Thanks for driving up Bud, and for being a guinea pig for the route! Bit on the windy side for sure, but pleasantly warm.  I must have pinch flatted a little somewhere, maybe the train tracks in Sanger, and I had leaked enough air to be on the rim when we hit the next section of chip seal.  So I did a rapid tire change, pumped up the tire and was about ready to be done, and pulled my pump off and the stem came with it!  Not quite as motivated by speed on the second go around, but still mostly got done without delaying everyone.  Also anyone who has a Euromesh seat check out the screws that hold to the cross member that holds it to the seat collar clamp.  When I inspected Friday evening I was down to one screw left.  Fortunately had some m5 bolts that worked.  I guess that wasn't loose change I heard hitting the road last week on Blue Ridge Boogie!  
 
   Bud and I both remarked upon Mark out front seemingly levitating along about a foot off the road surface, no bike being visible at all.  The hurricane is small.  Mark is very quick on it though! Ray did great his first 200K since surgery!  Bud rode strong as always!  I sure enjoyed it
 
Take Care,
Nelson.

Well thanks for the ride y'all it was a nice route with some good company along the way. The tailwind with the hills going into forestburg were a killer and I was overheating once in a while. Tailwinds just don't help push all that mass up hills all that well but they sure do kill the breeze.  
My HR was pretty low and my average when we got up there was only in the 120s but oy was it hot for winter! As I mentioned on the ride I much preferred the ride back into the wind because it was nice and cool. I have no idea how I'm going to get back ready for the heat of summer if I can't take the high 60s we had yesterday!
A little data off my GPS.

with speed/distance

Total Time (h:m:s)      11:25:11      
Moving Time (h:m:s)      9:09:2
Distance (mi )      129.27
Moving Speed (mph)      14.1 avg.      33.2 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)      +6,056 / -5,923  *my gps seems to add extra climbing so I don't know good this is.
 
The hurricane continues to prove itself out there. I mean from most things I read a dual 406 wheeled, rear suspension and not exactly lightweight bike should be a pretty poor climber and very slow on chip seal but it really is just like floating a foot or so off the road with nothing underneath me. There was one pretty bad railroad crossing, for 406 wheels anyhow, but most everything else was pretty nice and smooth. Yeah I know for most of you this is like comparing a Freightliner to a Peterbuilt but after todays 45 miler on the Giro 26 the hurricane just seems to work with me much better for what I do.

Preferring headwinds to tailwinds isn't that strange when it's 100 degrees out there -- but 60???     You gotta unlayer a bit, Mark!!!!

Developed my film Thursday night, but just got around to scanning it and posting some of the pictures I took on the ride.
 
Here is a link to my flickr set.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nelson_ralls/sets/72157613733671104/
 
Take Care,
Nelson.