mixed emotions on the 4th of july holiday transition transfer into a 53mile road ride to south carolina below the toon and back in a round about road style fashion. i was traveling on the white lemond with front bag and bob trailer which helped transport the explosive cargo in return to dooleyville. it was hot and the ground level ozone which actually exists was rated orange which meant not only could i see it but i could feel it enter my system with a taste and a tangible sensory connection to my brain.
yesterday sunday i took off for the booty loop, that's right for some reason i felt as if the 4 hours i had to spend on the bike would be best served cutting familiar 3 mile circles around the not so closed road loop here in the queen city. when i left my house and started the stay alive i did something that i rarely do which is take the road on albermarle. seeing i am in it for the long haul i normally swallow my pride and surf the side walk for the traverse of albermarle to the centrolian split where i can pick up a bike lane after the eastland single track. traffic was light and i was on the geared bike so i just opened it up and kept a 30-32mph spin all the way across. i think that is the fastest time i have ever made it to the split. i turned on to providence road at laurel and then went straight in to the booty course. there were a few folks out, the temp was not so bad and it was a cloudy sky. even though i had ridden the course on several occasions in the past lives of mine i rechecked the distance on the puter. 3mi. the laps seemed to just go by as fast as i had remembered. at around 30 miles or so at the right hand turn off of selwyn on to w queens i saw a rider come across and on to the course that looked familiar. i came up along side none other than ben(the one on the left-pic stolen from arsbars)who i knew from the original 24hrs of booty and the same fellow that i chatted with recently at the cowbell challenge. we shared a laugh that we were both wearing the same belgian empirical colors on our head and then we rode together for a bit. the sky darkened quickly and we were in the rain within minutes. then came the pea sized hail, wind, thunder and lightening. i thought for a minute we should be taking cover but ben yelled with a crazy laugh that we must endure and keep it rolling. okay, i thought but watch those big trees from top to bottom, they were swirling and i remember a few years ago a rider was killed when a tree limb came crashing down on him. the hail was cold, my wet human form started to shiver a bit and then ben peeled off to continue with his plan leaving me alone again. alone on the loop for another 2 hours without seeing one other riding person. the back side of queens was like a debris field and in some spots the brown run off was mid wheel deep until time passed and it could drain off. i peeled off myself at around 1600hrs and made it home feeling like i could ride some more after completing the 70(69.56)mile effort.
the booty is a strange place to ride and i am not sure what the point is other than time does go by when you go around it. there is no thinking that needs to be done about navigation, water, food any of that for it is all close by. the only thing to concentrate on is the pedaling and the mental game of going around in such repetitive fashion.....
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