I took Friday off to go for a ride, but the weather wasn't quite pleasant that day, but promised to be better. (Forecast for Friday hadn't been good, but I was being optimistic.) Yesterday and today have been beautiful here, though.
So yesterday, put the Rambouillet and my son's Motobecane cross bike on the rack, took off for Damascus to ride the Creeper... For those of you not familiar with, the Virginia Creeper Trail is a 34- mi rails-to-trail path in southwestern Virginia. One end of it is in Abingdon, Damascus is close to the middle, and the top of it is at Whitetop. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Virginia_Creeper_Trail#Riding_the_Virginia_Creeper_Trail) The good thing about the Creeper is that it's beautiful. The downside is its popularity. Large crowds will flock to it, rent a bike for the day, have a shuttle take them to the top at Whitetop Station, then they have a coasting 17-mile downhill bike ride, then one flat mile back to Damascus. They often treat it like it's a one-way path, not noticing people that are actually pedaling up. The Abingdon-Damascus half (16-mi-long) is usually less crowded, is rolling through farmland, whereas the Whitetop-Damascus half (18-mi) is through forest. I've done the downhill bit before myself, playing tourguide for visiting groups, talking about the geology, natural history of the area. But since I've started taking riding more seriously over the past couple of years, I've begun riding instead of using the shuttles. To date, I'd usually broken it up into pieces. I'd started in Abingdon, ridden to Damascus, then back to Abingdon. Likewise, I'd started in Damascus, ridden up Whitetop, then back down to Damascus. Each trip ends up being 32 to 36 miles long (depending on which parking lot you start from, if you go past the Whitetop Station on to the NC state line, etc.). But yesterday, I wanted to attempt to do it all. And, not just a one- way trip, but, to cover the whole trail, there and back. But, I didn't want to be risky either. So, we started in Damascus, rode up to Abingdon, then back down to Damascus, through town, and on towards Whitetop. Trip started well. The path is a combination of graveled near the trailheadish areas, but dirt-path when further from access points. First thing I noticed, is the difference in tires. Last summer, I'd had 32 Paselas on the Ram. After slashing my sidewall, I'd swapped, and put on RuffyTuffys, so my fenders would fit. I'd been liking the Ruffys on my other road rides and paved bike trails, but really noticed the decrease in floatation on the sandier patches we'd occasionally hit. Not too bad on the Damascus-Abingdon leg, though. Had a Hillborne pass us going the other way, and spotted a gal on a blue Rambouillet at the Abingdon trailhead. Promptly turned around, and part way back we passed the Hillborne going the other way. Ran into a friend who'd paused on one of the numerous trestles, admiring the view, we chatted for a few before we rolled on. Once back to Damascus, rode the flat out of town alongside Hwy 58 towards Whitetop, then you cross Hwy 91 beside the intersection with 58, and start to climb. Pretty quick, having the first thirty-some miles behind us, we were feeling it when we started up. And, started hitting more sandy patches... as much as I like to pick on the fact that 'mountain bikes' are overkill on this trail, I have to admit that a fatter tire would have been better. I could peel the fenders off, I suppose, and go with even bigger than my previous 32s, but, I admit to liking having my fenders on there when you cross puddles in the trail... you spot people with stripes up their back, but not I... :) But, as much as I was enjoying the ride, it was starting to grind. We made it to Taylor's Valley, and I was wanting to make it to Green Cove (the community before you reach the top at Whitetop), but, I bonked. I reached a point where I told Alex, we need to stop. Munched our bananas and granola bars, downed a good bit of water, rested for ten minutes, fifteen minutes or so. Then, pointed our bikes back downhill. When we made it back to the truck in Damascus, we'd done 52 miles. If, if I'd managed to get on up to Whitetop before turning around, we'd have done 68, so, yeah, were about 8mi short of the end of the trail when we turned back. But, it felt good. Yeah, sore, (worse, sunburned... didn't think about sunscreen, thinkin' about being in the woods, but, there's enough open fields, well, I should have had suncreen on....). But, I've felt worse before... get home from a fastish 20-mi ride (well, fashish for me), then crash for an hour, feeling wretched, before I start to recover. This time, even though I was working to ride it, wasn't feelin' bad. So.... I'm tempted... thinkin' about the Burnsville Metric next weekend... Think it might be a good follow-up. (Truth be told, this Creeper ride was a test run to see if I thought I could handle the metric.... ). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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