The plan is to ride 30 miles and get from the TN border to 421. However the wise old Jim has a brilliant idea - let's at least get through the gravel road (GRAVEL ROAD!? these are road bikes), it's only 10 more miles, then we won't have to deal with the gravel section first thing Thursday. After some back and forth the team agrees. We are off and rather quickly too - 25.2 mph for the first 10 miles... this mountain thing is easy, all downhill. We make it to 421 and after several climbs (ok not all downhill after all) we hit a great descent. David, Carl and I are flying... we get to a good stopping spot and wait for the rest of the team, and wait, and wait. Uh oh, something must have gone wrong so we head back... sort of. Too much hill to climb going back with 350 miles to go over the next 4 days, we'll just wait a little longer. Low and behold our faithful photographer Andrew (thanks to Scott and the WSJ) comes to the rescue. We learn Philip has blown (and I mean POW like in the batman show) out his front tire. Matt says its a lost cause, but we have an extra wheel. A few minutes later, the team is back again and onto the gravel road. We end the day with 2 more flats due to the gravel and the wives are there right on time to pick us up. We meet a nice man (Darryl) at the stopping place and wonder where his other brother Darryl is...
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| The BEERmeister |
Day 2: We start the day with a modest pace, man there is a lot of rolling hills for going downhill. The route is awesome and we are making great time. We stop and Scott has a call to make. We get a police escort through Wilkesboro, now that is pretty cool, given the busy route. We stop at the VFS and confirm, the police will pick us up in town. We roll into town and there are the police cars, one in front and one in back. We roll through town like we are important people but most importantly safe. Thanks Scott that was a nice treat. We hit a convenience store, have some ice cold water orgasms and head for W-S. Only one close call with an absolute idiot running an oncoming car off the road and a dropped water bottle (Andy there to help, of course) and we make our way through the foothills. We see a sign for the bakery. Our usual trusty radar (Jim V) says its only about 1,000 feet off our route so we make a detour. 14 miles later (OK really only 2 but it seemed like14) we are at the bakery and lunchtime. Awesome sandwich, reload drinks, and a known route home. Jim O must of had EPO for lunch, he is an animal up front and really singing to loud with the ipod. We get to Lewisville and need one last stop for drinks... HEY WE MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF THE PAPER! Oops got the names wrong, what kind of folks do they have working there? We roll into downtown W-S and a bevy of beautiful women await - YES it was our wives but hey they are all beautiful. Off to the W-S Social Club for our usual post ride beverage and good nights rest in our own beds. 142 miles done.
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| Starting spot Day 2 - Hey where is Darryl? |
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| Oh damm I broke a nail |
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| Gotta get the billable hours in no matter what! |
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| Now what? Sheesh these guys can't even fix a flat! |
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| I gotta tweet to show the boss I am working |
DAY 3: Back to WSJ headquarters for an 8:00 departure. WOW we have a balloon canopy and ANOTHER police escort out of town. Lifelong membership to Scott! The police escort is awesome, 3 motorcycles and a SUV give us the right of way all the way to the Davidson line, THANK YOU W-S's finest. We hit midway and no more fanfare, no more escorts, just a long slow climb to Troy. The weather is awesome and the rolling roads are beautiful. No flats, no traffic issues and best of all, no potential fights for Carl heading into Troy. We make it to the golden arches and sit down for lunch. Lots of interest in our ride and lots of "good lucks". My favorite came from our oldest fan.
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| Day 3 - Lunch after a hard 55 miles. |
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| Lunchtime for the crew in Troy, NC |
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| Me and Leo Cloddfelter, our oldest fan - she's 94! |
The golden arches folks are as nice as ever, filling our water bottles with ice and we are off to one of our favorite stops... the Triple LLL Farm. The usual ice cream, soda and peach. We enjoy some down time after 90 miles and head for The Pine Bluff Inn. We take another dirt road (no flats!) then back to the good old asphalt for the final push to the Inn. The pool is AWESOME! Chairs in the shallow end, cold beer flows (Olson is spending way too much time in the deep end - is the water getting warmer?) and a great post ride celebration begins. We move inside, tequila and even more celebrating. I barely recall some puppeteering, something about SYP and a big tip. What happens in Pine Bluff stays in Pine Bluff. 255 miles are in the books.
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| Love that peach ice cream at the LLL. |
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| The Welch boys never looked so good... |
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| The WRFB Team never looked so good either... and that is after 235 miles! |
DAY 4: Oh my head hurts! OK everybody's heads hurt. We start the day a little later than usual, a little slower than usual and boy is it quiet. Several water stops and we are finally at the big nasty burger joint (can we say Paris Hilton commercial) in St. Paul. Food was never so good. The pace is better after lunch, there is more chatter and we are enjoying the flat roads and minimal traffic. One missed turn with a turn around (who is this guy navigating?) and we come across the sacred watermelon wagon just North of Whiteville. We eat, leave a couple bucks and the melon carcass on the wagon and then onto the friendliest convenient store EVER in Bladenboro, NC. I think the whole city is here... we even get asked from a little guy if we are brothers? Of course Olson lies and says we sure are, that kid will be messed up for a long time thinking about that one.
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| Day 4 - Thank you watermelon man... whoever you are! |
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| What's broken now? Oh nothing... man the people in this town are so nice. |
We pedal onto Whiteville, the third 100 mile day is starting to wear on everybody - especially the backsides. I think I could sell my A&D ointment and pay for a year of Abby's college, but these are my teammates and I share. We get to the Econo "suck" Lodge and OH MY! It is now the Econo "they have a pool and it is open" Lodge. OK it is still not the greatest place to stay but hey, the pool makes everything all right. The pool is great! Chairs in the shallow end, cold beer flows - much less than last night thank goodness and we keep Olson out of the deep end. A more subdued post ride celebration begins. Dinner at a new mexican restaurant (that will NOT be open when we come through next year - BAD!) and off to bed early. 350 miles done.
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| The Pool is fixed in Whiteville! All hail Econo"not sucks anymore" Lodge. |
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| Look out if Jim heads to the deep end... |
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| The BEERmeister strikes again. |
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| Dude whats with the rabbit skull tat and those shorts? |
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| Got my nails fixed, maybe I need a pedicure... |
DAY 5 - THE FINAL DAY! 7:00 breakfast at the International Waffle House (funny I did not see anything International on the menu). Back to the rooms, more demand for the magic ointment, a last tune up of the bikes and we are off to Sunset. What else can I say, the ride to Sunset Beach is smooth and we click along at a spritely 20 MPH. Clay (Mini - Scott), our SAG for the final 3 days, does a great job taking care of us Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but espcially Sunday. The roads are busy and he patiently follows us in the truck with flashers on. We stop for some photos, over the bridge onto the island and again a bevy of beautiful women await! This time they have bloody mary's and schrimp burgers! We really have some great support for our escapades. A great ride, a great time and even better group of guys! I enjoyed every minute of the trip (except maybe those couple of hours Saturday morning) and best of all we even helped bring some awareness and financial donations to a great organization. As of writing this blog, Cancer Services of W-S had donation of nearly $10,000 due to our ride across the state. Now that doesn't suck! Oh and Clay, how you feeling their bro? 390 miles in the books.
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| Day 5 - We made it - 390 miles! |
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| Final destination, bloody mary's, beer, shrimp burgers, beach. Makes it all worth it. |
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| The BEERmeister is dine and happy. |
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| Sunset at the beach... doesn't suck. |
Fred - aka Diesel! Enjoyed it boys and look forward to 2014.
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