Dog park with K

Delivering cookies

Post Christmas quiet-ish roads

Family Christmas plus Ross Bridge plus Hwy 31

Short commute route lots of traffic on Christmas Eve

My birthday was earlier in the week, but we were busy with other things so I decided to push out a long ride until later in the week. Technically I probably should have ridden 440 miles, but I don't currently have my road bike and that would have taken closer to 28 hours. I wanted to knock out something in under 24 hours, and I also wanted to ride someplace new!

So I picked the nearest county I haven't ever ridden in, and worked out a route to get to that county and the adjacent county (which I also hadn't ridden in). These happened to be in Mississippi, and the round-trip route worked out to a tad bit under 375 miles heading down on the direct "busy" unshaded route overnight (Hwy 11) and then coming back the more scenic way with a lot less traffic and a lot more shade.

Unfortunately, I didn't remember the gas station layout very well, and I ran out of water near Cuba. But the only gas stations in Cuba are along the interstate about 1.5 miles (3 miles round trip) out of the way in the wrong direction. Well, I decided that I was not going to add on those 3 miles knowing that there was a gas station just a few miles farther (5 miles) on the direct route home. So the thought of a slightly shorter route, and not having to deviate off course to get to the gas station, plus how fast I was moving on Hwy 11 all led to a spontaneous decision to head back home on Hwy 11.

It was VERY busy in several spots, and it was also VERY hot. There are several counties with good shoulder layouts, but then there are some with bad shoulder layouts (Tuscaloosa county). People were courteous though, even through Tuscaloosa at rush hour. 

On the way out, it was completely dry, and I figured I would be fine until afternoon thunderstorms. But I was wrong. About 115 miles into my route around Livingston I got a lightning warning on my weather app and it started to pour down rain. I scrambled to cover electronics and kept right on riding. It had stopped by the other side of town.

About 10 miles later almost exactly at the city limits sign for York, it started pouring down rain again. And ended a bit quicker also by about the time I made it through town. Lastly, a few miles later, it rained through the town of Cuba. Then it was dry for the next 16 hours until I was almost home and a late afternoon storm that hadn't dissipated yet dumped on me for about the last 45 minutes of the ride.

All-in-all it was a great, fast ride that saw me get two new counties in Mississippi: Jasper County and Clarke County. Here's a screenshot showing the route with counties I've already ridden in shaded dark red:

https://toonecycling.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/screen-shot-2020-08-15-at-5.23.08-pm.png  

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Brian Toone

2020/08/13 Hoover, AL belated birthday ride two new MS counties south of Meridian

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Dog park with K

Delivering cookies

Post Christmas quiet-ish roads

Family Christmas plus Ross Bridge plus Hwy 31

Short commute route lots of traffic on Christmas Eve

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