Scattered, Covered, Chunked and Diced

This post has NOTHING to do with our upcoming New England ride, but since it occurred after I started my New England Tour blog I thought I'd add this.  Also, it was a chance to test out my new King of Fleece rain cover so it was part of my New England tour prep.  So sue me.

Yesterday KC texted me and asked if I'd be up for an early ride today.  A quick check of the weather showed that it wouldn't hit 80F (my personal "boil-over" point) until nearly noon, so I checked the "yes" box.  When I pulled in to our usual meeting place on Sunday morning, I saw that his son Kyle would be joining us.  Adding Kyle to the ride allowed us to add a third participant to our Sena intercom...and that worked well all day...though we think Kyle's unit was adding in some audio noise all morning.  Could have been his missing windshield or microphone cover.  In any event, it was helpful to have all three riders connected to call pee breaks, road gravel and to negotiate our lunch plans.

It was great fun having Kyle along- he is a highly skilled rider and definitely one of the cool kids.

Our route took us north on Hwy 441 to just outside Franklin, NC at which point KC had us peel off to the east on a winding two lane road that skirted alongside the Tuckaseegee River.  As we negotiated the twisty and scenic road, the southern tip of the Appalachians loomed in the distance and KC announced, "We're going over those." For the next two hours we wound our way through mountain twisties, shielded from the sun by hillsides and a dense canopy. Some of the views were stunning although we agreed that a winter ride through here would reveal much more of the terrain.

The temperature stayed around 60F for a long time and I was thankful that I'd thought to add a long sleeve shirt under my new Klim mesh jacket.  The traffic was nil and the road conditions were generally excellent, though we did have to keep an eye out for gravel in places.  Much of the ride today was on new roads for me, though we did ride on the same route we'd followed earlier this spring coming home from Cherokee, NC...an amazingly beautiful and densely shaded road.  Its a great warm weather ride.

We stopped in Clayton for a late breakfast and found crowds or Sunday closures at our preferred joints.  Since Waffle house seemed to have room for us, we grabbed a booth and ordered an embarrassing amount of food.  My gigantic hash brown plate came the way I like 'em...scattered, covered, chunked and diced.  The ride home was marginally comfortable...it was now 80F+ and moving through the hot, heavy air at 70 MPH was the only way to tolerate it.  By the time I pulled down my gravel driveway, it was like a sauna.  Still, it was a great ride and overall, very comfortable.

Here's an overview of our route...note that the southernmost portion of the route (along Hwy 441 is missing)...nothing to see there.

Thanks to the Keith and Kyle for including me on their ride!!