An easy 66 miles today. However it started slower than we desired. I broke a cleat before we even left the starting point. That delayed us a little bit as the support cycle shop replaced my cleats. Once off and on our way, my chain dropped off crossing through an intersection. The state trooper in the middle of the intersection looked over and asked if I was having a bad start to the day. Yes. I lost a cleat cover at the second rest stop. Oh well, I’ve never used them before and Gregg, my friend, laughed and told my I never should have purchased them. Lesson learned. Even with that, which were really all small problems, it was a good day, We cruised along right around 15 mph all day. Our first stop brought us into downtown Durham and to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Riding into downtown was a little hectic - no, very hectic - with traffic, but again the state troopers and local police and sheriff were at every intersection to wave us through with traffic stopped. As I turned through the center of one four lane intersection (4 lanes both ways), I asked the trooper in the middle directing the traffic if this was easy or hard work. He just smiled and said “easy”. The rest stop was actually in the stadium. Pretty cool. Heading out was considerably easier as we took the tobacco trail out of town. This trail is similar to a Rails-to-Trials path. We avoided all traffic.
The ride was good and relatively uneventful until we arrived at the Neuse River Greenway. We rode along the Greenway for 20 miles. This again is a trail similar to the Tobacco Trail that runs along the Neuse River.
The trail was as flat as could be - a very nice and welcome break after over two days of mountains and hills. I think we crossed 20 wooden bridges as we road along the lowlands. The ride ended in Knightsdale, a suburb of Raleigh, within a mile or two of the end of the Greenway. From there it was a bus trip to the hotel and then out to eat.
The shuttles to and from the start/finish points are excellent. With the hotels being more than a few miles from the start/finish points, we leave our bikes there and the organizers lock them up and stay with them all night. As mentioned before, very well organized.
Dinner was at the Raleigh Beer Garden. Over three hundred and fifty beers on tap across three different floors. Matt knew about this place from a previous visit to the area. Being that it was a Wednesday night, we walked right in and were served immediately. There was no crowd at all.
Tomorrow is a mere 62 miles with only 1,700 feet of climbing. Easy!
On a separate note. There are many more photos than I can post in these notes. You can see them at the main website.
