Rainy Oldham Ride

(stolen from LithoDale's site)
Date: Jan 3 Sat
Weather: 51F, pouring rain
Mileage: 27.5 (Blueridge)
January mileage: 81.5
Year to date: 81.5

I'm still achy and sore- lower back, glutes, left knee- from today's fun-but-torrential outing in Oldham with LithoDale. He mapped out a nice ride for out warm afternoon, with the benefit of dropping his chillens off at his parents' house out there. I took the Blueridge b/c of the broken fender on the Bleriot, but really the BR is a better bike for trying to keep up with BeastoDale. We descended the steep 1793 and began on the bucolic Rose Island Rd. Unfortunately that meant we also had to ascend Goshen Ln. in the 3rd mile of the ride. Both 1793 and Goshen are found on Duc's excellent 100 Steep Ones. Take a look if you would like. From there the route took on its boring part on 42. If that road, in fact, was a minor one with low traffic it would be a fantastic route, but instead 42 is the main artery of Oldham so traffic can be dicey. Today the traffic wasn't but the headwind was. Coming out of Goshen Ln. I was flush with lactic acid and never really got a good rest until we turned off of 42 at around mile 10 on 393. We encountered another nice, steep, short hill coming out of a creek valley and found our most rural riding on Cedar Point and New Cut/1817. And again, these roads were rolling with occasional steep pitches out of creek valleys, and with all these I didn't have the climbing legs today to attack; I just put it in a small gear and inched up.

Sometime during Cedar Point or New Cut the heavens opened and thoroughly drenched us to the bone. I knew some rain might come so I rode prepared with wool sox, wool gloves, and my RBW rainhat. I guess that worked, or not, but it just rained and rained and rained. Even with the downpour the ride along 1817 and Covered Bridge was very, very satisfying, especially now that we had earned our tailwind. We turned toward the house via Locke Ln. and Mayo Ln. Knowing that Mayo ended in a steep fall to the river plain, I didn't mentally prepare myself for yet another nasty, short pitch in the middle of Mayo Ln. I, in fact, stopped and walked perhaps 10yds just to catch my breath and legs. That little pitch, though, was my fav of the day, with trees and leafy banks on both sides, very much a little bucolic, "old world" window on the ride. We finished up back on Rose Island and climbing up the formidible 1793. I was cranked the granny gear and kept turning the pedal, hindered a little bit by the need to keep the Brooks dry, and henceforth doing all my climbing seated. It was a very fun "little" ride. Interestingly, my computer showed 27.5 and mapmyride only about 27m, although in the past I had good luck with the computer's calibration. Times change, I guess.