Mischief in the making (l-r): Jerry, Robert, and MikeH.
For me, at least, a good Permanent route design is one you,
yourself, enjoy riding. Build it and others might come. And even if they don’t,
you’ll still have something you enjoy riding.
And what better place to start than right out your back door?
The “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” 201km Permanent strings
together a combination of some of my favorite roads for pleasure and training. By
pleasure, I mean scenery, eating places, and conveniences. By training, I mean scenery,
eating places, and conveniences. The wind and hills are simply the trolls collecting
tolls on the paths to scenery, eating places, and conveniences.
Owing to the encouragement of riding buddy MikeH, I finally moved
the route from the drawing board of my imagination to the concrete of reality. Thanks
to all those involved along the path to approval, notably Alan and Crista.
A few notes about the route. Starting just south of Raleigh,
the rolling route flattens midway to the turnaround control at Cedar Creek on
NC Bike Route 5. Although the route is rural,
there are no less than eleven different convenience-store locations usually 6-7
miles apart with the greatest interval about 15 miles (Dunn-Wade).
You’ll find at least two walk-in “beer caves” (make that
four if you don’t get lost on the way home) in which to cool your heels on a
hot and humid North Carolina summer day, should you tempt fate and choose to ride.
The only things lacking on the route are concierge service and pizza delivery. But,
hey, randonneuring is supposed to be hard. Didn’t anyone tell you that?
The ride objective today was to have fun. And having fun
wouldn’t be all that difficult. After all, the two that instigated the whole
affair were Jerry and MikeH . So I decided to tag along.
And so did Derek Jeter, trading in his NY jersey for an NC
jersey.
Phil in the morning sun chatting with fearless leader Alan, together with eight other riders.
Even the wind had fun today. She blew us to the turnaround and
then teased our return. Riders took turns bowing in their drops in a show of obeisant
acquiescence to her power.
It was great riding with relative newcomers Allen and Phil.
Glad you two were along. Another reason for celebrating today: happy
birthday to MikeO!Thanks for the ride!
Another ride report can be found here.
Let’s ride!
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