Virtual Flèche

Good ol' George added an event to the 2020 Virtual Brevet Series: a flèche!  Unlike brevets, which are solo efforts (although usually done with riding companions), a flèche is a team event.  Audax Atlanta was supposed to have an in-person flèche in April, but of course it had to be postponed.  The V-flèche was held this past weekend and was such a fun way to tide us over.

Like a regular flèche, the V-flèche required a team of three to five people.  I recruited my rando buddies Brian, Graham, Ian, and Wayne to be on a team with me: A Pound of Flèche.  Although a regular flèche involves riding 360 km within 24 hours (including overnight riding!), the V-flèche was a 100K that had to be completed within 6 hours, 40 minutes.  V-flèche team members could ride inside or outside, separately or together with appropriate social distancing.  Team A Pound of Flèche started at 9:00 AM this past Saturday, riding from separate locations.

The guys and I checked in with each other and sent some photos during our rides.  My ride took on somewhat of a train theme.  For a while, we had thought about riding together, maybe riding the Red Caboose Populaire, a 100K route.  However, we reconsidered and decided it would be more prudent to ride separately.  Still, the prospect of getting a pimento cheese sandwich at The Caboose, a great little sandwich shop in Rutledge, took hold of my brain.  I planned my route to include this as a lunch stop.

As I rode toward Rutledge, my route went a few miles on Georgia Highway 142, parallel to some railroad tracks.  The tracks aren't abandoned, but interestingly, hundreds of railroad cars are being stored along the tracks for a number of miles.  A gap is left between cars at crossroads:

They are mostly hopper cars.  Maybe The Boxcar Children, a book I loved when I was young, could be updated as The Hopper Car Children.

Halfway through my ride, I arrived in Rutledge.  Samich time!

I carried my lunch across the street to the town gazebo, the perfect place for a picnic:

I was glad to have a dining companion:

Some beautiful irises added to the ambiance:

My tasty lunch was rocket fuel for the second half of my V-flèche.  They even toasted the bread!

Appropriately, a train rumbled through town while I was eating.  Lots o' stuff was being hauled in double-decker containers.  Some of them were Amazon Prime containers.  People obviously are still shopping online.

After this most enjoyable lunch stop, I got back on the road.  It was a beautiful day, and I finally got to take off my arm and knee warmers.

In Newborn I turned onto Pitts Chapel Road to go back to Jasper County.  I went on this lovely road about a month ago.  The road is still closed to cars - but not to bicycles!

The bridge is almost complete now:

They did a good job of blocking the road to traffic; I had to squeeze through with my bike!  That's a rare unicorn tractor on the right:

These 100K rides are pretty cool because I still have time to do stuff when I get home.  Regardless, what better way to enjoy a bright, fresh May day than outside riding a bicycle?  I hope my V-flèche teammates had as much fun as I did.