Great story of a GOOD ride Dwight Giles Jr. Wickford RI
On Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 3:18 PM Floyd Thursby via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Fri Sat Sun I did a bike ride "Bicycle Across South Carolina" > > 48 miles the first day (Friday) on a lot of dirt fire/logging "roads" > and other back dirt/gravel roads, not a lot of pavement. It had rained > the night before so some of these "roads" were pretty soft and wet with > mud and very soft beach-type sand. It was a struggle. Not much actual > road so few vehicles the whole ride. > > Saturday was 54 miles on mostly dirt/gravel, some pavement, and 10 miles > on the Santee dike (dirt/gravel service road on top), which contains > Lake Santee that was built back in the 30s? to provide cooling water for > a huge power plant. I am told that the power company maintains 40some > miles of these dikes/dams, which is the largest amount anywhere in the > world. They reinforced a lot of it in the 80s to withstand earthquakes > but there was a large stretch that would have cost $500mil back then so > they started buying up land downstream of a potential break to clear > people out of the way. Saw a lot of farmland and some interesting > sights back in the country off the beaten path. I had no idea all this > stuff existed, I knew it was rural up there but it is REALLY rural! Not > a lot of commerce other than farming. Saw very few vehicles so it was a > comfortable ride. > > Yesterday was the last day, 50 miles mostly through the Francis Marion > on dirt/gravel roads which were very well maintained so fairly easy > riding but BO.RING! Did 1 mile on the Palmetto Hiking Trail which > necessitated walking the bike along most of it except for a coupla > hundred yards that was ride-able, sorta. A lot of that area was > blackwater cypress swamp which is very interesting, the rest is managed > pine forest, mostly loblolly pine to feed lumber and paper mills, but > some of it is being replanted in the original longleaf pine. > Interestingly enough I heard some birds but saw absolutely no wildlife > in ~40miles through the forest. I guess there are deer and bear back > in there but saw no sign of anything. Kinda weird. Hardly any vehicles > once we got into the forest, so again a quite comfortable ride without > having to worry about getting run over. > > After 149miles I had a blowout 3mi from the finish, managed to get a new > tube in and rode on in. Lunch and cobeer (Fat Tire was a sponsor!) > waiting so that was welcome. The ride was fully supported, we camped in > 2 state parks and a city park, they had portapots and food and beer and > restrooms/showers in the parks so that was good, hauled our impedimenta > from one site to the next. Snack stops on the routes, SAG vehicles > following along to deal with any problems. We bused from the finish > site to the start for the first night's stayover, then rode back from > there. > > My butt hurts! Gotta get a suspension seat post to take out some of the > pounding. I rode my Trek 920 Touring bike, which is pretty comfortable > riding (aside from the lack of suspension other than my butt), 29" tires > so rolls pretty well even on rough terrain, has wider off-road tires so > handles that aspect well. Kind of an all-around bike. Several riders > commented on it and were thinking about getting one though they seem to > be discontinued, maybe. > > Interestingly enough there are NO trail bikes available most anywhere > for the last several weeks, people have been buying them out during the > covids. I rode a bit with one woman who said she got the last mtb in > all of Charleston area about 3 weeks ago, it was not a particularly good > bike but it was working OK. After the first night of rain (setting up > camp in the dark and rain! the buses were 2.5hr late picking us up...) > we had great weather, high 60s low 70s, very low humidity, perfect > riding weather. > > And did I mention I turned 66 (wtf? how does that happen???) on Friday, > so this was a bit of birfday challenge to see if I could still grind out > the miles, I guess I am not ready for the discard pile yet! Legs were a > bit stiff this morning but I soon worked that out, don't feel too bad > although I am hungry! Not like I need to replace any lost, uh, energy > stores though... > > Oh, and I loaded my bike and impedimenta in the $700ML500 and carried it > all up to the start site about an hour away, up past Max's > neighborhood. Longest ride in it, everything was fine, so getting > confidence in it. Gotta get a hitch setup for my bike rack, taking it > apart to fit in the hatch was a bit of a pain but it slid in there well > along with my other gear. > > Thanks for sharing! > > -- > --FT > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
