See the pictures from Big Rock Creek Rd. Scroll down and click on a thumbnail. (Black dots on the map are the locations of the pics) I started late (22 minutes behind) and rode solo all day. I started very strong in an effort to avoid making Jeff wait for me very long up at Devil's Punchbowl, but he declined to wait and ride the mixed terrain option, which was a prudent decision on his part as it was more difficult than I had hoped. Some of that may have been due to having tired legs from the effort in the first 45 miles or so. Also, it was fairly hot in the afternoon on the return leg, but I suppose it could be even hotter in that area at this time of year. I rode from the start to the stop at Devil's Punchbowl in 2 hrs 34 min, and made the turnoff for my detour in 3 hrs 8 min. I had the added difficulty of my left peddle separating from the spindle. I tried to pound it back on without success, and had to ride by soft peddling with the left leg while applying pressure from the outside towards the bike. When the peddle slipped off it would throw off my balance and might have been very dangerous when going faster than I was on the climb towards Vincent Gap. Somewhere along the line, the peddle seemingly re-attached itself, although I had no confidence in it and never applied a lot of pressure on it, particularly on descents where I was unwilling to rely on it to put my weight on it as the outside peddle in a curve. On the detour off-route, starting with the turn onto Big Rock Creek Rd, I stopped frequently to take pictures. Once I was on the dirt section, I walked a lot more of the steep pitches than I'd like to confess. When the dirt was loose and the pitch was 10% or more, I had to generate a high cadence and use a lot of power to continue up as the back tire slipped, and at some point I would be unable to sustain it, and it was useless to try to get restarted on a steep pitch. Never mind that my heart would likely have exploded (lol) had I continued those efforts, or that I was becoming dehydrated. The dirt section wsa only 1.8 miles, but had nearly 1000' of elevation gain, and what with the "hike-a-bike" and taking pictures it was the slowest 2 miles of my life, taking a full hour. When I made it to Vincent Gap, I took some more pictures and then continued to soft peddle up to Blue Ridge before descending to the rest stop at Big Pines, where I had hoped to recover. Only, they were basically out of water and I understood that that there were a few more riders still on their way up. There was actually only one, but I drank a Coke and filled only 1 bottle, then stopped at the campground just above Jackson Lake to fill up with water, which was a good thing because I was basically out of water again by the time I made it to the next stop on Mt. Emma and Cheeseboro Rd. There was a significant headwind which was an added bonus of difficulty for already tired legs on the return after finishing the descent from Big Pines, and the return on Mt. Emma was seemingly a particular challenge but, by then, I was low on energy as I had not eaten much during the ride.