This past Saturday, I went on a 56 mile bike ride that started near Treyburn, which is in northern Durham County, and ended at Kerr Lake, a little north of the NC/VA line. The total distance was 55.6 miles. We left at 9 in the morning and arrived at 3 in the afternoon, so that is 6 hours, minus about an hour for lunch and breaks, so the actual ride time was around or slightly under 5 hours.
Above: Nick riding along one of the 2 lane highways last Saturday.
15 or so people rode with us. We divided into three groups: the fast riders, the medium riders, and the slow riders. My brother and I were both in the first group, which had 7 people. Some people had road bikes, but the majority of them had mountain bikes.
The weather was great: mid-70s with a few clouds later in the day. It was a little cool for the first hour or so, but once we got going the weather was not a problem. I started out the ride wearing a long-sleeve Under Armour shirt, but had to change into my short-sleeve shirt after a few hours.
Above: a zoomed out map of the route generated by Routebuilder. View the interactive map.
There were a few rolling hills when we started out, but as we got farther away from Durham the roads became flatter. We rode on mostly two-lane rural highways and some small country roads. We started out by leaving Treyburn and riding over to Bahama Road, which we took for 6 or 7 miles before getting on Helena-Moriah Road. This became Enon Road, and we took this for about 13 miles until we reached Highway 158. This took us around Oxford, and we stopped for lunch outside of Oxford. Read the rest of this entry »
I called up the bike shop today to find out if my bike was ready. I was getting a little worried, since they hadn’t called me back, and the ride is on Saturday. It turned out that the bike was ready, and they said I could come and pick it up.
I didn’t have too much homework, and they were open for a few more hours, so I decided to stop by and pick it up tonight. I got there and it turned out that a combination of problems had contributed to the brake failure on the VA Creeper Trail ride.
They replaced the front and rear brake pads, replaced one of the damaged brake cables, aligned the brakes on the wheels, and adjusted the tightness of the brakes. They seem to be working fine now. I guess I’ll just have to pay closer attention to the brakes and replace the brake pads when they seem to be wearing down and adjust the brakes regularly. Just another thing to add to the list of regular maintenance tasks.
Once again, I’m glad that I have the extended service plan, or whatever it’s called. I get a few full tune-ups each year, so as they take considerably longer, I will probably have one done mid-winter if my bike is looking like it needs one.
After the ride last weekend, I decided to take my bike in for repairs. The front and rear brakes were really messed up from the ride, and Dustin and I figured that we wouldn’t be able to fix it ourselves.
Above: close up of the muddy rear shocks on Dustin’s bike
When I bought the bike, I got a 3 year extended service plan on the bike. This means that when I have problems with the bike, I can simply take it in and have it repaired at no cost. Dustin also has this plan, and he uses it all the time. A few months ago, he took his bike in after a big mountain biking trip, and he got pretty much all new parts, because the bike was messed up so badly. The service plan is really worth the money, and it works out great for us. They told me that my bike would be ready in a few days, which is good because I need to have it for the 50 mile ride I am going on next weekend.
Above: Al crossing the finish line of the Halloween 100
Also, I wanted to mention that Al rode in the Habitat for Humanity’s Halloween 100 ride last weekend. They had two routes, 100k (62 miles) and 50k (31 miles), and Al ended up riding the 50k. He had a great time, and in contrast to the weather in western Virginia where Dustin and I were riding, it was a nice sunny day here in Durham. He had ridden this route last year as well, and he told me that it was a really neat route that stretched all throughout Durham. If you’re curious, the cue sheet from the ride is available here (PDF). I didn’t get a chance to ride, but I would definitely like to try it next year.