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northbend - you are a hard man. Glad nothing more serious (or your bike) was broken. Tough week for C+V shoulders.
I did my birthday ride today - 50 at 50. I recently moved; kind of familiar with the roads but broke into some unfamiliar territory. Rode from just outside Crozet, VA, up through Afton to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The first 19 miles took an hour and a half - almost all uphill except for maybe abut 3 miles! Descended off the Parkway at Reed's Gap down to Devil's Backbone Brewery. I hit 50 mph on the descent, so scored the trifecta of 50's today! I was sorely tempted to get a beer but had a ways to go and my conditioning isn't so good, so I settled for a Coke and brewery made potato chips. the 20+ miles back were up and down rollers. Legs were definitely wet spaghetti by the finish but I had only 49 miles, so I rode past the finish (up a hill no less, ouch!) to get my 50 in.
This is the overlook to the northeast right after getting onto the Parkway
Raven's Roost. Highest point on the ride today at about 3100 feet. Looking west into the Shenandoah Valley.
Heading back towards Batesville. Looks like gravel but actually relatively smooth chip and seal.
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N = '96 Colnago C40, '04 Wilier Alpe D'Huez, '10 Colnago EPS, '85 Merckx Pro, '89 Merckx Century, '86 Tommasini Professional, '04 Teschner Aero FX Pro, '05 Alan Carbon Cross, '86 De Rosa Professional, '82 Colnago Super, '95 Gios Compact Pro, '95 Carrera Zeus, '84 Basso Gap, ‘89 Cinelli Supercorsa, ‘83 Bianchi Specialissima, ‘VO Randonneur, Ritchey Breakaway Steel, '84 Paletti Super Prestige, Heron Randonneur