Mt. Mitchell Short Changed Permanent #1379

RUSA has approved a new permanent I submitted. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina where we have family and spend a lot of time. There is 11,000 feet of climbing over 98 miles (157 Km). It can be ridden from April to October when the Parkway is open. Hope to ride it this summer. Here is the info on my web page.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Riding the North County

Starting at 8:30 on Saturday, Dan Pfaff and I rode the Bolton's 115K Permanent. The route is Central Springfield to Fair Grove to Bolton's General Store (north of Willard and east of Walnut Grove on Hwy BB) and back. The segment between Fair Grove and Bolton's is on the Trans-America Bicycle route. We don't ride this permanent as much as we should. There are plenty of hills that would help keep us in shape. Highways CC and BB that run east-west across the county pretty much follow the hill contours with few cuts and fills. The most common sign is "IMPASSABLE DURING HIGH WATER". Fortunately, we did not have any high water.  There are also usually a number of dogs along the route, but most seemed to have been hunkered down trying to stay warm on Saturday. The only dog that gave us any trouble was on a downhill, so we were able to zip past him. The weather was nice. It was sunny most of the day with a slight wind out of the north to northeast. The high was in the low fifties.

Dan heading north out of Springfield

Bank of Fair Grove

Bolton's

Little Sac River

Impassable During High Water

Low-water crossing

Historic Wommack Mill in Fair Grove

RUSA 5000Km Award

My goal for 2011 was to ride at least 5,000Km of RUSA-sanctioned rides. I completed 5,162Km. The 5000Km award (below) is the greatest annual cumulative distance award RUSA has established. There are lifetime distance awards: Mondial (40,000Km) and Galaxy (100,000Km). Mondial is a French adjective meaning worldwide or global. The name of the award relates to the fact that the circumference of the Earth is approximately 40,000Km. I have a lifetime total of 15,283Km, so I have a ways to go for the Mondial.

Ash Grove

I rode to Ash Grove today with Rae, Doug and Tom for the final ride of the year. It was a little chilly when we started, but the sun was out. We planned to stop at Willy B's in Ash Grove for pancakes. Unfortunately, Willy B's has closed down. We went to Mama Loca's on Main Street instead. They don't have pancakes. They do have a a couple of traditional Mexican-style breakfasts, biscuits and gravy, eggs and muffins. The food was good. They are only open Thursday through Sunday. One of the owners said a lot of Trans-America riders stop in during the cycling season.

It was warmer on the ride back, and we had to deal with a strong south wind (20-25 mph, gusting to 30-35 mph). Seems like there is a strong wind blowing most days of late. Overall it was a good ride to close out the year.

Ash Grove Main Street

Ash Grove store front

Mama Loca's

Old building on FR 76

Tom

Rae & Doug

PARIS BREST PARIS The long ride toward a distant dawn

This is a French documentary with subtitles. It is about 46 minutes. It has some historical footage, but focuses on the 2011 event. They talk about PBP being a race, which is how it started. I think the rider with the best time is still recognized, but most are just trying to make the 90-hour time limit. Another film is available HERE.


PARIS BREST PARIS The long ride toward a distant dawn from Poisson Lune Films on Vimeo.

1x1 to Aurora

James Doggett and I took advantage of the great weather on Sunday and rode the Hound Dog permanent to Aurora. I rode the Quickbeam as a single-speed. This 77 miles is the furthest I have ridden it. I did not have any mechanical problems. The narrow tires (25mm) were a little harsher than I am accustom to on longer rides. It was partly cloudy with a generally south wind when we started at 9:00, and it became mostly clear later in the morning. Unfortunately, the wind shifted to the southeast on the way back, so we had a head wind on some legs both going and coming back. The traffic was extremely light, even in the afternoon. Everyone must have been home watching football or out shopping. I was surprised not to see any other cyclists. I got back at 3:10.

Christmas tree hay bales

Stone house west of Springfield on FR 115

Port-A-Potty at Republic Park on FR 156

Stone barn with fish-scale siding on FR 168

Stone store front in Marionville on Western Ave.

Rivendell Quickbeam

I bought a Quickbeam frame on eBay recently. The frame is from the last production run with silver paint and blue decals. The seller stated there were a number of scratches on the frame. He had pictures of the scratches, but the pictures were not real sharp. I was surprised when I received the frame because the scratches were not in places I expected from normal use, and they looked like they were made by a knife or other sharp-edged tool. Maybe it was revenge by a jilted lover. So I decided to have the frame powdercoated GM engine orange. Some paint suppliers call it red, but it sure looks orange to me. I called Rivendell to get replacement decals. I told them I had the silver paint scheme, but they sent me the earlier decals when the Quickbeams were painted orange or green. I am glad now that I did not stick with silver because the decals look better with orange. I currently have it setup with a 45-tooth crank and 18-tooth freewheel and fixed cog. I could go with a slightly smaller cog in the back, but will probably ride this setup for a while.

I did not think to take a photo of the frame before I had it powdercoated. This photo is from the auction.

Cork wrapped and shellacked bars.

Metropolis 45-tooth crank.

I have had the banana seat bag for some time.