2012 Cycle NC – Day 7 White Lake to Carolina Beach (71.1 miles)

Tim McLear bailed out of Cycle NC yesterday.  He said he’d rather fly to Europe than ride another mile of this year’s tour.  (Seriously, he went to Europe).

Today was the last day of Cycle North Carolina for 2012.  The weather was nice with little to no wind, and the roads were flat flat flat.  The only hill for today’s ride was the bridge across the Intercoastal Waterway coming in to Carolina Beach.

Bill says everybody was up and ready to ride early on this last day.  Bill’s maximum speed today was 28.4 mph coming off of the bridge, but he averaged 17.1 mph for the morning.  He was outpaced by the guy who hand cycled the entire ride; today that guy’s speed averaged 17.2 mph.

The final day’s ride was uneventful with the possible exception of the cobblestone streets in Wilmington, and Bill was surprised that they were included in the route.  I think that the Cycle NC folks knew that they needed to find a way to shake up the last day, so they added the cobblestones to weed out the amateurs. 

Bill, Mac and Loren Jones were the first of the locals to reach Carolina Beach (at 11:30 am), which means of course that they won Cycle NC, but most of the local group came in within the hour. 

Sadly, one unknown unlucky biker fell as she made the last turn to finish the ride.  A comment was heard behind us along the line of, “Well, that sucks.”

Carolina Beach hosted the finish line celebration with a band, barbecue plates, beer, and random giveaway items including some fairly cool sunglasses.  Kathleen Klecker and I hosted the New Bern area group with the annual bottles of champagne, and we made everyone stop what they were doing and drink.  The group managed to toast each cyclist, Sherpa Ken, Sherpa Rick, Ken’s pickup truck, ants, the shower truck, and the portajohns.  Three bottles of champagne later, the ride was over.

Every single cyclist I spoke to had a great time and intends to do it again next year.  That includes CNC newbies, Ben Bunn, Avery Corning, and Cal Hansen.

Dog of the Day:  Joanne reports that she saw a possible dog on today’s route, but she says it was likely too small to qualify as an official dog so she paid it no mind.  I guess the “too small to be a dog” can win Dog of the Day by default. 

Total mileage for this year’s ride was 455.3 miles.

Lynda Sadler

Flanner’s Beach Camping Trip

On the weekend of September 21, the OAC enjoyed the weekend camping at Flanner’s Beach, just East of New Bern on the Neuse River.  There were about 15 members who took over four camp sites with their campers and tents.  Some hiked or biked on the local trails.  Others just enjoyed some down time on the beach.  As Saturday evening came around, an additional 10 members showed up with food to share, so we all sat around, enjoying great food and fellowship.  Dave Whitlow even made a spiced apple cobbler in his Dutch Oven for everyone to share.  There was so much food, that when it came time to pull out the makings for smores, nobody could move.  We just sat around the fire, and hoped someone else would have the energy to get up and put more wood on the fire.  (Thank you Ken)..  If you were unfortunate enough to have missed this trip, don’t worry, I am sure we will be planning another soon.

Mark Masser

2012 Cycle NC – Day 6 Lumberton to White Lake

Bill elected to ride the shorter route today (61.2 miles) as did everybody in his group except Mark Fancy who rocked the century option in 5 1/2 hours.

Bill’s maximum speed was 29.4 mph, and he averaged 16.1 mph.  He arrived in White Lake at around 11:30 am.  The route is now east coast flat, with no significant hills.  The weather was beautiful, with a high temperature of around 80 degrees.

(When Bill started doing Cycle NC eleven years ago, I had this vision of him slogging out a long ride day after day for an entire week, fighting through exhaustion over and over just to have to set up a tent, eat, sleep, take down the tent and start all over again..in the rain..up hill.)

Once, again the rest stops were terrific – highlighted by the second one at Lu Mil Vineyard where there were the promised scuppernong slushies, as well as muscadine preserves for the ubiquitous Cycle NC pb&j  sandwiches.  I’m told that Joanne was very tired and had to take an extended break here at the winery…

Today was also a day when CNC officials and law enforcement had to stop some of the cyclists along the route to help pick up tacks on the road.  I believe the early cyclists missed the tack incident so it’s likely the tacks were put out later. Nearly everyone the cyclists come in contact with are pleasant and welcoming.   Occasionally, well … you know.

The Dog of the Day was a Rat Terrier who worked in random with his buddy, the Labrador Retriever.  Mr. Labrador slowed down the passing cyclists so that Mr. Terrier could attack their ankles.  I guess Mr. Labrador can be first runner up (snicker).

Early this afternoon, after the group was all set up at White Lake, Ken Court and Cal Hansen decided to take a swim in the lake.  Leaving their glasses on land, they swam out, and they saw Joanne paddling up in a kayak.  Ken and Cal thought it would be fun to go to her boat and tip her over.  Just before they could put their plan into action, the kayak got close enough for them to realize that the person paddling the boat wasn’t Joanne.

Also, Bill has become quite the fire ant magnet – he’s not called Sweet Willy for nothing.  It appears that fire ants infested the seams and creases of his cycle jacket, possibly several days ago, and this morning his entire bag of clothes was full of ants.  The jacket is now in isolation in its own bag (and so far as I’m concerned, he can burn it).  No one else seems to be having any issues with ants.

Tomorrow’s route is White Lake to Carolina Beach for a distance of about 71 miles.  It is the final day of 2012 Cycle NC.  Come on down. The ocean is gorgeous, and the end of ride champagne is in the fridge.

Lynda Sadler

2012 Cycle NC – Day 5 Rockingham to Lumberton (68 miles)

Cyclists were advised last night that riders must wait until 8 am to ride out today – no exceptions.  Of course, that meant that this morning, Bill, Mac, Joanne, and Cal were forced to roll their bikes across the street into a parking lot and then sneak out the back side of the lot before turning their lights on and heading to the nearby Burger King for breakfast.  Bill says, in their defense, that they waited for the guy who paints the route to drive off before leaving the camping area, and they made sure not to overtake him along the route.

Because Burger King was not on the official CNC route, Joanne Somerday found a local resident there so that she could confirm the direction they needed to take to get back on course.  Local Guy asked Joanne where they were coming from, and she told him Brevard.  Local Guy asked her where they were going, and she said Carolina Beach.  Local Guy looked at her and said, “Well, that’s something to do, I guess.”

There were a few gentle hills at the start of today’s ride, but from there on, the ride was all downhill.  The first half hour also included more rain, but the weather was nice after that.

Bill’s average speed today was up to 15.4 mph as the maximums and minimums are leveling out.  He did reach 30.9 mph early on, but he generally stayed at more constant speed than previous days.  He says that the road should be pretty flat from here to the end of the ride.

The first rest stop today included cinnamon buns, and Bill says that generally, the rest stop food this year has been more varied and interesting that in previous years.  (I can’t wait to see if he notices the scuppernong slushies scheduled for the 2^nd rest stop tomorrow).

Dogs were not much in evidence today, the Dog of the Day was a Husky-mutt mix that spent the morning in a driveway along the road and appeared to be counting cyclists as they rode past.  (Let me say right here that I think it should be “Husky-mutt mix who spent the morning….,” but the grammar checker disagrees with me so I’m bow-wowing to the expert.)

Each night, the host towns provide shuttle services (busses/vans) for cyclists from the camping area to local restaurants.  Tonight’s scheduled shuttles will be provided by Lumber River Old Iron Tractor Club – yes, there will be actual restored antique tractors.

Tomorrow’s ride is from Lumberton to White Lake, and cyclists have a choice of a 61.3 mile route or a 98.5 mile route.  It will be the next to last day of Cycle NC for this year.

Lynda Sadler

2012 Cycle NC – Day 4 Matthews to Rockingham

Today’s ride was 74.8 miles.  The cyclists are now out of the steeper hills and mountains, and they’re enjoying more moderate ups and downs.  Bill’s maximum speed was 33.5 mph, and his minimum speed was 5.3 mph.  He averaged 13.8 mph for the morning.

Bill and Mac got a very early start today but still cycled around a lot of traffic heading out of Matthews.  This morning, they left so early that they caught up with the guy marking the route and according to Bill, “We got our asses chewed out.” 

(Can I say “ass” in this update?  Because I can change it to “butt” but then it won’t be a direct quote.  He said “ass.”)

Bill and Mac arrived in Rockingham at 12:57 pm, which met their goal of getting there by 1 pm with the hope of finally being able to unpack and dry out their clothes from Monday’s and Tuesday’s ride.  They were so far ahead of the riders throughout the morning that only 1 cyclist finally caught up with them at the last rest stop.  Speed demons, John Klecker and Tim McLear weren’t far behind coming into Rockingham even though they left Matthews almost an hour later than Bill and Mac.

Joanne and Cal arrived separately around 2:30 pm.

The rest stop highlight was probably rest stop 1 where Krispy Kreme donuts were available.  (This is the very first time that I have wished I was with them on this year’s ride – but only for today and only for the first rest stop.)

The lunch rest stop featured homemade ice cream. Bill says that everyone who tried the ice cream complained immediately of brain freeze, but he believes most of the cyclists managed to push through the pain.

The Rockingham Plan to dry out wet clothes is underway.  Sadly, the fire ants in the designated camping area love cycle socks, and Bill says the one he dropped on the ground was wrapped up in the critters before he could retrieve it.  Lovely.

The Dog of the Day goes to the black and tan Chihuahua who wanted to be a bad butt.  He would have had a lot more success in getting to the cyclists if his owners had just mowed the yard recently.  Sadly, he couldn’t quite battle his way through the grass to get out to the road.

Tomorrow, the cyclists ride from Rockingham to Lumberton for a distance of about 68 miles.  There are only 3 days left for 2012 Cycle North Carolina.

Lynda Sadler