Working toward being ready for the Covered Bridge Classic (65 miles!) in about 12 days... Need longer rides without stop signs and traffic lights. It's difficult to get a comfortable 40+ miles without going farther out. So off to upper Fredneck County we go. Even though it was the middle of the day, temps stayed in the lower to mid-80s and the sky was mostly cloudy. Didn't take long to remember why I used to go up there a lot: very little traffic off the main roads. Even the busier roads offered only a few vehicles. Stuck to the old familiar roads and route because it's been quite a while since the last visit. Too long. No good reason NOT to go there now, as an ORG.... Legs felt good after about 5 miles and stayed that way throughout. Felt like there was plenty of available power for the climbs. Gonna need a few more of these 2+ hr rides to get the contact portion of the program sorted out. No pain today, but there was for sure some discomfort. No death march, though, even up that last Angleberger climb, into the SW breeze.