Labor Day ride

Monday Sept 1, 2008

Labor day Ride
Ride leaders Ron and Tracy Clanton on their Tandem.
In attendance were;
Patty Lewis
Nicole Lewis
Nate
Doug Augustine
Sheila Augustine
Theresa Smit
Kevin Smit.

The ride started from the Church parking lot at Olive Chapel and New Hill Olive. The route leveraged several quite roads in the Apex / Holly Springs area.

The group road very well as a pack for much of the ride. The hills had a tendency as they always do in splintering the group. On other occasions Nate, and Doug pushed the pace which splintered the group as well.

One of those situations Nate pulled Nicole, Patty, and Sheila past the planned turn onto Sharron Harris forcing Doug and Kevin to attempt to chase them down to then redirect. Fortunately for Kevin and Doug the runaway pack pulled into the parking lot at the Nuclear Plant thinking that was the next turn. Kevin and Doug were then able to abandon their chase before totally destroying themselves.

This almost happened again on the run down OLD US 1 to the turn towards Pea Ridge. In that situation it was again Nate with Doug being chased by Kevin that splintered the pack.

The group took a short break in the shade of a tree along the side of the road that intersected with Pea Ridge. Some eat their bananas, some chewed on power bars, everyone hydrated, Kevin dealt with Sweat management and tightened down the bolts that held his cleats to his shoes. Kevin had discovered that one of his Screws was missing and the others were loose. It was here also that Doug and Sheila both realized that they had mistakenly put on each other’s biking shorts prior to the start of the ride. The group suggested that they go ahead and swap back to the correct pair while the group waited. This did not happen but all had a good laugh at their expense.

The pack was off again headed down Pea Ridge towards the turn onto Beaver Creek at Lake Jordan. Kevin was the first to arrive at Lake Jordan and was found by the group as he was resting again in the shade. He was easily identified by the group because of the tell tale signs of near death as a flock of Buzzards circled closely over him. The ride finished with a short run up Beaver Creek to the turn on Tody Goodwin Road and then Olive Chapel with their rolling hills leading back to the starting point. It was on this stretch of road where Theresa bonked and struggled to sustain the average mph prior through those last few miles.