All I Know

Day 4: Matthews to Rockingham

Rolling out from Matthews, a little after 7:30. Had fog (often a lot more than this) til almost 10.

How it looks


74 miles through piedmont backroads that run through farm country, similar but not identical to the ones I usually train on. A nice day overall; weather fine, route very nice. Des Jeunes that I rode in with yesterday were ahead of me at the finish today, as was Doug that I mentioned from days 1 and 2.  I did not see him at all on day 3 and inquired with him about it; he said he had three flats.

More of the same on accommodations. Accu-weather said that it was going to be pretty in Matthews all day, and in Rockingham all day and all night, so I had in mind to camp, pitching the tent to let it dry, and so on. Well the weather, while fine, looked threatening all day, and Accu-weather had a picture of a raincloud with lightning overnight, so indoor camping for me.  A rider Jeff from Asheboro finished early with me on the last two days, and we have ended up adjacent in the indoor camping, sharing the electrical outlet in the prime spots.  Well he got in before me in the first group today, and when he grabbed a primo spot with power, he saved a place for me there also.  I thought that was really nice.

Bill


I pitched the tent anyway, so it could dry.  There is a fresh breeze here, and I checked on it after an hour or so and it seemed completely dry.  I believe that is a marker for how flimsy it is.

Last night in Matthews I found a laundromat, so all the clean stuff I had that had gotten wet, as well as all my dirties, are clean and dry.  So I am a bit over-equipped for the rest of the trip.

So far Rockingham is keeping its charms well-hidden.

The People

So as I have mentioned there are 1,100 people on this trip, we are told.  An interesting aspect of it is that they are never all at the same place at the same time, so I have had the sensation many times today that I have not seen that person before.  Also there are 2 day and 3 day riders, but I think today in particular does not have either one.

Bill’s kids


I have heard that the average age is 55.  I am surprised it is not a touch more, because I have not seen the young people sufficient to offset the older ones.   I have seen maybe  a dozen 20s, maybe up to two dozen 30s.  It gets harder to tell after that,  but there are really a lot  of older people, by that I mean retirement age and beyond.

My experience of cyclists as a group is that can be a little prickly, a little self-consumed.  The nearest bike club to me is full of folks like this, so I am still on the outside, not really looking in.  There is a some of that here, but there are a lot friendly, jolly folks that are very pleasant.  I have heard a good deal more “How was your ride today?”s being passed around than on any other day so far.  Everyone seems to have had a pleasant day today.

Plenty of this today. Click on it.


The people that came with friends already obviously hang out with them.  I think its difficult for folks that did not come with a group to form up and hang out because their needs and timings and whatnot are different.  But I am guessing; it may happen a lot.  In any case  there is plenty of time for socializing.

One thing that is difficult to me is that sometimes it is hard to recognize a person in their casual clothes when you know them with a helmet, shades, particular bike, and their club jersey on.

A quick word about the bikes. There are probably a half-dozen tandems, one of which is crewed by a dad and his 8-year-old daughter.  There are at least that many, and maybe more like a full dozen, recumbents or lie-down bikes.  I don’t know problems a recumbent is the solution to, except one guy:  He uses his arms to ‘pedal’.  And his particular recumbent has his derriere about two inches off the ground (others are higher, some a lot higher).  I worry about the visibility of those guys, even with the flag that sticks up.

One final word is that a lot of these folks are heavy.  They can obviously get from point A to point B, but I assure you you would look at some of them and say, “There’s no way.”  But there seems to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *