Sardis Loop

While others have already begun discussing 2011 goals, aspirations and, dare I say, resolutions, I recently undertook 2 micro-goals to end 2010 positively. After a very fruitful Oct/Nov when I lost just short of 20lbs, December was mostly a maintenance month. Knowing that the holidays can be brutal on the waistline, one goal was to do that, to maintain. The second would facilitate the first; I noticed on the riding calendar that I was close to turning 3000m for the year and if I was consistent over the break I could just top it. At this point I have no chance of catching LithoDale, Dave, Micheal or Tom, but small victories are still victories (ed. Neither Dale nor Michael lists his yearly mileage, but I know both to be at 5k or above).

Yesterday we went to visit the good wife's family and I managed to sneak in a ride after watching Tron-Legacy with the boys at the cheapie small-town theater and before the evening family meal. BTW, Tron was high derivative and has been tepidly reviewed, but I enjoyed it and found it entertaining. That's the point, right?

My route took up on familiar roads for the first portion, eventually taking me to Washington, KY, which is well-known for being an early important settlement of KY and of being an important location of the underground railroad.

The good wife's family farm down the hill. I took this while moving, so it's not the best.

Washington church. I wished I had taken the extra few minutes to get the info.

Washington home

The next portion of the ride included a long run down Clark's Run Rd., which followed a creek ("run") for a good portion, but which also included passing many suburban and "country" homes just outside Maysville. It took me a bit to get beyond the 'burbs.

I'll admit this is a nice presentation, especially with the wreaths in the windows.

The road textures became a bit more interesting as I descended into this creek swale (I won't call it a valley). You can see from the following pic that I had a cheeky little descent and nice warming climb out. From there the houses became fewer and traffic...completely non-existent.

The next two roads were quite similar in nature. Both Brandywine and Lowell followed creek runs through forested, hardscrabble land with few farms; the ground is too rocky to till it well. Because of the lowness I found myself a little chilly, but not too, on both roads. During my time on Brandywine I found the surroundings very reminiscent of previous rides in SW Mason Co, although I couldn't put my finger on where and when. At the end of Brandywine I realized that I had been on that road before and have a pic of the bike to prove it. Back during Thanksgiving '08 I sampled some of the same roads, coming into Sardis via 5 Lick Rd. and then onto Lowell, the Brandywine and later Clark Run. I had retraced the first 20m of yesterday's ride. Interestingly, the '08 ride finished in darkness with the use of a rear flashie and the helmet light. I have very little memory of that ride save the feeling of claustrophobia from the creek valleys, gnarled trees and isolation. Yesterday, once I turned onto 596 I thought I had missed my turn. It seemed closer in my mind. Why in my mind and not on my map? Because I forgot my map at home and was doing the ride from memory. It was that quality of "not lost" but also not knowing exactly where I was. I figured it would work out somehow. And then the turn onto Lowell.

Brandywine Rd. along Brandywine Creek, just like in The Shire.

A partially frozen Brandywine Creek

The climb up 596 onto the plateau, invigorating.

Lowell Rd. towards Sardis was similar to Brandywine following a creek run. It began, though, with a half-mile divebomb descent which I was glad I wasn't climbing (climbed in '08). On Lowell the light began to fade a bit, as evidence by the necessity of the flash in the pic below. It got a bit lonely as the shadows lengthened and the air chilled but I just set a tempo as best I could towards Sardis although I found it challenging as I found the 1m steady uphill into the town.

The turn onto 62 began my last leg towards the house. I knew I could get home from Sardis and it was good thing in that it was increasingly dark and I even felt some rain sprinkles. I was adequately prepared for darkness with my 2 rear flashies and Princeton helmet light, but I was also in foreign territory and I'm sure the locals didn't know what to think of a strange flashing creature in the dark cold. 62 gave me a nice downhill run into my turn onto 324 and then Old Sardis Pike. I had been in that general intersection before so I knew I was close and was going to make it regardless of conditions. Old Sardis provided me a steady 2m slight uphill. I pushed the pace a bit to help stay warm and it did the trick. The pics below do an interesting contrast in how the camera reacts  to darkness. The first two are with flash, the 2nd two without. It's almost like the first two make it look darker than it was, but the 2nd two without flash brighten the conditions more than they actually.  All along this stretch I imagined myself riding along with my SON hub and Edulux light brightening the road, rando style. Wonder how much a Shimano/B&M-IQCyoN+ system would cost?