April 16, 2020 bike ride.

Turning the calendar to 2020 meant I've been riding my bicycle on a consistent basis for more than 2 years. Since I began this journey back in the fall of 2017, I've felt myself getting stronger and seen my endurance level increasing to the point where this year, I decided to throw some longer-than-usual rides into the mix every now and then to see how I perform.

On April 16, I embarked on my first long ride and was able to break the 30-mile barrier for the first time in my adult life ! According to the map seen above, I rode 27.5 miles plus the 3.4-mile roundtrip to my house not shown which gave me a total of 30.9 miles. I made it, and I didn't die in the process !

Almost two weeks after that first long ride, I decided to do it again. Even though the route I chose last time worked quite well, I wanted to tweak it slightly for this trip. I made my way to Barnett Shoals Road in Athens and headed south eventually reaching Bob Godfrey/Wolfskin Road at the Oconee County line. Instead of turning right toward Watkinsville, I turned left and headed into Oglethorpe County toward Crawford, Georgia. At the intersection with US Route 78, I turned left and headed toward Winterville where I would circle back to Athens.

My ride on US Route 78 only lasted about three-quarters of a mile and ended at the A. D. Home Goods & More store at the intersection with Arnoldsville Road. I couldn't help but notice a couple of interesting things sitting in the parking lot and stopped to have a look. My lousy flip phone camera would have to suffice for pictures.

The truck in the photos above and below is a Chevrolet Advance Design pickup. Introduced as the replacement for the AK Series of trucks from the early 1940s, the Advance Design series was Chevrolet's first major truck redesign following WWII.

I'm not certain of the year of this truck. But there are a few distinct clues. The Advance Design series of trucks was introduced for the 1948 model year. The fuel cap on this truck is located on the cab behind the door handle which means it's not a 1948 model. The doors have vent windows which were introduced for the 1951 model year. The door handles have push buttons, (instead of a rotating handle assembly), which were introduced for 1952. And the windshield is still the old 2-piece design, (a 1-piece curved windshield was introduced for 1954). So this truck is either a 1952 or 1953 Chevrolet 3100 Series pickup, with "3100" designating the half-ton model.

This one looks like it's been sitting for a while, and would be an intense project. But it seems complete, overall. Parts support for these trucks is quite good. And as long as the frame doesn't look like Swiss cheese, someone with the right skills could have a great project.

In front of the pickup sat another project, this one more toward my taste - 1955 Buick Series 40 Special Riviera.

Like the Chevy pickup, several visual clues are present to help with identification. For 1955, Buick offered four separate lines - the entry-level Series 40 Special, the mid-level Series 50 Super, the upper-level Series 60 Century, and the luxury Series 70 Roadmaster. The photo above shows three "Ventiports" on the front fender. Only the Special had three Ventiports, (the Super, Century, and Roadmaster all had four Ventiports).

This car is a two-door pillarless hardtop coupe, meaning it has no B-Pillar in between the front and rear side windows. Buick used the name "Riviera" to designate its pillarless hardtop design. So this car is a 1955 Buick Series 40 Special Riviera.

The Special Riviera was Buick's best seller for 1955 with almost 156k cars leaving the factory that year. In fact, of the four best selling Buick models for 1955, three of them were Riviera hardtop coupes.

Like the Chevrolet pickup, this car looks like it's been sitting for a while. Surface rust is plentiful. But the area in front of the rear wheel in the photo above is actually completely rusted through.

But unlike the Chevy pickup, 1950s Buick parts support isn't nearly as plentiful. Some of the exterior trim bits may be challenging to locate. On the plus side, while not "100% complete," a lot of the big ticket items are still with the car. And the windows are up !

I didn't crawl underneath either of these vehicles to see what the floors and frames look like. But if the bodies are any indication, both look like they could be saved.

This was the perfect excuse to take a brake mid-ride to catch my breath. And by this time, I certainly needed it !

April 28, 2020 bike ride.

Today's ride covered 27.5 miles. Adding the additional .8 mile-roundtrip from my house brings the total to 28.3 miles. And like last time, I finished the ride and didn't die in the process !