Road Biking: Discovering a new land in an old home

With the mountain bike temporarily out of commission and Spring glory in full swing, I was in a space where premeditated crime was imminent.  (Where the crime is not riding your bike in our beautiful back yard during the peak of our most jubilant bicycle season).  

Sometimes experimentation is the closest route to failure.  This time, experimentation lead to a new addictions and a shift of perspective.  It was the nearest route to the unspeakable & unfathomable truth that I've resisted acknowledging for decades: Road biking in the Shenandoah Valley is a sacred experience.  Until a few rides ago, in my mind, road riding was an exclusive activity for Canadians, squares, leg shaving number munchers and chicks.  I WAS WRONG.

I felt the false pretenses hold strong on my first road ride; hands numb, neck sore, solo, uncomfortable, sweaty, car dodging.  Following the one hour pre-work ride I thought to myself "Not sold yet.  Maybe it's similar to that drug that I heard about in college, marijuana, where you don't feel it on your first try."   Still curious, I planned a couple more rides & the magic started to work its way into my system.  I jumped on the slow time machine after work to ride to my parent's house with Kiki.  We started making our way out of town & ran into fellow lifestyle rider Sam Taylor.  He offered companionship on our route & we gladly accepted.

"Posture, breathing, posture, breathing."  Was my mantra and suddenly I was relaxed, comfortable and powerful.  Flying like a bird, my wings a bicycle.  Climbing to the top of the country on clouds of velvet pavement.  Cruising on familiar roads at an unfamiliar pace, we rode along my old school bus routes, never before so blissed out.

I guess its time to start saving for my next new bike!


       

Mama Day Staunton Ride

This past Sunday, I joined a group of fourteen awesome mothers and/or daughters for a road ride to celebrate Mama's Day. We rode about 26 miles to Staunton, locked our bikes up outside the Baja Bean restaurant downtown, and refueled with margaritas and Mexican food. We then rode back to Harrisonburg, another 30ish miles. I was stoked to ride with such an awesome group of women, especially my super cool Mom! Celebrating with a bike ride is definitely the way to go.

The posse sans a few ladies we picked up in Bridgewater.

Halfway to Staunton!

Fourteen bikes locked up outside of Baja Bean!

All smiles all day.

Alpacas with poodle shave-jobs

Lots of heinous hills throughout the day.

Thanks Kate and Kari for the photos!

Full Pull on the Massanutten Ridge

Looking Wheelie cool above US 211 

On Saturday evening I was trying to decide what big ride I was going to do on Sunday. After several long road ride weekends I decided it was time to get out on the mountain bike and try to get my rock skills polished up again. After a half-hearted attempt to find someone to ride with I decided that I would ride the "Full Pull" of the Massanutten East ridge, one of the best "from your door" rides imaginable. Then at 9:30 in the evening I, after only learning about the ride a half hour prior, Sam Skidmore texted me that he wanted in on what was to be my solo mission. Never one to turn down company, especially when that company is a blast to ride with, I told Sam that we would leave Campbell St. at 5:30am and finish at Buzzard Rocks before dark.

Top of Veach Gap and looking out at Shenandoah National Park and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River below

Most entertaining to me was that Sam had never ridden the "full pull" in fact, he had rarely (other than the Tour de Burg) ridden his mountain bike for so long and so far. Nevertheless, he wasn't worried and neither was I. Turned out that Sam did better than I think he even expected. We finished in record time with several hours of daylight to spare. This ride has become somewhat of an annual tradition for me, typically I ride it on my birthday but hopefully this will be the year that I pull it off twice. I have many great memories of this ride, from the first time I ever rode it with Mike Carpenter and Pat Miller to the countless other friends who I have been able to enjoy the experience with. From Chris Scott, to Collin Vento, Kurt Rosenberger, Matt Smith, Ian Beckner, Nate Shearer, Sue Haywood, Jimmy McMillan, Jennifer Wolfson, Jake Brown, and many more. It is a special ride on amazingly beautiful terrain.

The end of the ridge and the end of the ride. Buzzard rocks and looking out through the northern opening of Fort Valley into the Shenandoah Valley beyond and Winchester in the distance.

The ride looked something like this.

It doesn't get much better than all day cruising along one of the most beautiful, engaging and challenging ridge lines around. The ease and casual nature of the ride has me dreaming about another attempt of the Ring or maybe even trying the lollipop. Or maybe buying a house and getting married is enough for this year and I will be happy with another full pull in the fall?

Rolling from town to the Western Slope a little after 6am

Kaylors Knob is only the beginning for this ride

Taking phone calls up on the bird knob rock overlook and the Shenandoah Valley below

We even had time to joy ride out to the Massanutten Storybook trail (Strickler Knob in the distance)

Tim and Chris C. Helped us out with a crucial food and drink drop up near the Kennedy Peak trail. Lifesaver!

Sam already knew how to ride the rocks. ALL of the rocks.

Post ride dinner at Jaliscos in Strasburg!

Join SBC and SVBC for a fun Bike Month Event

Join us on May 12th & 26th for a special townie ride followed by dinner and a movie night at Bella Luna.  The movie will have a bike theme since it is bike month! Last year both evenings had a full house so make sure to pick up your FREE tickets before hand at the Friendly City Food Coop!  A big thank to Wade and the Bella Luna crew for hosting!

Hope to you see you this Tuesday!

Oh Cananda!

This week marks the end of the Canadian invasion. This is not a bad invasion but the invasion of great folks coming to ride our beautiful Valley roads.  You see them each spring, riding in groups with the colorful club kits and fast rolling machines. They have a beautiful french twist to their words and know how to enjoy themselves during and after a ride.

Post Reddish ride dinner at "Ruby's"

Happy Hour at SBC with our friends. 

Departing on a beautiful day.

For three weeks, several tour guides bring down hundreds of folks from the Montreal area to break out of the northern winter and get their first taste of spring for the new year.  Most of these folks left Canada with snow still in their front yards. These folks love riding bikes and can't wait for their first ride of the year.  Thus, they visit Harrisonburg excited and ready to roll! For the last decade we at SBC have been working with the tour guides and their guests to make sure their time in the Valley is smooth and enjoyable.  We do what ever we can to make sure their bikes are always ready to go for the next day, even if this means lending them our own bikes.

A beaufitul road outside  the town of Shenandoah.

These groups make their base camp at Massanutten ("Massanewton") resort, a great place for bulk housing, but they love coming downtown to shop, eat and hang out. Last week I had the opportunity to get our and ride with one of the groups, their road etiquette was top notch! I could not believe the amount of riders we saw during our 60k spin that took us from "Massanewton" to Shenandoah, Stanley, Elkton and back.  These tour guides had a great route even showing this local boy some new roads to ride.

Until next year my friends!

Thank you!

Thomas

Michaux Maximus

Kelly and I left Harrisonburg at 4:45 a.m. Sunday morning to drive to Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania for the first race of the Volvo Endurance Series. This race, the Michaux Maximus, was the "easiest" of the three-race series, each race being around 30 miles long. I had heard mixed reports of Michaux riding, and want to give credit to all who told me it was super gnarly. I should've known that legend Mike Carpenter's opinion ("it's like Massanutten, you'll be fine") meant the trails were comparable to the northern parts of Massanutten mountain, not the Western Slopes. Either way, I was excited to ride somewhere different and challenging. The rocks were very real, and there was a lot of great trail/fire road variety. Skill levels were tested to the max(imus), and I finished with destroyed arm and back muscles. But throughout the day, despite the venturing into my deepest of pain caves, I found myself laughing and smiling, meeting new friends, and loving every second.

Results for 1-7 of 8 ladies

Kelly rolling in strong to the finish!

There were three chutes for the three distances of races.

Stocked prize table.

Friday May 1 Costume Bike Parade

Friday, May 1: Costume Bike Parade

• Kick off Bike Month 2015 in style with the 3rd Annual Costume Bike Parade. Wear a costume, ride a bike. It’ll be a short loop around court square. Helmets are required. Family friendly pace.
• Meet us at the Turner Pavilion at 5:30.
• Watch the video of the parade: Harrisonburg Costume Bike Parade
• Checkout the Facebook Event:  May 1 Harrisonburg Costume Bike Parade

• Kick off Bike Month 2015 in style with the 3rd Annual Costume Bike Parade. Wear a costume, ride a bike. It’ll be a short loop around court square. Helmets are required. Family friendly pace.
• Meet us at the Turner Pavilion at 5:30