gugie 

As I'm sure you know, the AT crosses Skyline several times, back and forth. At nearly every crossing we saw a few fully equipped hikers taking a break on the side of the road. It was high season for those hiking the entire length.

I've got one word for you: Cino.

bikemig 

Oh yeah, I'd love to do it but work won't let me do the ride this year. I'll have to do something about my schedule for 2022! Doing the ride might even motivate me to buy a cool front handlebar bag so I fit in with the gruppetto.

gugie 

I don't recall the other 2 pedal problems, but Neal's was a potential ride stopper (for him). Day 3 we blasted out of Casa de Colvin @Spaghetti Legs) on beautiful gravel roads just outside of Charlottesville, passing massive estates with enormous grass lawns in front. On a particular nice stretch I heard Neal yell out a few choice words. We all gathered around and saw this^.

Something similar happened two years ago on a PNW tour with much of the same gang.



@Andy_K was delivering @Spaghetti Legs "new to him" Heron from Portland to Seattle via train when the ghost gave up on that pedal. Luckily Seattle local @Dfrost came to the rescue with another pair of Crank Brothers pedals, we didn't even lose any time.This time Hugh's buddy Vito came to the rescue, we were maybe 10 miles from his house. Neal limped along with the pedal as is until we caught up with the extra pedal set. We lost maybe a total of 45 minutes with the pedal change.

I'm constantly reminded of the kindness of strangers, and the fact that the network of BF members throughout the United States, even around the world that will drop everything to help out a fellow cyclist.

rccardr 

Little memory help: Andrew rebuilt one of his pedals at Hugh’s house after Day 2. One of Hugh’s Crank Brothers pedals on the VO had a fierce back and forth wiggle; luckily the Heron had its own set of pedals and disaster was averted. Was surprised to see so many pedal issues, as the Shimano XT’s on most of my bikes have never needed any kind of attention for over a decade.

Spaghetti Legs 

OK, my turn. It’s hard to express how excited I was to get together with friends and re-approximate bike life from the Before Times. I came up with the idea (as most of these ride ideas do) in the dead of winter when it seemed there was a glimmer of light at the end of this long pandemic tunnel. I wanted to showcase my hometown and the surrounding area and presented an option of a series of day rides from my house or a credit card tour from here, along Skyline and C+O to DC. Kind of surprisingly to me, but I now see the wisdom in the choice, everyone was overwhelmingly in favor of a tour. Numbers of commits quickly blossomed to at one point 10 people. This being my first time as a Tour Boss, I was quickly overwhelmed with logistics of herding 10 people and their bikes over a partially unknown tour route through probably waning but as yet unknown pandemic conditions. To simplify logistics, I audibled into a tour starting and finishing at my house, giving people option of train or plane to get to the start. By this point, numbers of commits had dropped to the Fabulous Five with 4 knuckleheads completely committed to riding bikes to C-Ville is the small town of Culpeper. Having lived in Northern VA several years ago, I wanted no part of the first leg through DC suburban sprawl so agreed to meet in Culpeper to guide the rest of the way.

Waiting on the train to Culpeper. Since my stable was home base, I did a bike change. Rode this for the first stretch and used the fendered Heron for remainder as there was a strong possibility of getting wet. After getting to Culpeper, I rode out to meet the guys, their progress was slow due to the brutal heat, so I actually got about 15 miles of riding in on Day 1.


To save riding legs, we cheated and drove to dinner, stopping to take a look at UVA Grounds.


First stretch of gravel leaving Charlottesville, Doc in his customary position as pacesetter.



Making our way to the Blue Ridge. One thing I’ve learned on these tours is the group gets a riding rhythm, expands and contracts over the road, sometimes in motion, sometimes at stops, but it always feels very natural.



Waiting out a thunderstorm. Doesn’t really show in the pic but it was raining buckets. We got lucky as the storm arrived right as we got to this point and it is the only real shelter for about a 10 mile stretch of road. It was a nice rest and cool down before tackling the last real climb of the tour. If you live in these parts, you know to expect storms in the summer once 3pm or so arrives. I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t really pay attention to the clock; surprised that the storms arrived early but turns out time flies and it was about 4 pm.



At the last stop on Blue Ridge Parkway (Raven’s Roost) before dropping down the chute to the Rockfish Valley. No pics of the descent as the Heron bumped and rattled its way to 45 mph and I was holding on for dear life. We finished that day at Devils Backbone Brewery for beer and a lot of greasy food.



People make the tour and I’m convinced with the right crowd you can do circles around strip mall parking lots and have a good time. Years ago, there was that Lance Armstrong book, It’s Not About the Bike but when you read it, it was clear that it was about the bike. In this case, the bikes are important, but seeing friends who aren’t that old (OK, well, you guys are old) but feel like old friends is the best part and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Spaghetti Legs 

Funny thing Doc, I put the pedal on the work stand, not quite sure how to overhaul this thing. I try to tap out what I assume are cartridge bearings and notice that the play is gone and still spins freely, so I stuff some grease in there and put it back together. I’ll make sure to bring it on the next tour so it can fall apart then.

billytwosheds 

What a BLAST. I hate to be all soft and stuff but this kind of tour and write up are why I keep coming back to this community. Bikes are cool, the humans the ride them are better.

Cheers.

2wheeljonz 

Glad to see my old frame getting some use after sitting unused at my house for several years. Did it ride well?
2wheeljonz


[img]blob:https://www.bikeforums.net/7891f490-f5b9-44f9-9e87-bea76a0fb35e[/img]

Spaghetti Legs 

Can’t remember if I sent you pics of the finished bike, but I love it. Really fun bike to ride and glides on the gravel! Gugie crafted me a decaleur for my GB25 bag and I’m waiting on a new front tire to get her back on the road (found some small sidewall cuts after the last ride).

rccardr 

What Hugh doesn’t mention Is that we had a very narrow window between thunder storms through which to thread our way up a 6 mile climb and down the steepest 10 mile descent of the entire trip. The pic above is of the very brief rest stop at the top of the climb, before which, as Hugh said, s**t was about to get real. And real it was.
At any rate, to exemplify the speed/rate/difficulty of the climb to this point, note a) the pumped condition of our calves, and b) where we are relative to the clouds.

gugie 

Day 2 I spent a lot of time with Dolly Madison. Based on Hugh's luck with Crank Brothers pedals, he should consider this repair method. Pretty sure I missed that drama.

bikingshearer 

The First Lady, or the snack cakes?

Either way, I'm glad gugie was okay. Smart move sagging; heat stroke is no joke. It is far better that our Death Marches are figurative and not literal.

noglider 

I love the stories and the pictures. I see Neal and I both use ankle bands on our socks when wearing shorts as an extra safety measure. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

gugie 

bikingshearer 

Here she is circa 1848. The first First Lady to be photographed, albeit more than 30 years after James left office. What any of this has to do with snack cakes or bike touring is beyond me.

blaugusto

Great ride

rccardr 

Link to picture album:
Doc Mertes | Flickr

gugie 

Inside joke. Day 3 I pooped out and only rode halfway to Charlottesville, so I rode into Montpelier (James Madison's estate) to cool off and rest. After the rest of the crew rode the rest of the way to Charlottesville, Hugh drove back to pick me up.

On most tours I've done, first day is fine, second day I feel crappy, then the "third day miracle" occurs and I'm good the rest of the tour. In this case, I was cooked after the 2nd day, and overnight wasn't enough to recover. Neal believes that sitting next to Dolly was my motivation for the next day, ergo the "Dolly Madison Miracle".

I did not, however, receive any snack cakes from her.

Here I'm sneaking a peek at something James Madison's working on. Dolly is standing behind him.

rccardr 

Day Two was your visit to DollyLand. And indeed, on the third day you rode all the way up to Big Meadow, rested and refreshed.

Sir_Name 

Nice riding knickers, good for the summer.

gugie 

I believe those are Rene Herse prototoypes.

gugie 

See, I was so wiped out I couldn't remember which day it was.

Spaghetti Legs 

Say what you want about Mr Madison, he doesn’t seem to mind people reading over his shoulder. That’s my oldest son who just finished junior year of college.

Sir_Name 

Well that’s a lot of time spent in R&D!! I should try a pair and see what’s up.

nlerner

President Madison is truly a sartorial inspiration to me.