Today was a different kind of hard for 68 miles. Riding up and down mountains is tough on everything from legs to cardio. Flats are difficult in that it is constant pedaling. Today was 68 miles of pedaling with little coasting. Matt and I didn’t help that matter in that for the first 15 miles we pulled a group of a dozen plus riders in a paceline at 18-19 mph. Leaving the starting town we just wanted to create a little space between us and the crowd of riders. Turns out some of them jumped in line for the ride - the front rider breaks the wind while the rest of the riders get to ride behind with much less effort. Matt said it was fun and exciting. That took us to the first stop which was’t much but a needed rest. The next 15 miles brought us to the second rest stop in Farmville at The Duck & Rabbit Craft Brewery.
While this photo doesn’t look like much of a brewery, the building behind it is much larger.
Out in front the town also had a full meal prepared for the riders. The photo here just shows half of the offerings for lunch. It was a little too early at 10:30 am for me, but I did have a few hush puppies. There was also a full table of homemade desserts. As I’ve mentioned before, these towns really go all out for this event. When we came into town, there were town people along the streets cheering, waving, ringing cow bells, generally making noise welcoming us. In leaving, when we turned on to the main street (think of an old town Main Street for a block or two), again there were people on both sides of the street making noise, waving, thanking us for coming through. Kind of cool. Overall, this ride must be a big fairly well known ride in North Carolina. We continually see people out on front porches, in driveways, or on sidewalks in lawn chairs waving and watching the riders go by.
Oh, and yes there was craft beer available for the riders. Seemed 10:30 am was not too early for that.
The third stop brought us to an ice cream shop - Simple Natural Creamery - which was actually a dairy farm. I just happened to come upon another older dog that was happy to take my dog biscuits, then sat patiently waiting for some of my ice cream. That did’t happen. He left.
The end of the ride came 25 miles after that in 84 degree weather. We were drained. Remember, little coasting. I clocked over 44,000 pedal strokes at the end, more than any day so far.
This is what we called the tent farm, set up for those riders who just want to rent a tent and not have to worry about packing one, setting it up each day, and then taking it down each morning. The rider organizers do all of that for the renters. Looks like a nice picture? Now imagine it’s 84 degrees and you just finished 68 miles.
We ended the day at a microbrewery tap room and a restaurant called the Boiler Room Oyster Bar. It was actually a very popular spot in Kinston with good ratings. They were booked. Typically on a Friday night they serve around 500-600 parties. Tonight it was going to be about 2000. We walked across the street to the tap room while we waited for our table. Worked out perfectly.
The menu was purely Carolina in the recipes and how the food was prepared. They even had a $40 hard-cover cook book for sale. We all did not order the norm and looked for items on the menu that you just can’t find anywhere else, at least not at home. This included Beef Fat Fries. You can probably imagine how that’s prepared.
Tomorrow is the last day and an even flatter day. We ride 61 miles with only around 400 feet of climbing. That brings us to the coast at Swansboro. It’s been a fun ride so far and I expect tomorrow to be the same.