It was Tuesday, and I really needed to leave if I was going to make it to Wilmington by Friday (I still had to work one more weekend, after all). It was going to be a 108 mile ride starting at Stedman, a small town outside of Fayetteville, NC. I had slept in my hammock the night before to test it out: it had gotten down to about 57 degrees, and I was comfortable till about 60 with the fleece sleeping-bag-turned-underquilt I made, and another fleece blanket on top. As the first two nights of my adventure were predicted to have 55 degree nighttime temps, I decided to make a hammock sock before I left. I had some green ripstop laying around that I had bought for a different project that never happened, so I took it outside and played around with it. It was long enough for the job, but it needed another foot and a half to make it wide enough. Fortunately, I also had some black ripstop laying around. I cut a strip of black, and sewed it all into a long tube. Then I sewed one end up small and put a drawstring on the other. It turned out great!
Once my little project was all done, I still needed to pack. Then I needed to eat lunch (I was too nervous to eat anything but a sandwich). Then I needed to print off maps for my mom and myself. Finally I realized that I REALLY needed to stop stalling and go or I would be sleeping in the woods the first night because the park would be closed!
Stedman was surprisingly far to drive to, as I'd only ridden to it a few times on the back roads. It is along the NC bicycle route #5, which goes from Raleigh to Wilmington, and has a nice park with lots of covered picnic tables, a couple of water fountains, and port-o-potties. It only took a few minutes after arriving to load up and wobble off.
I could give you more play-by-play commentary of my ride to Jones Lake State Park, where I had decided to spend my first night. However, I think I will just list some highlights of the events and what I learned on my first day:
-A big, hard beetle kamikazed my crotch just a few miles in.
-I passed by a diamondback rattle snake right on the side of the road (it scared the crap out of me: my leg flew up onto the top tube and unintelligible expletives were flowing out of my mouth as soon as I saw it). I thought it was odd that it wasn't moving as I passed by, as it should have heard me coming and been scared off. Then I saw that it no longer had a head. (I decided not to go back for a picture, just in case I saw wrong.)
-I learned that there will be absolutely no 3G internet on my trip for looking up maps, and that calls will be sketchy at best. And that your printed directions/map shouldn't only be useful to you if you are only on your intended route... (I missed a turn somewhere...)
-Getting lost doesn't mean you won't still see some beautiful things.
-You can not be in a rush on a bike. The extra effort you put in is not worth the meager gain in speed for the quicker drop in energy levels.
-Prevailing winds in the fall come from the North (at least for this area), and so going North should be avoided if possible, especially when combined with the lesson above this about being in a rush...
I got to the park at 6 pm: one hour after the offices closed, but two hours before the gates got locked. As the park was pretty much empty, I just decided to set up camp and get it sorted out in the morning.
Distance traveled: 33.391 miles
Max speed: 16.8 mph
Average speed: 10.1 mph
Time spent riding: 3 hours, 13 minutes
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