Prep Ride

Hoo boy. Today was this year's first ride that was a.) not commuting to work or going to church, and b.) longer than 40 miles. I took the bike out for a 40 mile spin on Thursday after work, and decided to venture a bit further today, since it's almost my last weekend to find any last bugs that need to be fixed before the trip. The forecast was for scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon in Greenville, but only about 40%. Up in Brevard, NC, the forecast was 60% for the same (speak of the devil, a severe thunderstorm warning just popped up on my screen), but down to the south at Lake Greenwood, it was just going to be partly cloudy.

Ever the bull headed one, I went north, figuring I'd keep a weather eye out. Left Greenville at 10 a.m., with a vague northerly route in mind. Took 288 out of Marietta, which is one of my favorite roads close to home, and connected over with 178 going up into NC, stopping in Rosman for a bathroom break and a root beer. At that point, I was in sunshine and had only been gone an hour. It's a short hop from there up to US64 which is nice and twisty, and I was behind a pickup truck that knew how to drive! It can be very frustrating to go through those countless curves behind someone who rides their brakes uphill through every section of road that isn't absolutely straight. We ended up catching up behind a tractor pulling an empty open topped trailer like you see at road construction sites, loaded with blasted rock. That boy wasn't letting the asphalt grow under his tires either. I'm glad I didn't meet him coming the other direction, because he was straightening a few curves.

Around the town of Sapphire, there is a turnoff to the right for 281 that I explored about a year and a half ago, and have been itching to revisit. Today I scratched the itch and confirmed it as another one of my favorites. Last time I rode it, there was a detour for the first few miles, as they were resurfacing the road, and it dumped me out a few miles up the way with loose press pea gravel in the road, but once you got past that section to the regular road, it was wonderful. This time, I actually rode on the section that had been redone, and it would have been much more enjoyable if there wasn't an evil little pile of gravel in just about every curve. I think the next time I do the road, I'll take that alternate route again to avoid having the bike do the Watusi while leaned over in a curve. As before, however, the road cleaned up and became a blast to ride. In the direction I was going, I had one vehicle merge on behind me and never had another vehicle in front of me, which is part of the enjoyment. I was puzzling over the seeming isolation of the road, when a biker passed me going the other direction. I felt conspiratorial, since there were now two of us who knew the great secret of 281. About three minutes later, the conspiracy increased, as I passed a group of about 12 bikes heading the other direction. I still much preferred my direction of travel and was content to be in control of my entire 26 mile stretch of the road.

The road ends in a T at highway 107, which goes south into Cashiers, which is where I headed. So far, the weather had cooperated, but the clouds were starting to loom in a little closer, and just outside of Cashiers, the rain started. Had I packed rain gear? Nah. In the middle of Cashiers, I picked up 64 again, this time heading back east. I knew east was where dry skies were, and I planned to push on until almost where I'd started my 281 loop, where I knew there was a gas station with an overhang. The only problem was just the getting there. I had two cars in front of me that I followed, not leaning too far on the wet curves, and alternately opening and closing my visor to alleviate the fogging due to the cooling temps outside. I was thankful I was wearing my textile jacket, which is supposedly waterproof (more on that in a minute), but I could still feel the needle-like points of the rain on my bare arms under the jacket. It was pretty miserable going for a while until things got ramped up a notch and a bolt of lighting streaked over to my right, immediately followed by that ominous thunder you hear in the mountains. I think my comment at that sight was, "Oh no." It's not bad enough that I'm fairly well drenched and fogged up, with soaked gloves and water running off the tank into my lap (mesh pants), now I've got random electricity going off. Along the way, I passed several bikes going the other direction, into the storm (including the group who'd been on 281), and saw some pulled off and waiting under trees. (did you see the lighting, hoss?)

When I got to the gas station I'd planned to stop at, it was easing up some, so I decided to keep going, rather than wait for the rain to catch up. Not far after that, the rain tapered off and the pavement was stinking dry! Woo hoo! Of course, the root beer I'd had 1.5 hours earlier was needing to be dealt with, so I started thinking about what the next stop would be. I'd gone about 110 miles since filling up this morning, so I didn't need fuel, but figured I'd top off somewhere before heading home, and sudden visions of coconut shrimp from Outback started dancing in my head. I've only had it twice, and the last time was probably two years ago, but it sounded like a divine rest stop and lunch break. Only problem, it was in Hendersonville, 30 miles away. I thought I could make it, so I settled in to ride, noticing that the clouds were swinging around a little. The further I rode, the more I didn't want to ride that far for a bathroom break, and I finally decided to stop for fuel just before I-26, and was much refreshed when I left.

Since the clouds had continued to encroach, I decided to pass on Outback and head for home to beat the rains that were due all the way down to Greenville. That turned out to be an excellent decision, because when I rode past the Outback, their parking lot was completely empty. Either they don't do lunch on Saturdays or they don't serve food any more at all. Dude, I would have been ticked if I'd ridden all the way in there and been denied my shrimp!!

Interstate 26 to Highway 25 down to Greenville was a straight shot, and I got home at 2:15, only 15 minutes past my desired time to be home. Not bad, considering the thunder and lightning factored in there. Total mileage for the day was 186 and I felt pretty worn out. In fact, the first thing I did after letting Riley out was to go in and lay down for an hour :) In the meantime, my socks were drying out and my feet de-pruning. My boots were upside down over the a/c registers (and they're supposed to be waterproof), and my wallet was laid out on the kitchen counter, the drenched leather trying to dry. That one puzzled me, and I wonder if I didn't have the storm flap down on the pocket it was in. My phone, in the other pocket did get wet, but it didn't look like it had been sitting in a bowl of water, as the wallet did.

The fun part is that it was a 4 hour ride and 185 miles. My first day on the trip west is aiming to be about a 19 hour day, covering 1,000 miles. I think it's a good thing I took today's trip to remind me how physical this stuff is! Of course, going on straight interstates takes nowhere near the mental or physical toll of dodging lightning bolts on off camber decreasing radius wet asphalt curves. But it ain't gonna be a cakewalk!