Once the crew from Carrboro started showing up I felt instantly at ease. Andrew Bousquet had put together a crew of about 6 to come ride for the day. I knew that they'd be down to ride and probably fun to keep up with. The mood was fun, they talked of stunts and vows of not doing them. Several other folks came out, making for 11 of us in total. I was stoked! We drank coffee, ate some pastries and stowed others away for later in the day. Carrie handed out booklets and crayons, we checked over the route briefly. Most folks decided to follow me instead of deal with the seemingly endless list of turns. At 8am we rolled out, heading towards Falls Lake.
We made good time over to Falls of the Neuse, unfortunately we lost one rider because of the pace. With the group now down to 10 we made our way down the NRGW. The uninterrupted path allows you to relax from the normal stresses of road riding. Occasionally heavy foot traffic slowed the pace at times, but maybe that was for the best. Over the 20 miles, we broke into several groups spread over a couple miles. There was a plan made to all stop at the 3rd checkpoint and have a snack break, somewhere around 45 miles I think. Soon after CP3 we left the river and headed west towards downtown Raleigh. Crank Arm Brewery has been a regular stop for me while riding to Raleigh since I found it. We made no exception on this day and stopped by for a couple pints.
Leaving Raleigh and heading west on another stretch of road was the low point of the route. The afternoon sun beats down on you as you're exposed on the shoulder of a 5 lane road. Water was found and we pushed on to the town of Cary. Another set of Greenways took us through the suburban sprawl on our way to the American Tobacco Trail. We took the ATT north before cutting west again to make our way into Carrboro. It was at this turnoff that we lost another rider who decided to just shoot straight back to Durham. Nine of us pushed on, knowing that one must climb to enter Chapel Hill. Laurel Hill would be our way of entry. A long winding hill that spits you out right into UNC campus. From there we only had one more checkpoint to hit, also Beer Study. The pull towards one more cold pint before pushing on to Durham was too strong. For better of worse, we stopped in, let our legs stiffen up as our minds softened. Then we did it, we got back on and headed towards the finish.
Maybe it was my foolish mistake to stay out front most of the day, maybe it was the last beer stop, or my lack of calories at the end of the day, but I started bonking big time. The last part of the route climbs up a couple long and steep hills, I planned it that way. Seemed like a good painful yet rewarding way to finish, I was right. My thighs burned and I was sure they would stop working at any point, but I pushed on. Maybe I'll drop down one more gear and soften the blow. Chain drop! Fuck! My bike came to a standstill, I almost fell over. I stood shaky legs, on the side of the road and fixed my chain back on. Back on the donkey, I made my way to try and rejoin the group who had dropped me back at the start of the climb. They were just at the top of the hill, we rejoined and made our way into downtown Durham together.
We did check-in at Accordion Club, Carrie met us there and handed out patches. Since I didn't really know what to expect as far as turnout we didn't have any sort of after party set up, regretfully so. After Carrie handed out patches, we parted ways and the Carrboro crew went for pizza. I went inside and got a beer, a root beer, and some hot dogs. We finished the route in 10.5 hours, which I was very pleased with. All in all, it was a great success and I'm very excited to do it again.
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