Cycle North Carolina - Day 4

CNC Day 4
Thomasville to Sanford
18.1 mph average speed
35.5 mph maximum speed
5:21:24 ride time
96.77 miles
about 3,742 feet of climbing

Today we had an option of doing a 75 mile route or a century route. I opted for the long route and rode with Chris and Doug.

Both routes went through Randleman where we had a rest stop at the Richard Petty Museum.

The long route was through Seagrove which is an area that I really like. I did a ride called Rolling in Randolph a few years ago so I knew what I was in for. As it turns out, we had more climbing going from Thomasville to Sanford than we did on the Blue Ridge Parkway day. Of course, the first day was a lot fewer miles so it was more climbing per foot.

A lot of riders commented that maybe it should be called Tour de Smell. We passed a lot of chicken houses and saw several "Pigs 4 Sale" signs.

Doug and Chris had not been to Seagrove before. The century rest stop was at the North Carolina Pottery Center where they have examples from many of the area potters. I made both of them go inside. I particularly wanted to show Chris the Fat Beagle section. Chris' daughter has a beagle and he does good work. I also pointed out some of the Kings Pottery -- especially their trademark red glaze.

Doug and I did the century in White Lake last year and practically no one did that route. I think that it was because the route was 75 miles to White Lake, where we were spending the night, and then an additional 25 mile loop beyond that. This year you had to pull off for the century loop at mile 36 and rejoin the regular route later on. A lot more people seemed to do the century route this year.

We had PB&J at the Pottery Center. We had our next rest stop after rejoining the shorter route. More PB&J! Heck, that makes up for yesterday.

The camping situation in Sanford was not desirable. Tim kept on saying that we were sleeping in the pig stalls. We were actually in the old exhibit hall at the Lion's Club Fairground but it wasn't a good situation. While there was plenty of space, a lot of people woke up with swollen eyes. There must have been something in the air.

Thankfully, we were able to get away from the campsite that evening. One of our Team CBC captains lives in Sanford and invited us for dinner and to spend a few hours at his place.