RoadSkater.Net - Comments for "Greensboro NC"

Can you give us a report on the Scotland Neck ride?

In reply to Tater Rides Again: Country Park and the Scotland Neck Country Roads Bike Tour:

Hi. It's interesting that you guys went down that way for a ride. Can you tell us how the ride was in terms of...

topography
scenery
rest stops
start/finish
road roughness
friendliness of the drivers and other locals

No biggie if you're too busy, but it's always good to get some notes before we forget. We often go back a year later to see what we can remember! Thanks for the info, and I'll be doing an article on Sparky's Tater Rides soon, I hope.

Windy

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

On the next gusty skate I will try to get that Bob Seger song to shove Everyone knows it's Windy out of my head, especially the tripping down the streets of the city part :-)

Glad to be a part

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

Why thank you lassie. I was glad to be a part of it and look forward to CC #3.

I wouldn't mind hitting up all the Raleigh/Cary/Durham bike shops to promote CC3. It would be fun.

You were singing Llama Llama Ding Dong, and I kept humming the Bob Seger refrain:
"against the wind,
still skatin' against the wind,
I'm tired now but still skatin' against the wind."

So glad you made it !

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

MikeB! I'm so glad you came out and skated this event! I'm sorry about the rain and after skating through it myself I don't blame you for not wanting to continue. I'm happy also that Alan got to skate with someone too. It's good that you posted here about it because the volunteer I asked back at the church at 5.30pm said she didn't see any other skaters.

So now I get to be all swanky...put me down for 121 miles last week ;-)

I'll write more details later, hopefully tonight!

3 @ 102? In those conditions? WOW!

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

Dude, sitting hear contemplating 102.....I just can't. How in the world did you do that? People always tap out LOL on emails and such but sitting here I'm getting a side ache from laughing, in amazement and awe.

Plus you & Eebee went down a couple a few times. Yikes.
It was quite slick, especially on the inclines and the pavement stripes were wicked.

Alan and I started at the sleep-in start of 9am. By 9:10 he was outta site, chasing cyclists like they stole his last twinkie. Good for him though, putting forth a great effort to participate and put in a solid 31+.

Lake Brandt road was wonderful with wind aided downhills. Quite sweet. And for a brief moment a sunbeam hit me just before the rest stop at M12. That was the turning point - M12. Just as it was time to roll, the drizzle started. My wonderful Bike Response Team gave a look like: "ya know, 21 isn't a bad effort." At least I thought that's what the look was. Who am I to second guess the support crew? 21 it was, right from that moment.

Scalesville Road was the easterly cut back and it was a good roll, even in the rain. Mostly because it was semi-wind aided. Although there were curious short patches of chip-seal to keep me alert.

Once on Church St. heading back south to the finish, boy it was brutal. The point being, my Church St. stretch was only 4 or 5 miles long after putting in 16 or 17. How you made it in on an 8 mile stretch after putting in 94....I will never know.

Kudos to you for a million different things in getting the 2nd Annual Carolina Century to be such a wonderful success!

3 Skaters did 102 miles; 1 did 42; sounds like a 31 and 21 too!

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

Hey. More later but yes Tom Blooming won the day for the 102 distance, facing winds alone for the last 35 or so miles. Eebee and myself made it in at over 10mph, which on this day was epic.

At 33 we had a really windy downpour. Two cyclists joined us, John and Ben, and Ben did the rest of the 102, waiting as needed to finish with us. John had time constraints and completed the 72, which is for what it is designed...a quicker way home when recalculations are in order.

Northinsouth had boot/foot interface problems made much worse by the rain, but toughed out a huge 42.5 miles.

Here's how wet it was. My current camera has always been out, during Tour to Tanglewood this year notably, which was considered two days of mostly rain. Today, my camera shut down and would not turn back on from 33 to 79. When it did come back on the lens had a blob of condensation inside the lens for most of the rest of the way home. Once it stopped raining I had taken out the battery and let air flow through the battery compartment by holding it as we skated.

Here's another example of how challenging it was: we haven't fallen in a year or two that I recall in any significant way. I fell 2 times, making Eebee fall 1 of the 3 times she fell. Both of my falls were rather dramatic if not causing any real pain...a hipslide in the road and a tumble in the grass at a soaked rest stop. What a day! Two of our falls were at rest stops, just simple mistakes, but odd.

The worst damage for us was Eebee's favorite sunglasses. More later as we recall it, know it, can report it.

There was a fatal cycling hit and run crash at the next intersection closer into town just as we finished. Our SAG guy went there to help but it was too late. The police still had the intersection completely blocked about two hours later. This was not related to our event or a participant in the Carolina Century, but we all felt it deeply just the same.

I can't believe how great the Carolina Century volunteers were all day. They didn't seem to mind we had fewer folk out there, and did what they did just as if we had doubled our previous numbers. We will finish with a profit to give to the MS Society, and the volunteers seemed to really enjoy the special things we were trying to do as best we could. I know we were treated like the fastest, when we were in fact the slowest!

Carolina Century stats from MikeB

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

Roadskater, you thought some stats would be neat, so here goes: Age: 45; Distance: 21m; Rolling Time: 1:47:37; Avg Speed: 11.7mph; Top Speed: 34.4mph; Avg HR: 180bpm; Max HR: 198bpm; weight at start: 153; weight at finish: 151: weight leaving the venue: 157 -- thanks to your Mom's awesome chili and Margaret's grill cheese sammiches. YUM!

Hope the marathon was out of state

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

She should do well with those fancy shoes. I hope she did. And hopefully it was in good weather. The "CC" weather was a tad moist and blustery. I quit at 21, Alan from OH went 31, and I believe Roadskater and Eebee went for the full 102; not sure about that.

But Roadskater put on a tremendous event. I mean it was amazing. Everything was SO well planned and executed. Really, it was awe inspiring. Can't wait for the 3rd annual Carolina Century!

Good luck everyone!!!

In reply to Roadskater.net Carolina Century 21- to 102-mile Bike Ride & Roadskate for MS October 24 2009 Gospel Baptist Church Greensboro NC:

I wish I could be there with you all, but I'll be cheering on my girlfriend as she runs her first marathon.

Be safe and have fun, everyone!

- SM -

These animations are pretty

In reply to Carolina Century 102-Mile and Athens to Atlanta 87-Mile Route Elevation Profile Comparison:

These animations are pretty cool for comparison.

GO TEAM F.A.S.T.

4 Roadskaters Planning to Be at Paceline GSO Free Skride

In reply to Paceline Bicycles, Greensboro NC Tour To Tanglewood for MS Free Bike Training Ride Inline Skate: August 8, 2009:

It looks like eebee will be here, plus two escapees from indoor will be starting their roadskating season in earnest. One of our roadskater.net t2t team members has recently won age group gold in the nationals in the five lap and ten lap races, I believe, setting an age group record for the fiver methinks. We'll have to see what we can hear about it all this weekend. Paceline uses a good route and has had good police support even to the end when coming back onto Battleground for a brief sprint stint at the end of the ride. Come on out! It's free and support is always awesome.

Could be a good one

In reply to Hammering Happy Hill Bike Ride Inline Skate June 27 2009 Greensboro Country Park:

That looks promising, but I dunno know about that 64-miler. Long steep hills tends to mean long steep downhills too.

Hate to miss this one

In reply to Paceline Bicycles, Greensboro NC Tour To Tanglewood for MS Free Bike Training Ride Inline Skate: August 8, 2009:

Unfortunately it conflicts with the TarWheels/BikeFest in Hillsborough. 30km/63km/100km. If the BikeFest skater count is too light then TTT trainer will win out.

Keep us posted on Little Anna

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

Give us a report now and then when you get one if you will.

It will be great.....I just know it

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

Keeping a picture of Little Anna with me is a tremendous idea. Thanks for that.

Summer does seem far away, but the coming weekend is supposed to get to 60+.......wwooooo doggy, that will be welcome for sure.

The training skrides sound like fun too. I'm really anxious.

In one week's time, my T2T fundraising will launch. I'm psyched and know the RSN family is too.

Street Plane Bike, Creative Outlet

In reply to Greensboro NC Making a Bid to be the Home of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame:

RecycleBill sent me a note and mentioned his street plane, which is definitely worth a look. He's a shy guy, certainly, and about as subtle as a Roadskater.net jersey. I definitely agree with his comments in the video about how helpful it can be to find some form of creative outlet (as I'd say it, artistic expression...and isn't it nice if that is something you can get paid for and call it work!). Anyway, here's the link to the street plane video. I'm wondering if that propeller is human powered too? Surely it is at least based on human powered electricity generation. That has to be a bit of extra work and a good calorie burn.

http://lassiter.com/mov/jones.html

Great!

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

Yay! Glad you signed up, MikeB. The summer training skrides seem so far away. Still, in hopes that they will eventually get here, I'm in training to be training for the training skrides.

Hey RecycleBill

In reply to Greensboro NC Making a Bid to be the Home of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame:

Thanks for joining and I have to go do some tutoring right now, but please tell us more about the city requiring you to destroy bikes that are turned in for recycling. I'm interested in that one.

As for bike lanes, I am not sure they are better. I think wider streets are better, but others have almost convinced me that a bike lane is problematic. I'm open to learning on this too!

As for Tour du Pont I had thought the whole tour ran out of money. Perhaps though I recall one year where they came to Winston-Salem but not Greensboro. I was there at the Four Seasons finish line the one year and Lance, a bigger version, was there to win.

As for deserving the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame I'd say maybe Portland is the most bicycle friendly city I've heard of. But I doubt deserving will be part of it. Money changes everything as they say. Perhaps if we don't deserve it, Greensboro needs it all the more. If we can get more voters who bicycle and skate to come here to live, and get more who live here to bike and skate, I think there's eventually some good in that.

Thanks for the ideas. Tell us more.

Glad You're Skating for MS

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

Hey MikeB that's great news that you've joined us for the one weekend of the year we focus on skating for those who can't. Well, there are plenty of other training rides and the Carolina Century, but this is the big focus for the year for some of us. I'm sorry to hear about Little Anna but hope you will keep us updated on her progress and that maybe we can meet her some day. Maybe you can carry Little Anna's photo with you across the 90 or so miles in 2 days of the tour. There's a "Linking Lives" program that can put you in touch with a person with MS that you can ride in honor of if you like. I have yet to do it, but it seems a nice idea. I do have people in mind, some I have never met, when skating and when fundraising, especially. It helps make it easier to ask if you have a person in your mind when asking, I think. Otherwise it's like bugging people or something. Glad you have joined us. Looking forward to warm weather!

Question: Does Greensboro

In reply to Greensboro NC Making a Bid to be the Home of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame:

Question: Does Greensboro really deserve the Bicycle Hall Of Fame? Here's some info from a Greensboro bicyclist: http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/greensboro-greenwashing-...

I'm in too!

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

Thanks goes out to the Roadskater.net family for being such a class act organization.
This will be my first TTT, and only second charitable skate event (did '08 TdK) of what I hope to be many charitable events to come. Again, thanks to RSN.

My cousin's daughter has a degenerative neurological disease, and although it's not MS, it's life changing to say the least. "Little Anna" has Krabbe Disease, a very rare disorder that takes most kids by their 8th birthday. (NFL quarterback Jim Kelly's son, Hunter, had this terrible disease). Anna's 8th b-day is 7/10/2009 and we pray she'll have many many more.

Anyway, this is kinda close to home, giving extra energy for fundraising. I know the RSN Family will do their best, and I'm glad to be a part. Skate Strong / Skate Safe

GSO in Final Four?!

In reply to Greensboro NC Making a Bid to be the Home of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame:

Landing this would be HUGE for GSO and NC. The final four competition has got to be extremely tough. I can't imagine the lobbying going on from cycling's power brokers, but GSO could do it up right.

looks fun if cold

In reply to Skating in the New Year 2009 in Glenwood Neighborhood of Greensboro North Carolina:

Thanks for posting, Blake. I don't know how much colder it was than last year, but I wasn't exactly bursting with energy Wednesday night anyway and it felt really cold when I stuck my head out the door.

I'm glad to see that you and E. put in an appearance outside on skates anyway. Nice job!

I'm in!

In reply to Join Roadskater.net to Skate or Bike Tour to Tanglewood September 24-25 2009 in Greensboro NC:

I actually meant to sign up yesterday, but forgot... As soon as I saw Blake's email today, though, I signed up before I forgot again!

As far as I know, TTT doesn't conflict with any events this year -- NYC 100k is still an unknown though. But Northshore and A2A are definitely on different weekends...

- SM -

running great right now

In reply to Roadskubuntu 64 Out for a Spin on the Slow, Crowded Internet Onramp with a $215 AMD 64 X2 Vista 32 Ubuntu 64 Box:

Thanks for writing up the notes, Blake. Everything looks like it's working great and page loads are screaming fast right now.

Rock Skis and Biathlon?

In reply to Carolina Century Inline Skate Bike Ride 2008 Report: 102 Leaf-Catching Miles:

Yes, that is exactly what Rock-Skis are. A pair of old boards that saw better days with more powder and now don’t might end up in the recycling bin, should one take them beyond skiable. People used them to reconstruct something else out of it. Like a bench, or in some parts of the world (e.g. Switzerland) they are cemented in to walls along the highways that go through cities to keep the noise level down. Biathlon: once you know what the heck you are actually looking at, it is much more interesting then just the classic cross country skiing events. If you scroll down on the page http://www.answers.com/topic/biathlon you will find the history and the Basic concepts along with the rules of the sport. -Much easier then me trying to find the right words to explain it- The Swiss Army is still training soldiers in the mountains equipped with skies and riffles. If for nothing else, they all stay fit and have fun doing it. LOL

In the meantime we got some snow; despite the blue skies, it is very cold. This morning minus 19C

I love downhill as much as the free styles cross country skiing and I am out there every chance I get.

A Guess About Rock Skis

In reply to Carolina Century Inline Skate Bike Ride 2008 Report: 102 Leaf-Catching Miles:

Having grown up near the ski areas on North Carolina, I'm going to hazard a guess that rock skis are like rain wheels...the back-up or old model skis from years past that you now use when conditions are poor, with not enough snow around, and patches of grass and rocks that may be uncovered during the day of skiing in conditions above freezing temps. This may not be right, but I remember many of those days in NC of course, where often it's cold enough to blow snow overnight but the next day is gloriously warm and sunny (for winter). It's a bummer to get wet if you fall, but if you're past falling pretty much or have the right clothing, these days can be lots of fun...good for your soul, if not good for your ski bottoms.

Vocab lesson, please

In reply to Carolina Century Inline Skate Bike Ride 2008 Report: 102 Leaf-Catching Miles:

Ok Marianne, I give up. What is a 'rock ski' and what does your local version of a biathlon entail? I saw something about different cross country skiing, and shooting stuff.

I guess it makes sense for you to buy some new skate boots when it's thawing outside, so you can be instantly gratified after buying them. Speaking for myself as a long-distance outdoor skater, I don't think doing circles in a rink on new boots would give me an accurate first reading of how the boots fit out of the box. Having said all that, if you see a great bargain...go for it...and then tell us about it so we can experience the thrill of new boots all over again through you.

From all the photos I can

In reply to Carolina Century Inline Skate Bike Ride 2008 Report: 102 Leaf-Catching Miles:

From all the photos I can tell that you all had tons of fun on that memorable day.

Ohhhh, it hurts just by looking that heel. Let me know how the heat molding went. I still have not purchased new skates, but I just found out from Julie Glass that one can mount brakes on Luigino’s. That’s a bonus. I don’t know what’s holding me back now…

The white gold has since left the Bow Valley and we are performing the legendary snow dance 24/7. There is somewhat enough of the white fluff on the slopes to ski, but everybody is on their “rock skis”. The Canmore Nordic Centre is bare except for the man made stuff. A loop of only just 1 km has been prepared to accommodate the first Biathlon races already underway this weekend.

More Photos of Carolina Century

In reply to Carolina Century 2008 Photos 102-Mile Bike Ride Inline Skate Roadskate Greensboro NC:

I was looking through some old emails and found one from one of the Road-Worthy guys, Mike Binkley. These are some good shots that deserve some attention! Thanks, Mike, for coming and for bringing the camera and sharing the good times...
http://picasaweb.google.com/SparkyboyG/BlakesRoadSkaterRide110808

Also don't forget that one of our rest stop heroes, Amy, also has her photos up. Thanks, Amy, for helping everyone have a great day and for making pics and putting them up for all to see...
http://sk8orbike.com/SkatePictures/Forms/AllItems.aspx

These are the ones originally linked to here in a previous post...my wrapup is still to come!
http://roadskater.net/carolina-century-rest-stop-one-skater-hosts-photos