Bike Virginia Day 4 - The Last Ride

Today felt like a normal day of riding. We woke up to sunshine and the best weather of the trip. 70 degrees and no humidity. We were in no hurry today as we were planning on doing the 46 mile route and there was no threat of rain. By the time we got up, over to the 4H center and on the road it was around 9:30 am.

We were a little sore from yesterdays ride but after a few miles I felt good. Today's ride was rated at a 6 out of 10 where as yesterdays was an 8. According to the profile there were no massive climbs just constant small ups and downs. The route took us along the valley between two large sets of mountains. It was scenic and good riding along some fast running streams and vast farmland. The rest stop was in the town of Saltville, named for the large inland salt marshes around the town. This town has been an important producer of salt since it was founded in 1790. There is not much to this two block town as it was with all the towns in this area. It one of those towns stuck in the 1950s.

At the rest stop my friend Tim was there with his crew so we decided to ride by with them. We had about 15 miles to go so I spent an hour catching up with him. When we got back to the 4H center we went to their camp site and spent an hour swapping bike stories. Tim and his biking friends are a lot of fun. I told them about the Philly bike club Gettysburg weekend and they seemed interested so maybe we will see them again. They are headed to Ragbrai in July which sounds like a rolling Woodstock type party so I will be interested in hearing about that.

So after 4 days Bike Virginia was over for us. Today's ride was 46 miles and 4000 ft of climbing but theses last 4 days were not about the amount of climbing or the new roads we explored. It was about adventure of trying new things to expand our biking experience. I had never done a multi day tour before and did not know what to expect. Now that I have I understand the attraction and may do it again some day. Being around 1000 people who all share the passion for bike riding is a unique experience. Instead of being the odd dressed ones you become part of a large collective where the people who don't ride are the strange ones.

I get a lot of joy from riding a bike that I can't explain to people who are not riders. Its not just about being able to ride long distances or climb the steep hills. Its not just about exploring new places or getting unique scenic views from the seat. They are all part of it but when you put it all together and bring some friends along it becomes an adventure that leads to a story that gives you joy every time you tell it.

And each experience is different with unexpected turns. Like the fact that I meet a former co-worker from different state in the middle of 1000 other bikers.

These few days at Bike Virginia was a good adventure. Although it is over now I have some new stories to share and remember. It is these experiences that make us happy so I will continue to try to find new ways to experience the fun of biking.

Bike Virginia Day 3 - 7000 feet in 60 miles

The reason for all my recent hill training was because of the ride planned for Saturday of Bike Virginia. It was an assault on Whitetop mountain. The second tallest mountain in Virginia. If I was trying to keep with my high point theme this year I might have tried to climb up the tallest mountain in Virgina, Mount Rogers, but that must be hiked not biked because of lack of any road that go to the summit

Our original plan was to bike from the 4H center to Damascus VA on the Bike VA's pink route then take the orange route over and around Whitetop mountain. The weather forecast had been bad and getting worst for Saturday since I started looking at it 5 days ago. when we went to bed on Friday there was a 90 % chance of rain on Saturday. When we got up I was already looking at the radar at 6:30 am when Laura's alarm went off. It wasn't raining but there was something coming. By 11 am it looked like there would be moderate rain on the mountain. I showed Ron and talked about our options. Laura was still sleeping despite her alarm going off for 8 minutes. I don't know what brand of ear plugs she uses but they must work good. After she finally woke up we talked for a few minutes and decided to just ride and get wet. We figured we could get to the top of the mountain before the main rain hit.

I think Laura had suggested the night before that instead of starting in the 4H center we should start in Damascus and just do the orange route up and around the mountain from there. Since all the Bike VA routes for Saturday went though Damascus this gave us a lot of option to shorten or lengthen our rides as the weather permitted. I spend a good part of Friday evening planning the routes for this possibility.

So by 8:30 am we had driven to Damascus and parked at the Bike VA rest stop. A few minutes later we were on the some what wet roads under cloudy skies. Although there were a few hints of sunshine behind the clouds. The ride out to Whitetop was pretty with rolling hills through rural farmland.

None of the hills were hard but there were no flat areas just a lot of ups and downs. The roads were a lot better today with almost no traffic. There were occasional rough spots and a number of places where dirt or gravel had washed across the road nothing that was concerning. The main concern was the monster climb up Whitetop mountain which looked both long and steep. I knew from looking at the maps that the climb started some where between 12 and 15 miles but wasn't exactly sure. As we climbed up a few steep bumps people asked us was this the start of the "The climb" but we had a lot of false starts before we got there.

The way the profile of the ride was there was a mini monster climb of about 500 before the climb up the mountain. I think a few people thought the mini monster was the real climb. They were all very concerned as we turn the corner and stared up a the real climb. The sign at the bottom said 2 miles to the top.

I was in the triple and down shifting  until I found a gear I could keep my breathing and heart rate from getting out of hand. After a half mile I was bottomed out and had no more gears to use. I was grinding up a 4 1/2 miles an hour. It was manageable but I was not sure how long I could continue before I would need to stop to keep from going anaerobic. Most of the people who were doing this ride were better riders than us still some didn't have the gearing and would get off the bike for a little while and walk.

The grade of the climb was mostly constant at 10%. with some slightly steeper sections. It was a hard climb not because of the grade as much as the length. I tend to be a stomper and don't have a very smooth petal stroke at slow speeds. This is something Laura seems good at as she slowly pull away from me. Ron (seen below) also was able to grind his way up.

At just about the  1 mile mark there was turn out with a scenic view to the left so I stopped for a break and to take a picture. After a few minutes I continued on only to find that the rest stop was 200 feet ahead with a better view of the valley below.

By the time we left the rest stop it started to rain. We still had another mile of climbing which felt easier after the break even thought the grade had not changed. There was a sign at a half mile from the top that had a very small decimal point so a quick look had some people thinking it was 5 miles to the top. Laura did a small fist pump at the summit. We had just climbed 1200 feet in 2.5 miles.

The next 15 miles was almost all down hill with only about a mile of some mild uphill. We were in our big gears at 20 + mph for the last half of the ride with out really any effort. I think I could have almost coasted the whole way. It was a nice tree covered road along a roaring stream only broken up but the vans carrying mountain bikes up to the creeper trail.

Although there was some rain which it was very light and not really noticeable. When we got back to Damascus we rested and took advantage of some of the food including the beans and rice. We looked at the radar and the first wave of rain had passed but another was coming. We talked to a couple people about the blue route which took you into Tennessee. They said even through it was an out and back ride it was a fun route. We really wanted to say we rode in Tennessee so we started out the blue ride.

The blue route was mainly through Cherokee national forest so even through it was raining we didn't get that wet. In a few miles we were in Tennessee and on a newly paved road climbing at 3 %. This would continue for 12 miles. The constant climb was shallow enough not to be difficult but you felt it. The best thing that kept us going was the realization that the ride back would be another super long down hill. When we got to the rest stop the rain picked up to be more steady and moderate but we were warm enough that it didn't matter.

The blue route called for a small loop before heading down the same way we came up but some people had told us that the loop was rough and full of dirt and gravel so we elected to just go the same way back that we came up. It was great. We glided back down for 12 miles stopping only to take a couple of pictures. The one below of of a rock arch in the road.

By the end of both rides we had done 60 miles and 7000 feet of climbing according to my GPS. 4500 for the orange loop and 3000 for the blue loop. This was definitely the most climbing I have even done on a ride. I felt tired but not too beat up. For dinner we went into Abingdon and had a good meal at the Peppermill restaurant. It was a little pricey but the food was very good.

For as much as we were concerned about the climbing and weather in the end it all worked out better then expected and will be an experience that we will be talking about for a long time.

Bike Virginia Day 2 Abingdon

This year Bike Virginia was visiting 2 cities. Abingdon VA and Kingsport TN. Since I didn't want to ride 6 days in a row I went for the 3 day weekend option in Abingdon. On Friday morning we got up early. There was a steady rain but by the time we finished getting breakfast and packing up it was only a light rain. We had a 2 hour drive to Abingdon from Roanoke. The forecast had 30-50% chance of rain for the rest of the day so we weren't sure we were going to get a ride in once we got to Abingdon but we dressed in our bike cloths anyway.

Luckily when we arrived at the 4H center where the Bike Virginia base camp was the rain had stopped. We quickly got our bikes out and hit the road. Bike Virginia has a planned 22 route set up for today. They had published the route before hand so I looked at it and added an 10 loop at the start so we could get a longer ride in and see some area. I also did this because the way the weather looked there was good chance we would not get a ride in on Saturday.

The first impression of the road in the area was that it was a lot like Lancaster with narrow roads along farm fields. The hills around here were a little steeper but not much. When we joined the Bike Virginia route to roads were a little busier and we ran into a few traffic jams. Not with other biker but with cars not passing the bikers on the road. This made for some anxious biking as we had to almost walk up some hills behind the almost non moving cars.

Eventually we made it to the actual town of Abington for our rest stop. Besides the usual biker food they had root beer floats. Normally I would not eat something like this on a ride but with 7 mile to go I decided I could chance it. It was very hot a humid so the ice cream float really tasted good.

After getting back to the 4H center we headed for a shower at the hotel a couple of exits away.  Later that night we headed back for dinner at the 4H center since it was included as part of the package. It was cafeteria style food which was adequate but not great. There were a lot of other bikers milling around at dinner so we talked to a few of them It turned out that one people that I worked with in Lexington was at the ride so I spend some time catching up before heading back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow's ride.

Bike Virgina Day 1 Skyline Drive

As I have mentioned on some previous post I am heading to Bike Virgina. I have know a lot of people who have done it and thought it was one of the best organized ride they have done so it has been on my list of things to do for a few years.

This years Bike Virgina ride was in the towns of Abingdon and Kingsport. Abingdon is in central Virgina about 15 miles north of the border of Tennessee so it is quite a drive. I decide to break up the drive with stop on Skyline Drive for a quick ride. Laura, Ron and I meet in Bordentown at 7:30 am on Thursday and headed south. By noon we were in the town of Front Royal which is the start of Skyline drive. The weather forecast for our 4 day trip was not promising with a good chance of rain every day. Even though it was lightly raining we looked at the radar and decide to go up to Skyline Drive anyway since it looked like it would pass.

I'm glad we did because the rain passed quickly and although it was not super clear the view was still impressive.

After eating lunch at the visitor center and taking a few pictures we headed out for an out and back ride along Skyline Drive. The plan was to do about 20 miles and stop along the way to see the view. Skyline Drive runs along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a hilly road with some long climbs but with reasonable grades.

We went up and down a few times enjoying the view along the way. One of the climbs we did seemed to last forever. When we got to the top there was construction, (road paving) and we had to stop and wait for traffic. As we continued on the road got hotter and we saw the paving equipment. I want to go up to the top of the next ridge a few miles away but with new hot pavement collecting on our tires we decided to turn around.

Going down the long hill from we had just come up was one of the best downhills I have done. It felt like it would never end. Now I knew why the climb felt so long. When I check the millage I saw it was only 2.5 miles but it felt like twice that on the downhill. After the long down hill we had one more climb to get back to our start. By that time it has started to rain but is was light enough that it wasn't a problem.

Once back in the cars we headed down Skyline drive where we had rode and beyond to get back to Interstate 81. On the way there we passed Luray Caverns a popular tourist attraction in the area. A few hours later we were Roanoke Virgina and at a Motel 6 for the night before.

I'm glad we took the detour to Skyline Drive. I hadn't been in this area in a bout 15 years and had forgot how nice it was. It was a good way to break up the long trip.

Psychological Tricks

This week I took a week off of my high point quest to do some training for Bike Virginia. I told Laura I wanted to do something stupid hilly. Translation over 5000 ft of climbing. I decided to go to Merrill Creek and do this route and invite a few people to join me. This is my normal Merrill Creek Ride from my NJ book but instead of a nice flat start along the river I headed up ridge after about a mile and a half. The first few hills weren't too bad and we kept a good pace. But the hills kept coming both up and down.

At 10 miles in I was already getting complaints about the amount of climbing we were doing even though this ride was advertised as a "Hilly" training ride. The heat and humidity added to the pain of climbing but there was some good scenery along the way including the windmill in Holland.

Around mile 20 was suppose to be our rest stop in Stewardville but the general store was not just closed but totally abandon. Laura pulled out her phone and found a shopping center a couple of miles away on Rt 22. We ended up stopping in a pizza place before heading back to the tackle the real hills of the ride.

To get to Merrill Creek you have to climb up over 600 ft. There are a couple of different ways up but our favorite is going up Montanna Rd. Its a 620 ft climb in about 2 miles. Its got a few bumps in the 8-10% range but it is a mostly constants 6% grade climb. As long as find a gear you can grind with out your heart rate getting too high and don't cramp it is a manageable climb. The first few times I climbed this hill I had to stop and let my heart slow down half way up. This year I made it with out stopping and felt better at that top than I even had before.

We stopped at the Merrill Creek visitor center to recharge and get some water. There were still two tough climbs ahead. But first we headed down my second favorite hill Millbrook which is 600 feet of curving downhill fun.

It was getting hot and some of us where feeling the strain of the climbing but we continued on. The last tough climb was up Tunnel Rd out of Bloomsbury and is another 600 ft climb but is not as steep as Montanna. The payoff is that the last 7 miles of the ride is a constant down hill which starts with a 3+ mile decent down Sweet Hollow which is, in my opinion the best downhill in NJ. Then a a few turns later you are on Javes Rd another gentle scenic downhill that brings you in to Milford.

A year ago I read a great book about perception and decision making by Daniel Kahneman. I learned a lot about the decisions bias that trick the mind into making the same bad decisions over and over again. One of the interesting things I learned is that what the mind remembers can be much difference than what the experience actually was. There was a study done about people going through a colonoscopy. They found is what mattered is the pain at the end of the procedure. The patients that had no pain at the end of the procedure were much happier than people who had pain at the end of the procedure even if the procedure was more painful overall. You can see the TED talk Kahnerman gave on this HERE  

So I always try to end a ride with a good down hill so people think the ride was better than it actually was. I'm sure if someone didn't manage to make it to the last few downhills they would have a lot different opinion of the ride and how painfully it really was.

Next week we will head to some flatter terrain as I want to do some distance training.

Somerset Summit

This week we continued our quest to ride to the high point in every county. The ride was a lot hillier than last week since we were riding in Hunterton, Morris, and Somerset county.Besides finding the high point of Somerset county I wanted to do this ride to get in shape for the hills of Bike Virgina.

The weather was somewhat questionable since rain has passed through earlier in the morning and there was a 50% chance of some scattered showers around noon time. When I got up a 6 am I looked at the rain and the forecast and radar and it didn't look that bad. The rain has pass through and was clearing out. I figured any rain that might pop up later would be light and brief so we went ahead with the ride.

What this meant though was that the roads were on the damp side of wet. I had a bigger turn out than expected. Laura, Jack, Pete, Ken, Jim and Barry. I was most surprised to see Jim since he had emailed me telling me he could not make the ride.

We had less than a mile to warm up before the first climb which takes us over 206 and towards Tewsbury. After the initial climb the hills keep coming. Nothing real steep or long but when you're not warmed up it feels a lot harder than it is. Last on my Cocoluxe ride I wasn't in as good a shape and got a nasty stomach cramp after the first 6 miles and had to stop for a few minutes to recover. This year I didn't have any problems and felt pretty good.

I gave everybody a scare when I turned on Hollowbrook. There is a long steep (12-15%) climb on this road that no body likes and doesn't lead to a view. However I turned off onto Homestead Rd before the big climb. I didn't want a mutiny this early in the ride.

We headed to Rockaway Rd one of the nicest climbs you will ever do then on to the familiar roads around Califon. This route was similar to last years Cocoluxe ride but I made a few minor changes to lessen the traffic and do a couple of cool downhills. One of the downhills I added was Coleman Rd. Which is a long straight down hill that I wanted to do again since doing it last year. This brought us to the base of Schooley's Mountain and as close as we would get to the Columbia trail.

I tried a new rest stop which was a Quick Check right as we crossed 206. It was a updated one with a bathroom and decent food so I have another go place to stop when I ride in this area.

After the stop we headed up Pleasant Hill and around the Black River Wildlife Management area. The roads were a little bumpy and beat up here and Barry had a water bottle ejected from his bike. There were no flat spots in this area we were either climbing or descending. There were some really killer down hills here but the wet roads and unfamiliarity made me cautious.

At this point we were only about 10 miles from the end I could have cruised down into Gladstone and would have done that normally but this was a highpoint ride so we had to get to it. This meant a 400 ft climb up to the top of Mine Mountain. This was the longest and hardest climb of the ride. I know putting a climb like this at the end of the ride is mean but my insane bike posse has come to expect it even as they curse me out.

The high point of Somerset is nestled in the middle or some ridiculously large and expensive homes. We actually snuck up  a private driveway to get the high point picture. This put us at 850 ft which is only 13 ft below the actual highpoint which was probably behind us by about 100 ft. To tell you how ridiculous these houses are up here. The house you see in the background of the picture is really just the garage of a much larger house. As we road on we saw an actual castle of a house.

The path back to Gladstone was a decent down a series of roller coaster like hills. Then a brief ride around a lake before we got back to our starting point. A few minutes after we got back Marc showed up. He had got there a few minutes after we left and ended up doing last years route. Usually we never start a ride on time but I guess this time we actually left a couple of minutes early.

After the ride I felt pretty good and didn't cramp up. I plan one more really hilly ride before Bike Virgina but so far the training is going well and I think I'm almost in peak hill shape.

The next few weeks will be about training for Bike Virgina so I won't be doing any club or high point rides until July when we will head to Schooley's Mountain and the high point of Hunterton county.