Salute to Saluda

This morning I got up in order to make it to the meeting place where Dave, Chris, and I planned to load up our bikes on Chris' car and drive up to Tigerville so we could do the Bakery Ride. I got there just in time and discovered we had an additional rider coming along. John was going to join us. Unfortunately, we didn't have room to add John's bike to the car so he had to drive up separately.

Man, what I wonderful ride! It was in the fifties when we finally made to the edge of North Greenville University. We parked there and unloaded our bikes. Pretty soon we were on our way.

I was glad that I had on long tights and shoe covers. I also was wearing a long sleeve undershirt beneath my jersey. Unfortunately, I had on my fingerless riding gloves. Before long, my fingers were pretty cold. Still, the ride was so much fun, I didn't really even notice it after a bit.

We averaged about 13.5 mph on our way up to the Wild Flour Bakery in Saluda, NC. We stopped once along the way to see the sun come up above a valley. You could see small mountains all around. It was a great moment.

At the bakery, I got a muffin, a cup of coffee, and a Yoohoo. There were all kinds of good looking stuff, but I don't think my stomach could have handled it! I was surprised that I was able to eat what I did. I must be getting used to eating on a exercise stressed stomach.

As we were leaving, I noticed there was a bike shop next to the bakery. I went in and got me some long fingered gloves. As we headed back down, I was very glad I had done so!

Going back down we rarely dipped below 20 mph. Most of the time we were around 25 mph with a maximum speed for my of just over 40 mph. We had sustained runs where we exceeded 27 mph. We had the train chuggin' and we were moving out.

In the end, we road for nearly 36 miles and averaged 16.6 mph. The whole ride only took us about 2 hours of ride time. It really was a blast and I'm ready to do it again.

Oh! Where were you when you passed 1000 miles on your first road bike? Me? I was riding back from the Wild Flour Bakery with good friends. I can't believe I have managed that many miles since the first of August.