Taste of Carolina 1200k Ride Summary

September 3-6, 2011
Rob Welsh

Synopsis

A fun weekend, with a nice course that was very tough in places, but a very well run event. Road conditions were excellent, some of the best I’ve ever ridden. Drivers were almost without exception very courteous. The organization and support was very southern hospitality friendly. Tony Goodnight and his crew did a great job keeping things rolling along and were ready to help out whenever needed. We had some severe weather at the end of the ride from the tail end of tropical storm Lee, but it didn’t keep the riders still on the course from finishing. I had hopes of going for a really low time, but the early hills, a broken spoke and a long weather delay kept this from happening, but it was one of the nicest 1200k rides I have done.

Background

I chose the Taste of Carolina (TC) ride because it started 10 miles from my daughter and her family’s home in High Point, North Carolina. I have a 20 month old granddaughter so seeing her tipped the scales versus going to PBP, which finished the week before.

Climbing elevation was close to the same as PBP, but climbing on the TC ride was much more intense and with many longer and often steeper hills overall in some sections. To balance this out, there was 300 miles of virtually flat riding to and from the coast.

20-25 1200k riders started the 1200k event, with two 1000k entrants and a handful of 200k riders out for a day spin. The first day was spent on a 400k loop in the North Carolina Appalachian mountains west of Greensboro. The second part of the course headed south, passing over the Uwharrie Mountains, with a number of long hills and rollers, down to Laurinberg, then a flat 100 miles to the beach at Ocean Isle Beach. The third part of the course brought us back across the coastal flatlands to Laurinberg again, then continued, gradually becoming hillier up to Southern Pines, about 90 miles from the finish. The next leg was noticeably hillier, with several sharp rollers heading into Asheboro, but the last 35 mile section was a gentle roll back to Greensboro.

I was in pretty good shape for the ride, but hadn’t done anything close to the kind of hill climbing we had on day one. I did a 600k ride in Minnesota two weeks before this event and unfortunately wore a new pair of shorts, violating all good randonneuring sense, and suffered some pretty good chaffing. This turned out to be a bit of a problem as the TC ride went on, but ample doses of Lanacane and Brave Soldier ointment got me through without too much discomfort. It was warm enough, throughout the ride to wear shorts and a jersey only. During the days it did get quite hot, into the low 90s, with high humidity.

My old Garmin quit just before the ride so I bought a new Oregon 450 unit, which is designed for many outdoor activities, including biking. For the first time I downloaded the GPS tracks and used them to follow the course. This worked very well and kept me on course on several occasions. This unit also has an elevation profile capability which lets you see the terrain coming up. This was generally good, but sometimes a little depressing when a huge hill or set of rollers would scroll onto the screen, which was an ongoing scenario in several parts of the ride. Throughout the ride, when I was in a group, having the tracks and elevation info available was very helpful and complemented other rider’s cue sheet navigation. I had my cue sheet too, but the GPS navigation really made it easy, especially at night. I suppose there are some that would say this wasn’t real ancien randonneuring, but I really appreciated staying on course in an area that I had never been in before.

The Ride

We started at a good pace from Greensboro at 4a Saturday morning. The first 60+ miles got us to the start of the real hills. I’m usually a slow starter so was not surprised when the local riders left me in the dust on the first hills. The long five mile hill after Salem Fork was a harbinger of what was ahead.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, with sunshine starting in late morning. Being up in the mountains kept it from getting too warm. My favorite stop was at a biker bar in Laurel Springs where people at the bar were fascinated and amazed at the concept of a 750 mile bicycle ride. When I came out to get rolling again, several Harley bikers were admiring my ride, especially the generator hub set up. No one offered to swap with me though, so I continued on.

By the 280k mark I had passed nearly all the other riders, mostly by dieseling along and not wasting much time at controls and stops. Then Micah Fritzinger came rolling along. Micah and I finished the Endless Mountains 1240k in 2009 together, or rather he pulled me along much faster than I thought I could go over the last 15 miles. Micah is 39, from Southern Indiana, a very strong rider, but this time he was pressing his limits by riding a single speed! We rode together to the next control where we were joined by Don Jagel from Pennsylvania. The last 40 miles were tough on Micah as his legs were really shot from all the hills, but we stuck together and arrived back in Greensboro before midnight. My original plan was to ride straight through and go for a low time, but after 17,000’ of hills I needed a break and a new ride strategy. After a three hour rest, Don and I headed out. Micah decided to take a
longer rest to let his legs recover.

The day continued with more rollers, albeit a little smaller than the day before, as we headed toward and through the Uwharrie Mountains south of Greensboro. We caught up with Lynn Lashley, a friend from the 2010 Elite Tour, and Dave Nixon, from Georgia. Don, Lynn and Dave then proceeded to drop me on the next set of hills before Ellerbe, but we continued on together to Laurinberg, now enjoying a steady downhill/flat ride that would carry us all the way to Ocean Isle Beach (OIB). Don stopped in Laurinberg to rest for a few hours.

Things got pretty warm in the afternoon, 90+, with a high humidity index and a little head wind so we took our time, stopping when we could to refill and try to stay cool. We arrived in OIB a little after dark, knowing we were now well over ½ done, with the worst of the hills behind us.

Our last stop, not far from OIB, was a small church where we intended to just stop for a minute. Just leaving the lot was the last car from a revival service that had just completed. After the people in the car heard what we were doing, we were overwhelmed with southern hospitality as they insisted we use their restroom facilities and offered all kinds of help. They probably thought we were a little crazy and in need of some kind of salvation.

After a dinner of Subway sandwiches and a six hour break, Lynn, Dave and I started out and made good time back to Laurinberg. We stopped at the small church again and were joined by Mark and Bill Olsen, on their down to OIB, who saw our lights at the church and pulled in. Bill got off his bike and laid down for a five minute nap. Bill completed the Big Wild Ride 1200k in Alaska the week before but was cruising along at his usual 88 hour pace. (Not to be outdone, Mark completed a 600k brevet in Minnesota this past weekend – pretty impressive brothers.)

Dave had cousins living in Laurinberg so he called ahead and had them deliver biscuits to us at the control. I’ve never had biscuits on a brevet before, but they are definitely on my list of great randonneur food now.

Not too far out of Southern Pines a loud ‘pwang’ could only mean one thing – a broken rear spoke. Within ½ a mile the wheel was already wobbly, but by taking the brake pads off I was able to continue slowly. Fortunately, we weren’t that far from High Point and I was able to call Nancy and my daughter and they brought me a new rear wheel from Nancy’s bike within a couple of hours. Dave and Lynn carried on. When I called Tony to let him know I was back on the road with 90 miles to go he informed me about the tornado warning that covered all of the remaining route back to Greensboro until 4a the next morning. He had been able to reach most of the other riders that were getting close to Southern Pines and they were heading for a hotel to wait it out. I thought about going on, but common sense kicked in and I found a Days Inn and holed up for eight hours and a good night’s rest. My plan was if it was still raining at 4a I would wait until dawn before going on, but it was dry and calm so I packed up and headed out. The next 50+ mile section turned out to be quite hilly, particularly near the end at Asheboro. A heavy rain was threatening and I rode over several areas of very wet pavement but did not see a drop of rain. The Sheetz store in Asheboro was one of my all time favorite controls ever – freshly made breakfast with lots of other good food. Experienced randonneurs get to be experts on convenience stores across the US. I highly recommend Sheetz as a premiere randonneur friendly stop.

After the hills into Asheboro I was concerned that the last section into Greensboro would be a roller coaster, but Tony came through with an easy roller/flat section – what a great way to finish! A little tailwind made it even better and if not for the deluge that came down in the last two miles, it would have been perfect. I got in at 11a on Tuesday morning, many hours later than what I was hoping for, but I was very satisfied and happy to have enjoyed the experience.

The riders ahead of me, Don, Lynn and Dave, didn’t hear about the tornado warning and kept going. So did Henk who was a few hours behind but kept rolling along. Lynn and Dave were hit with a very strong lightning/thunderstorm, followed by an eerily calm period 35 miles from the end. We learned later that a tornado did touch down several miles from where they were riding. Riders that finished later in the day and evening rode through bouts of heavy rain, but all were able to finish successfully.

Summary

A very enjoyable experience, with enough challenges to keep it interesting and some new and old friends to ride with. Tony and his team were great to deal with when I needed help. The roads of North Carolina are nice, but be ready for lots of up and down if you aren’t near the coast. The courtesy of the drivers was a bit of a pleasant surprise, particularly given the windy up and down nature of many of the roads. I hope Tony does this ride again.

Rob Welsh
Minnesota RBA