Balmy!

Temps rose in the 50s today here in northwestern NC, which means by nightfall temps were only back into the 40s.  For those of us trying to get out and stretch the legs a bit, that is downright warm compared to the arctic blast of the past few weeks.  We had a little snow the week before Christmas, and the cold hasn't really stopped since.  There are still piles of snow in the corners of large parking lots all over town...

Chancey suggested a night ride, so I joined in and considered it my training ride.  The goal was 20 miles at 17mph avg.  That avg speed seems pretty doable, until one starts throwing in the West End hills.  Some of those grinders will bring you down to about 6mph.  Hit a few of them back to back and they can very well cripple your attempts to pull along Peacehaven 30 minutes later. 

We rolled counter-clockwise and headed downtown first.  Here's a shot of Chancey pulling along down Country Club Rd.  He's a blur of speed...

The West End suffering over, we climbed Buena Vista Rd. and rocketed over to WFU.  For those who've done this, I think you'll agree that rushing through the trail connecting Reynolda Village to WFU is WAY better at night than in the daytime.

Chancey and I traded pulls on Polo and back to Peacehaven.  We took a second to rest, and I caught Chancey looking like he had a hemoglobin of 8.  That's just the flash on the crackberry.

Here I realized that we were not at goal for avg speed...if you can't make out the avg on the speedo, it says 16.8.

Given this dire news, we cranked it down Peacehaven to Country Club where Sir-Chance-a-lot and I parted ways.  It was a good ride with a good buddy.   My legs were definitely burning on the way home.

Here are the stats:

Route:  City Loop Counterclockwise (climbs:  Miller, First, West End, Buena Vista)

Time:  1:37.14

Dist:  28.2mi

Avg:  17.4mph

Next up, a yet-to-be determined Saturday route, but if Northstar gets with it - we might be heading off-road on a 40 mile killer ride.