September 2008 - Spokes Magazine

Riders waiting for the starting gun
Elementary School where the ride starts and ends.
The mountains at that hour were unusually beautiful,
shrouded in fog. A large community park serves as a
parking lot for the day as the riders pour in for the
7:30 a.m. start. While rain was in the forecast for the
entire week-end, nary a drop fell the day of the ride.
There were horrendous thunderstorms on Friday, and
a steady rain on Sunday. We lucked out.
There is a mass start for all 1,250 riders doing either
the century or half-century ride. This is possible
because, as became evident during the ride, there is
terrific support for the ride from local law enforcement.
The small country road was basically closed
as the riders made their way through the timing
area (we were given chips to put on our ankles so
that every rider gets an individual time based on the
rider’s crossing the timing mats at the start and end of
the ride) and onto the road.
Setting off with such a big number was a bit nervous,
as the pack of riders was thick and only beginning to
sort itself out by speed, although the truly fast folks
were directed to the front of the peleton and started
first. The ride profile on the BSG website suggests
that the ride starts with some fairly serious climbing,
but it doesn’t. The first few miles are fairly flat, allowing
a decent warm-up before having to climb steep
ascents, and allowing folks to sort themselves out by
speed a bit. At 10 miles the century and half-century
routes diverge, and everyone is pretty well separated
into groups riding at similar speeds.
The century riders enjoy a fabulous piece of riding
on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Unlike Skyline Drive in
Virginia which is entirely parkland and has climbs that
go on for miles, the Blue Ridge Parkway is constantly
rolling but lacking, where we rode, gut-busting-long
climbs. Parts of it were parkland, but the Parkway also
traversed farms. Bridge construction forced a detour
over a dirt road for a bit, but this was no problem,
and BSG had extra support there for any tires that
flatted. Oddly, the BSG website made a fairly big deal
about this detour going over dirt, but totally ignored
a later section of road that was dirt and gravel not significantly
different.
Overviews of the mountains were quite spectacular.
To get one picture I decided to cross the road and
get a shot of some cyclists with a mountain vista in
the background. Just as I crossed the centerline to get
where I needed for such a shot, a park policeman in
a police car came around the next bend and spotted
me. I got back into my lane, but it was too late. The
officer u-turned and tracked me down. Why did the
cyclist cross the road? Not to get a picture, but to get
a ticket! The process took at least 20 minutes, and 100
or more cyclists went by with wry grins on their faces
as I was busted. One asked if I was getting a speeding
ticket. Plus, no picture as I had wanted!
After that major faux pax, I got to rolling again and
passed some of the riders who had just gone by while
I was delayed. On a shift my front derailleur dropped
my chain. As I was fixing it one such group passed me
again, and I heard a voice say, “Boy, you’re having a
bad day.” It was not a bad day! The mix of a perfect
day of cycling with various misfortunes made it a memorable
day, with much that was both bad and good.
About 10 miles later coming down a fast descent I felt
as though I had been stabbed in the thigh. I don’t
know quite what I hit – certainly some sort of bee or
wasp – but I sure made it angry, and it retaliated with
a terrific sting. My right hamstring hurt the whole rest
of the ride, and when I got back to the hotel I had
what looked like a small target where it had stung me.
A rash lasted weeks.
My last misadventure of the day came about half-way
through the ride, and was the most serious. Again
coming down a steep country road, the pavement
turned to the right and revealed a 90-degree left turn,
still going downhill. The road ahead was visible, with
no traffic, so it looked easy to carry speed through the
The 18th annual Shenandoah Fall Foliage Bike Festival
October 17 -19, 2008
New rides for all skill levels from easy family rides to a challenging century
Enjoy spectacular cycling in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley
For more information and to register go to: www.shenandoahbike.org
Call 540 885-2668 or Fax 540 885-2669
Mist on the mountains as riders park
turn. The next thing I remember is being in the turn,
and knowing I couldn’t hold it. I saw the edge of the
asphalt where I knew I would leave the road, and hit
the brakes to ease the transition to the field with twofoot
tall grass. As I was bouncing through the grass,
I continued to slow, and then said to myself, “I’ve
never gone over my handlebars before, but here I
go.” Think Jan Ullrich in the 2001 Tour – when Lance
waited for him. It was that sort of tumble. I heard a
crunch as I landed, and thought, “I hope that was
my helmet crunching. Probably was or I wouldn’t be
thinking about that – or anything else.”
I then found myself standing up with my bike in front
of me, thinking it was great I could stand, and pretty
SNAKE continued on p.14
September 2008
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