51 Miles in a 2 Part Ride
51.6 miles to be exact. I wasn't expecting to ride that far since my original goal was a planned 34 mile ride as part of a three day 100 for the virtual Seagull Century ride which officially "began" on the 3rd for all the participants and "ends" on the 10th (which would have been the actual ride in Maryland had Covid not put the kabosh on all events cycling related, among every other sport nationwide....nay, even globally. )
But my cycling neighbor texted me that morning wanting to join me in a ride. Since she can't go much beyond 20 miles I had to forego my 34 mile plan and adjust my route accordingly. As I was getting my bike ready I got a phone call from her, slightly panicked. She had plugged her bike in the prior evening to recharge, but the plug must not have been secure because...drum roll please...the bike wasn't charged. I told her not to worry. She could ride my LaFree, seeing how she wanted to try it out anyway for possibly purchasing the same model as her second ebike for herself and her guests. Crisis averted. She was thrilled and within minutes her car pulled into my driveway, and a few minutes later we were off for a rolling 17 mile social "bike and talk" ride on the gravel roads.
In as much as our rides are taken up by talking, no photos are to be had. Someday I'll have to rectify that omission. We did have fun, as usual. Lots of rolling terrain which allowed her to learn how best to employ the shifting of the internal gearing. She really liked the LaFree and I suspect I may soon be seeing one in her garage alongside her Vado.
By the time we got back at 2 pm, and after more socializing plus another raid on my garden to supply her with various veggies for her table, she happily tootled on home while I had a chance to sit down to lunch and relaxed conversation with hubby.
I hadn't given up on my plan to ride 34 miles, and so after lunch I set off into the late afternoon, my GPS loaded with the course route, my music playing in my ears, and the spare battery for the Vado replacing the original one which was somewhat depleted by that morning's ride. I wanted a fully charged for this 34 mile ride as 50 total miles today was now the revised goal.
This is the ride below, summerized in photos:
This opportunity was a complete surprise - a newborn calf barely a few minutes old. I had cycled past momma, glancing at the calf before my head swivvled around abruptly as my brain registered what my eyes had seen. The newborn stance (hips high and front on the ground in the first attempts to stand, a curly coat still wet from amniotic fluid, a momma fully engaged in licking her newborn dry) was too obvious to miss. I stopped, parked the bike, and cautiously crept towards the fence on foot to get a closer look, and a photograph. I wasn't going to risk the new mother's ire, but fortunately she merely gave me a concerned look before returning to her task of drying the new baby. I didn't linger. I got my photo and crept back to the bike. There was still many miles left to go, and the sun wasn't about to hang around in the sky for me. So off I went, riding south on my favorite paved-and-gravel route, leaving momma and baby behind to continue their bonding.
The paved road south was fast, quiet, and scenic with lots of rolling hills dotted with cattle, vineyards, and barns, all backlit with the ever present sometime-near-sometimes-far mountains. At about the 14 mile mark the paved road ended with a flurish into a tiny town that really doesn't exist anymore except in the local road signs and maybe a sign here or there tacked on a building. Now it is merely a jumble of old structures loitering around some equally old railroad tracks, the buildings trying to stay upright and look respectable yet failing by virtue of the parked presence of a downtrodden old pickup accompanied by a dull dusty old car that had seen better days. Where the paved road passed the proverbal torch to the gravel road, the same pile of railroad ties that @Adventum had photographed during his group's ride the other week on this same road ...well, those ties were still piled high alongside the road next to the RR tracks, still patiently waiting on that of future gainful employment.
I took their photograph, and then - since I didnt have a banana for scale - used my water bottle and bike to show the height of the stack. It was a big one indeed. The stack that is. Oh, nevermind. You know what I mean. On we go. We're outta here.
A momentous occasion just 2 miles further up the road. A benchmark worthy of a photo - the Vado turning 1,000 miles. 5 months old. Pretty proud of this bike as it has been everything I had hoped it would be...and then some.
Further along I spotted this catwalk of planking marching up a hillside with the firm commitment to provide safe passage, and prevent backsliding and sinking into the soil , of any overweight industrial equipment that required access to the far side of the hill. It was obviously doing its job admirably if the distant rumbling and beeping eathmoving equipment noises floating over the crest of the hill was any indication. I took a photo of the unique runway, and pedaled on.
The rolling peace of the gravel road that, for 6 miles, saw only my bike in passage. The shadows were starting to lengthen already, but the sun was still bright and the day mellow. The only thing marring such perfection was the sudden appearance of swarms of tiny gnats. Clouds of them, all face and chest high to me. Thousands of teeny tiny little flying midair specs that careened into my face, my sunglasses, and stuck like tiny black confetti to my shirt. They only appeared to be hanging above the gravel road near woods, so at the top of the road where it merged into pavement once again, I paused to brush my shirt and face clean of the unwanted hitchhikers before traveling on. 20 miles down, 14 left to go.
The paved road was swift and fun with lots of twists and turns to make it truly awesome riding. It was also a very quiet road with very little traffic. However, it was soon to intersect with a much more modern road highly favored by the "pedal to the metal" gang of motorists. Fortunately, I could take advantage of a quiet, virtually untraveled side road that paralleled the fast road for several miles before I reached another intersection that afforded me two options - Option 1 was to go straight for several miles on a gravel road until it emptied out onto the main highway (and thus crossed into my county), or Option 2 which was to turn left on a very old, very twisty, almost untraveled gravel road that would dump me off on the fast road a few miles above the main highway. I could move a lot faster with Option 2 - so that is what I chose. The road started out deceptively wide and flat, but soon devolved into a wild narrow one lane wide gravel roller coaster. My entire attention was taken up by the smart alec antics of the road as it tested the upright ability of both me and my bike. Thankfully it was endurable, and relatively short-lived. I reached the paved road in one piece, stopped to take a quick drink, and within seconds was flying along at 25-27mph on the slick smooth pavement, graciously waving my thanks to all the cars as they passed me giving me wide berth and waves back as well.
The paved roads did a magnificent job providing swift passage back into my county in record time. I didn't bother with a low assist. I was focused on getting those final miles in before any more of the afternoon slipped away, so I dialed my bike in on the highest assist, making my job easy and the bike super fast. By the time I was back in my own neck of the woods, the skies had started to cloud up. I stopped to see if I could capture a photo of the rays of the sun streaming through the high cirrus clouds. Wasn't as successful as I wanted, so some imagination is required to see the light particles beaming down to earth in perfectly pitched unbroken lines. Just 6 miles left to go,all on the gravel roads.
Final view of the countryside (above), and the "long shadows" of late afternoon under a waning sun catching a silhouette of me and the bike (below) at the end of the 34 mile leg for a total of 50 miles. Both photos taken just a mere 1 mile from home.
The first 50 mile leg is now on the books. The second 50 mile leg begins in the morning. New roads, new scenery, the paved and gravel roads all washed by the rains last night. This will be a solo journey north and south on the local roads, opting for the occasional gravel where I want to circumvent paved roads that are too congested or not "bike friendly". The batteries are all charged, lights charged, GPS course map loaded, and the plan is to be ready to roll by 10am.
Jerzy is a great talker, a socially popular person. Bike-wise, I discovered Trance was using very little of the battery charge. That was because of low ride speed (average of 18 km/h or 11.2 mph for the whole Jerzy's trip) and we had a mighty tail-wind on that part of the ride.
I'm sure you will treasure that moment for quite some time! 
