Nice 250 mile ride, not too far outside of Columbia

There are curvy roads near Columbia; they're just not all that easy to find. :-) I left home around 1:00 with the intention of not riding all that far or long. It was a pretty toasty 92 degrees, so it was a good day to try the faux Wal-Mart version of Under Armor shirt I bought to wear under my leathers at the Code school next weekend. I also opted to go with the mesh jacket. I tell you, that shirt is simply amazing! Several buddies of mine have spoken highly of that type of gear, and it really does work wonders. I stayed cool, and I didn't get all wet, like I would with a cotton t-shirt. It felt very good.

I rode up Hwy 215 past the Monticello Reservoir, and passed this quaint church en route:


Just beyond the reservoir I turned onto a 5-mile gravel road, which was pretty loosely packed and had some pretty large rocks; I averaged about 15mph over its length. Wasn't too bad, but I was glad to finally make it back to pavement. :-)

I travelled to Blair and rode some good roads in that general area. I didn't see the Blair Witch, but maybe a Blair ghost or two, as Blair is pretty dead. ;-)



Woods Ferry Road from Hwy 72 north to Hwy 9, then Mt. Pleasant Church Rd., left on 97, left on 49, back to 9, were both excellent. I enjoyed Woods Ferry so much I took it again back to 72, which I took west over to 176 and meandered back to Columbia. All this good riding only about 50 miles north of Columbia. I'll definitely have to ride this route again.

On my way home I stopped at a tiny little gas station to get some Gatorade, and I struck up a conversation with Bruce, the resident drunk, who was working on a big can of Busch. :-) He was actually a very nice individual. He kept asking where I was from, and I kept saying Columbia, and he kept asking. He was wondering if I raced and why I wasn't at bike week in Myrtle Beach. :-) He was a pretty funny cat; I enjoyed talking with him.

I ended up covering 250 miles and was out for about 5 hours. Much more than I intially planned on, but it was an absolutely wonderful day of riding!