| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
86.73 miles
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Altitude Gain:
3,299 ft
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Avg Speed:
16.26 mph
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Route:
Demopolis, AL
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 85 F S wind @ 10 mph |
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Had planned on stopping in Forest, Miss and riding a fifty mile route I've done before to the south of the city, but the interstate rest stop was closed so I drove on into Alabama and picked a route from my Walmart Road Atlas. Drove a few miles off I-20 to a town called Demoplolis that showed promise on the map. Found a parking spot in the center of the town next to an impressive statute commemerating Confederate War Dead. Plan was to do around sixty miles at an easy pace and leave my legs as rested as possible for tomorrow's mountain century and still get a decent ride in. Headed north out of town with a light tailwind along the Black Warrior river. Area has a vast amount of water from a large scale irrigation project and would be riding around a series of lakes created by a system of locks. Really nice stretch of road with several high quality amusing hand painted signs advertising Road Hog Bar and Alligator Ice among other things. There was also a section of road side art made out of junk and haybales that included the Loch Ness Monster in a pond, Snoopy in a Fokker, and a giant tin man robot, and a dozen or so other displays. Not sure what the purpose of the display was. As far as I could tell it was just a farmer with a creative streak and a good bit of spare time. Unfortunately it appears to have gone to seed but must have been quite a production in its day. Had a good forty miles in of looking at smashed armidillos and turtles and enjoying the veiws and the weather when I decided to go exploring some back roads off my map that looked like they were going in my general direction. Rode for twenty miles without seeing much except fields and an occasional house. Hit sixty miles and was running low on water but my garmin indicated that I was only about eight miles from the start. That's when things got a little unpleasant as I kept hitting dead ends and had to keep backtracking and trying new routes. It was kind of amusing being trapped like a rat in a maze until I became dehydrated in the 85 F sun. Ended up suffering for another twenty miles before I got back into town for a total of 87 miles and near two hours of riding in the sun without water. Was pretty lightheaded as I packed up the bike and thought it was probably not the best shape to be in before heading into the mountains tomorrow. Had a good ride and will probably return to this area in the future.
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