's tan line going....] > > Twice on the ride, people complimented me on my 'vintage' ride. They > were very incredulous when, upon asking how old it was, I would tell > them the frame was from 2008. One other fellow commented on my > Brooks saddle, who he and his wife were also riding Brooks'. Another > rider, as she passed me, said she really liked my jersey (I was > wearing a Rough Rider's jersey). > > Yesterday evening, I was having a mix of emotions. I did it! What > was I thinking, trying to do that? That was a great ride! Whatever > possessed me to attempt that? I enjoy riding, and I enjoy longer > rides (meaning more than 10 miles); I enjoy doing the Yuma 22-mile > loop, 20 miles on the Greenbelt, 30-some miles on the Creeper > Trail... And, I'd love to go do that first 35 miles again and > again... but I really need to work on climbs.... maybe then, I could > enjoy some of these longer rides in our terrain here, but, until I do > become a better climber, maybe I need to stick to less than 60-mile > rides... (or, maybe I just need to keep flogging them, to get > better?) > > I took a few photos at the start, at the rest-stops, and then at the > end... but wow, as much as I wish I thought to, taking photos of the > scenery wasn't on my mind when I was stopping on the middle of the > hill climbs. I may have to drive back over there soon and take some > pictures along the route, to add. (I've evidently left my download > cable at the office, will try to remember to get them posted to Flickr > tomorrow.) > > All in all, though, it was great day out riding with my son. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
