The intention was to ride from the house to LaGrange and back. Lately I have been feeling tired and decided to sleep in this morning rather than hit the tarmac with the rising sun. The original plan was to ride Clyde and do about 80 miles through Warm Springs and back over the ridge through FDR. Seeing how the morning was slipping away, I changed my plans and decided to just take Hwy 109 to LaGrange and back home. Before I left the house, I promised Tracy that I would not be gone too long. I loaded Clyde with an extra bottle of water, a bottle of coffee, fresh figs and what was left of the mixed nuts for a snack somewhere on the road. I also put a PowerBar Energy Granola snack in my jersey pocket for food on the road.
I left the house and decided to take the hills on Pickard and Firetower rather than ride Jeff Davis. I planned on keeping my heartrate in Zone 3 so I didn’t hit the hills hard. It seems that there are some new dogs on North Pickard but I was able to get past them without too much bother. However, the three Daschund’s on Firetower just before Elliot Road came out to greet me. Their greeting of course required that I come almost to a full stop before a steep little rise in the road. A fact of bicycling seems to be that a dog will either greet you at the top of a hill when you are really tired or slow you down and rob you of momentum before a climb. Once I was past the weeny dogs and over the first little bump the slow rise to real climb on Firetower was under way. This is where I encountered the next set of dogs. Somewhere just after Elliot road and about 4 ¼ miles into the rise there was suddenly a dog to the left of me and a dog to the right of me. The dog to the right is a huge black and white dog but it seemed to be restrained. Unfortunately, the black and white hound/birddog to the left of me knows no such restraint and with the owner in the yard watching his dog run at me my options were limited. The dog on the left slowed just enough for me to sprint on through leaving my heartrate elevated just before the climb at mile 4.35. This is a ½ mile climb with an average grade of 5.1% and make grade of 8.6%. While it is a short climb, it will get you out of the saddle and working hard. The hard work is worth the descent afterwards though, even if you have to wait until you get onto Jeff Davis for the real speed.
The remainder of the trip through the Turner Lake roller’s was as beautiful as always with the bonus of seeing and talking with a green grass snake sunning itself on Turner Lake road. By watching my heartrate I was really able to move on County Line road without being burnt out by the time I reached Dunn Road. Fortunately the mean dogs on Dunn Road did not come out to greet me. I finally arrived at Hwy 109 feeling nicely warmed up and ready for the 30 or some miles to LaGrange. I briefly stopped at the stop sign to let a semi get on past and with a swig of water I pushed off to ride new territory once I crossed into Meriwether county.
I love the ride from Molena to the Cove on 109 West as it is mainly downhill and it is easy to move at a good pace. However, this would be the last long low grade stretch of road that I would remember for quite some time in the trip. Now would be a good time to mention that when I left the house I most certainly left knowing that I was going into a headwind. I believed that I would leave in a headwind and return with a tailwind. Such are the fantastical fantasy of a bicyclist when planning a ride but somehow the reality never seems to play out as well as one imagines. Once across the Flint River on 109 West I began the slow ascent into Woodbury. I expected such an ascent and happily churned away at the pedals. Riding through Woodbury feel nostalgic and quaint as the morning traffic was just beginning to pick-up but the drivers were not rushed and the headwind simply provided a nice cool breeze. There was one more stop at a redlight where Hwy 85 Alt. crosses 109 and then began the grind to Greenville.
Until Saturday I never fully respected the ascent from Woodbury to Greenville and did not realize that there is a rather nice change in elevation between the two towns. The elevation on the maps doesn’t look at the bad until you get into Greenville but for some reason the trip between the two towns really worked on the legs and the mind. I was originally planning on not stopping until I got to LaGrange but I was really wanting to stop in Greenville but couldn’t quite figure out where to stop.
This is where I need to mention one of the most important lessons learned on the trip. Open all of your food before you put it into your jersey pocket. My delicious PowerBar Energy Granola bar turned into true on the road food as I attempted to open the packaging while still moving. I was left with a corner of the wrapper in my mouth as I watched the bar slip between my ever pedaling legs and hit the road. Since I was in a rare descent with a hill looming large in the distant with oncoming cars, I choose not to stop and almost paid dearly for that decision.
Once through Greenville, the imagined park with a bench never appeared and I kept pedaling uphill and against the wind.