Libby's
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(If you believe the last, ask me about the single-speed cruiser I want to sell you for Mt. Mitchell...)
Friday October 14 saw rain, rain, rain in the Chapel Hill area. Roads flooded, transformers blew, cars ran off the road. It didn't seem to bode well for the third riding of the Tour de Pig the next day. The Tour de Pig is associated with the annual Lexington Barbeque Festival.
Late Friday night, the rain disappeared. Paul Thomas sent a copy of the weather report to those of us who had planned to ride (and who have electronic mail access)--it was supposed to be a fair, sunny, warm day. Yippee!
Paul and I each drove up by ourselves while Phil and Sara Easler, Steve Kenkel, Jerome Bias, and Bruce Bridgman planned to arrive together. The day dawned sunny and warm, although at 7:00am, I was barely awake enough to notice as I started down I-85 to make the 8:30 registration time. As I was making my way to the registration line, I ran into Paul. As I stood in the registration line, Bruce and Jerome came up and announced that Phil, Sara, and Steve had all backed out of coming on the ride in favor of staying in their nice warm beds. Please notice that in describing this turn of events, I didn't once use the phrase, "weather wimps." Later, we found out that the domino effect had taken over as one decided not to go and then the other two followed suit.
So, Bruce, Jerome, Paul, and I got together to decide on our strategy for the day. We had planned on riding the metric century, but as it turns out, the route was unsupported. Since we weren't sure where food would be on the unsupported route, we finally decided to take the other metric century option by riding the half century loop twice.
At the first rest stop, we shed clothes as the sun continued to beat down on us. (I'm sure it was at least as warm as any beds back in Durham and Carrboro which other folks chose as an alternative to riding...) Since I had more space to put clothes, I ended up carrying my jacket, Paul's jacket, and Jerome's jacket in my rack pack. This is not mentioned, of course, to gain appreciation for my willingness to carry extra weight for my friends! (Well, maybe not entirely for that purpose... I'm sure I was made slower going up the hills due to carrying the extra weight, though, and so an appreciation for accepting anything that adds to my Hill Slug image would be appreciated.)
At this point, you might have an image of an idyllic ride through the countryside in perfect weather. Let's modify that image a bit. Keep the sun shining... keep the temperature warm... and add a stiff headwind at about 25 mph that plagued us for 40 of the 45 miles we rode. It was the toughest wind for the longest period I've ever faced other than on the coast. Nevertheless, we managed a good speed, especially when any of the others were in the lead. When I led, I felt that everyone should take a break from working so hard, so I backed off the pace a bit. Naturally, I could have maintained the same pace, but my innate selflessness took over. (Believe that? Still want to buy that single-speed cruiser for Mt. Mitchell?)
The ride took place as the leaves were beginning to change, so the rural countryside was wearing its best colors. Traffic was light to moderate, but we didn't encounter any drivers who caused problems. One of the high points for me was passing by the little shop where I used to buy cake decorating supplies! The most scenic spot was crossing the lake which serves as a reservoir for Lexington and Thomasville--although I do wish they had created a better name that Lake Thom-A-Lex. (Lake Libby has a nice ring to it, don't you think?)
We finished the first loop and had to reaffirm our communal commitment to riding a metric century by doing the loop again. I swear I could smell the barbeque we had been promised for lunch. The aroma of hickory roasting meat wafted through the air at the last rest stop despite the volunteers' assurances that the barbeque wasn't there yet. Hmmmm. The barbeque aroma (real or imagined) coupled with the headwind we were continually battling did convince us to cut our planned metric century short. We started out on the second loop, but had a shortcut planned which gave us a total of 45 miles. (To give credit where credit is due, some of us were more convinced than others that we should cut the ride short. Luckily, good sense prevailed and those who were stronger-minded (read: more stubborn?) won out over those who were stronger-legged.)
At the end of the ride, barbeque did await us. Not just any barbeque, remember. This was Lexington barbeque--the only kind worth fighting a headwind. (For those of you from "down east," whatever you're thinking, you're wrong! :-))
Not only was a barbeque lunch waiting, but the ride sponsors also had plenty of door prizes to give away. This was another good reason to finish the ride early; you had to be present to win. Unhappily, none of us did. But, they gave away their extra bananas, so we all had a little more potassium and a smile on our faces as we rode away.
The ride was well-marked with plenty of rest stops along the metric half century route. The t-shirt was absolutely the best t-shirt I've ever gotten from a ride. Watch for it when short-sleeve weather is here again. The patches, sent to us in the mail, are also nicely designed (with slender pigs riding bikes). Next year's Tour de Pig will take place on Saturday October 14. Mark your calendars and come ride with us!