Teams:

20 miles:

Roy and Ann Neulicht
Greg, Anne and Ryan Hinn (new team)
John Midyette - Sara Lash (new team)

50 miles:

Jeff Hutchinson – Neil Ross
Jack and Donna Powell
Kyle and Joann (Rocky Mount), (new team)
Andy Stewart – Emily Rosen
Gary Shaffer – Sara Huston
Smith Doss – Claude Monnier

Roy and Anne hosted a North Raleigh ride, in Road Dog territory, towards Creedmoor and Beaver Dam Road. We had the privilege of meeting 3 new teams: Kyle and Joanne from Rocky Mount, John Midyette and Sara Lash from Raleigh on a recumbent tandem, and the Hinn family on their Holstein cow triplet.

We left the Manchester Swim and Racquet club together toward Possum Track road and Blue Jay Park, than towards Falls Lake where we the routes split.

The 50-mile group stayed together, Smith and Claude prodding Gary and Sara. Gary discovered that carbo-loading from fortified liquid carbs is not conducive to a strong riding performance the next day (Gary, it only gets worse with age!). As we left Creedmor, Gary was dreading the infamous 3 bears (baby bear, mamma bear and papa bear). By the time you reach papa, the other 2 have taken a lot of energy out of your legs. Gary had a fear of bears but conquered the hill, despite some idiot wanting to chase us off the road.

We made a stop a Kelsey’s Western wear (a famous stop on Route 96). They even have powerbars for sale, opposite from the shirts and boots! We kept a moderate pace on the way back until we reached New Light road, where Smith and Claude started picking up the pace, and Jeff and Neil pulled the tandem pace line at 30 miles per hour. We passed a group of singles, and one of the riders exclaimed “Oh! My Word!” That must have been an impressive pace line indeed.

As we climbed Norwood Road back to Six Forks, Neil asked Claude to sing a few French military marching songs, so it would slow them down up the hill. It had the opposite effect: the song got us motivated to push harder! We made it back in time to enjoy the pool and wonderful spread Roy and Ann had prepared for us, and before Gaston’s rain!

Meanwhile the 20-mile group looped around on Ghoston Rd and headed back to the MSRC via Peed, Mt Vernon Church, and Norwood Roads. It was a nice ride on the rolling hills with little traffic on a Sunday morning, although we did miss seeing the cows at the former Bailey farm on Norwood Rd…now a development of empty lots. The 20-mile teams got a significant jump on the 50-milers relative to the munchies but were nice and left some eats for the hard-working 50-milers.