Sunday, My Last Day with the Group

Oh, it's finally come to this.  My final post (maybe!) about my week of riding in Virginia with Bike the US for MS TransAm 2014.  It's sad to think this was my final ride ever with the group, but for now, my journey has come to a close.  Sunday morning, I met up with other alumni riders, including Bret, to ride with the group out of town from Blackburg to Christiansburg along the Huckleberry Trail.  It was an early rise because the group and vans were departing at 8:00AM as they have a very long, 80-mile day ahead of them.  When I showed up in my cycling gear, nearly every single person lit up and asked if I had changed my mind and was staying to ride further on the trip.  That felt so good to know everyone wanted me to stay, but yet made me so sad that I had to say goodbye.  Don showed up at 6:30AM to make yummy egg, cheese, and soy-sauge breakfast sandwiches for everyone before they head out of town.  My, what an awesome host Don is!  Blacksburg is one of the most fun stops of the trip, just for the great hospitality that Don provided.  We took one last group photo together and then headed on down the road. 

It was a mere 7 mile journey to Christiansburg, but I wanted it to last forever. (well, maybe not forever, because my bum would hurt quite a bit after forever)  We arrived at a mall in Christiansburg where the Huckleberry Trail came to an end.  Everyone cycled over to me and I hopped off my bike to give hugs all around.  Even a few selfie photos were taken!  I took it all in one last time and knew I'd never be with this same group of people again in my life (unless I can sneak off to Colorado in a few weeks... hmm...), so it was a bittersweet moment.

After 25 or so goodbyes, I rode back to Blacksburg with the other alumni and we just took it slow as if we were out of a Sunday joyride.  I'll be honest: I hadn't ridden that slow all week and it was driving me crazy! Ha! It was fun to now be part of the alumni group, though.  Dave, another alumni rider, dropped back with me for a minute to say, "It's hard leaving everyone in Blacksburg, isn't it?"  He had ridden the same route as me in 2013 and found it equally as difficult to say goodbye to his group as they rode out of Blacksburg, as well.  Luckily, it was a pleasant day to enjoy an easy ride.

On the drive home, I pointed out to Bret every place I'd been along I-81 that week and reminisced about the hill climbs and how I felt on the trip.  Since he had already done the trip two times before, he kindly let me ramble on, even though he had been there-done that before.  Maybe it was nice for him to be able to reminisce about his own trips again, too.

Upon arriving home, I felt very melancholy and quite blue, which is why it took me so long to write this post.  I'm proud of my accomplishment and so happy I decided to do this trip.  But having to look back already and say goodbye is the part that makes me sad.  Most people thought I was crazy for calling it a vacation, but if you know how much I like to be social, outdoors, active, and exploring, then you know this was the perfect trip for me.

Tragedy for a Fellow Cyclist

I wanted to pass along some sad news about a fellow cyclist, not from Bike the US for MS, but from 4KforCancer who are riding from Baltimore, MD to Portland, OR to raise awareness and funds for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.  Jamie Roberts was riding in that group was died while changing a tire on the side of the road in rural Kentucky.  Drivers, please, please watch out for cyclists while you drive.  And, cyclists, please always ride safely and remember that it can be very hard for cars to see you.  My heart goes out to the 4KforCancer group and the loved ones of Jamie.  Here's a news report from the Baltimore Sun.

All the best to my fellow Bike the US for MS cyclists - please ride with caution. Thinking of you all.

Go Ride a Bike!

This experience is something you can do at any age, whether in between college grades,  just finishing college, taking a vacation with a partner, starting a new chapter in your career, starting retirement, or just taking some time to find YOU again. You also don't have to be super fit, just enough that you could do 50 miles in one day. No one is really trained for this type of physical feat. There are too many variables: weather, elevation, comfort on your bike, physical fitness, diet, mood, bike repairs, whatever else. If you're like me and was freaking out days before the trip, saying, "I have no business being on a bike,  nevermind riding 360 miles across Virginia!", then I just have to say you're wrong and you can do it. I knew and still know squat about bicycles, and I luckily had one solid mountain ride on Skyline before the trip, but I look back embarrassed and ashamed at how afraid I was. All I want to do now is be on my bike. Sounds silly and obsessive, but I'm still riding the high of the experience - months later. I know I won't ever have that exact same experience, but I now have the confidence to take my bike new places and make new experiences that can be just as awesome. Get out there and do something physical for yourself. You'll feel good. Ride on!

Blacksburg Service Project

I know you've probably moved on with your lives, but I wanted to selfishly take a week from the trip before writing my wrap-up posts. I just wanted some time to reflect and miss my friends and still savor the emotions of such a neat journey.  I can't even imagine how the other riders feel now having been riding for 2 weeks. We're all friends on Facebook now, so I get to follow pictures and fun posts. I'm still signed up for the Twitter messages, as well, so I know they're near Lexington, KY... or at least they were last night,  so add 60 more miles!

Last Saturday, we all met up for breakfast in Blacksburg at a well known vegetarian restaurant called Gillie's.  The food was A-MAZ-ING. Bret had kindly driven back down to pick me up in Blacksburg, but it was also a fun chance for him to revisit his old stomping grounds and see Don and other Bike the US for MS alumni. I rarely visited Virginia Tech when I was in school at JMU, so it was fun to get to know the area a bit better. It's a lot smaller than I remember. For the service project, we broke into two groups. One group helped wash windows and set up for a yard sale and the group I was in helped with massive gardening chores. The husband had gathered lots of gardening tools and all of the supplies, so all we had to do was roll up our sleeves and get to it. We raked out a trench and lined it with tree branches to make a walkway through the yard. We raked leaves all over the yard and planted flowers and ferns. The biggest part of the project was building a planter and planting an herb garden that was nearly as long as the front of the house, which is something his wife, who has MS, has always wanted. They provided a delicious homemade lunch for us that was probably the best meal we had all week! He also is a photographer and let us all take some of the nice photo greeting cards he had made. They were very grateful for the yard work and we were happy to be able to help out for a few hours. 

The group spent the rest of their afternoon doing laundry and grocery shopping before heading south and west on Sunday, only a few days before they hit a new state - Kentucky! 

In the evening, Don and Cassie hosted an awesome bbq at their house.  We got to meet Don's parents, which was great. He started Bike the US for MS since his mother has MS, so it was really nice to meet his inspiration. I can also tell where he gets his laid back attitude and sense of humor from. One of the route leaders, Claire, had put together a first week video (which I posted in my previous blog), so it was fun to relive everything together as a group. It was the last time we would truly all be together before the segment riders left and the others carried on. I made a super awkward speech in between mouthfuls of s'more bites. I think the group understood how much it meant to me to share this experience with such a great group of people and we all had a better understanding of what we were riding for.

Avoiding the Wrap-Up

I'm sure those of you following along think I've just given up blogging because I'm back home and in the swing of "normal" life again.  In reality, I'm really sad the trip is over and am having a tough time getting the last blog started because it makes me too emotional!  Check back in the next day or so and hopefully I'll have pulled my thoughts together.

In the meantime... check out our awesome first week video!  I'm in it a number of times, usually with black arm sleeves on, but otherwise I just look like a cyclist with black shorts and a colorful shirt and black helmet.  Bike the US for MS TransAm 2014 - Part 1

Day 6: Into Blacksburg

Today was my last day of riding with the group, so I really tried to savor the day. It was a mere 40 miles,  but somehow felt like 60. Maybe it was the lack of sleep due to literally sleeping next to the train tracks in Troutville. Maybe exhaustion of the week was finally setting in. Maybe it was just a mental thing; perhaps 20 miles could've felt the same way.

We had a later start at 9 am and much of the group stopped at Subway for breakfast. I had already had my 3 oatmeal packets, so I just had one of the 3" breakfast subs. Not bad!

The entire ride consisted of rolling hills and beautiful farm land. Our first stop was an old gas station in Catawba where the route leaders or Don surprised us with doughnuts from the local Carol Lee doughnut shop and chocolate milk. Two doughnuts and chocolate milk with 21 miles to go and warming temps was probably not the best choice, but I enjoyed every morsel. Obviously, eating doughnuts and chocolate milk helped Chris carry on...

The second, last leg of the ride was fun, again with the rolling hills. I felt strong and like an actual cyclist finally. I even got a few compliments from the other riders that I was "killin' it" on the hills. That's a great compliment to get. :)

Coming into Blacksburg a "doozy" as Bret had forewarned me. I could see from the elevation map that it was a fairly steep climb for a solid handful of miles. And, oh boy, it was! Towards the end of the ride, I started to struggle a bit because it had ceased to be rolling and was just a continuous uphill on Harding Road. Any Hokies following along should know where I mean!  One of the guys on the ride who has a heavy touring bike and didn't check the elevation profile prior to the ride, so he said it was "a bad joke" to finish the ride that way. He should know by now that we never finish on a downhill! 

Rolling into downtown, the Hokie House served us complementary beers and wings, and we had the whole upstairs to ourselves for the afternoon, which was fun. That evening, Don (Founder) hosted a small bbq at his place. Instead of camping with the group, I was able to sleep in a real bed at one of the alumni rider's houses. I definitely slept hard that night, but I needed it for the next day's activities.

Day 5: 60-something Miles

Today seemed like one of the longest days yet. Maybe the heat was finally getting to me or the continuously rolling hills along I-81. Regardless,  it was a good day. It was an early start because some folks (the older generations in the group) tend to wake up earlier than the college - age group. The fog over the mountains we rode down yesterday was a pretty start to the day outside the really kind church we stayed at. 

I had 3 packs of oatmeal and coffee,  then we all headed back to Gurtie's for a pancake breakfast. Let's just say I ate way too much. There was also an interesting local man in his torn jammies playing guitar out front. He made this comment at some point in the morning to someone in the group, "All the prettiest girls in the world ride bikes. All I gotta say is,  baby, I'm sorry I didn't make you an egg sandwich." ... ya know, whatever, that's what happens on trips like this. 

The first leg of the day was only 19 miles and it was really pretty running between a railroad track and a creek. It didn't seem particularly hard until closer to the rest stop in Lexington when it got more hilly. There were just as many down hills as there were uphills, and we stopped to see a waterfall, so I won't complain.

It was neat to be in Lexington where the Virginia Military Institute and Washington & Lee University are. I don't recall ever having been to Lexington before. We wandered around and had lunch before getting back on the road. The English couple in our group said Lexington had quite a British feel to it.

By the time we left Lexington, the day had heated up and my belly was full, so the next segment of the ride was really tough. The hills were more rolling and my stomach was simply unsettled. At the top of a climb,  as number of us stopped for a breather only to find out the second test stop was literally across the street. Ha!

I tried not to stay at this rest stop too long, but I think it may have been an hour still. It seems like I ride with different people from the group on every section of the day and almost never repeat the exact same group of people again. It's a great opportunity to get to know everyone. I can't believe there are still people in the group that I barely know and tomorrow is my last day.  It would be neat to fly to California for the end of the trip and ride to the finish with everyone, but I doubt that would happen.

The last leg of the day was fun, scenic, and challenging. There were rolling hills on Rt 11 that ran along I-81 south of the Natural Bridge. The key was to pedal pedal pedal in a high (hard) gear down the hills (at like 30+mph) in order to get momentum to get up the steep climbs. It was fun!  

We biked through downtown Buchanan, but didn't stop to explore. The ride down into Troutville was nice, with a foot soak in the river along side the road. It was so refreshing that I barely noticed the painfully steep climb into Tville.  Just kidding.  I totally noticed it.

We had showers at the local fire house and are camping at a park. We also meet up with Don (coolest dude ever who started Bike the US for MS.... He also reads my blog), Cassie (super cool chick that helps Don run the organization, but I don't think she reads my blog,  haha), and some other alumni riders at a new, rad local brewery called Flying Mouse. They had a cool atmosphere, a good grille truck for dinner,  and all proceeds went to Bike the US for MS.

I wish I could describe all the picturesque sights I've seen, intense floral smells I've biked by, supportive people I've met, great food I've digested, and emotions that come along with the entire package. Alas,  my brain is mush by the end of a long day of biking and all I can think about is scrubbing the dirt, grease, stuck-on bugs to my skin off, getting camp set up, charging my phone and GPS watch before all the outlets are in use, and what the heck is for dinner! 

Tomorrow should not be too crazy of a day with a later start and shorter ride, but with a sweet climb into Blacksburg and exploring town. We are doing a service project on Saturday and I think I'll be heading home Sunday.

My adventure is almost complete. I'll keep writing through the weekend, but I just wanted to say thank you for all the support along the way! And kudos to my cousin Jennifer for sending her awesome granola bars for the trip. They help me crush the mountains.

And... goodnight!

Day 4: Mountains Only

Wow. What a day. WHAT. A. DAY.

I hardly slept at all with the anticipation of today's mountain climbing ahead. I felt sick with anxiety, but successfully choked down 3 packets of oatmeal,  coffee, and half a bagel at 630am. We headed west out of Charlottesville and zoomed down some great country roads only to find out the map no longer followed bike route 76. We're so used to following signs for 76 that no one even realized the mistake until we were at the bottom of a big hill that was a few miles long. Some of the group had already stayed on 76, but I was in a group that decided we should follow the map. We saw some beautiful horse and wine country with rolling hills for the first 25 miles of the 60ish mile day. Below is a group picture that was somewhere we found to be a great place to stop.

Our first stop of the day was at Chiles Peach Orchard near Crozet.  I had cherry pie, a chocolate milkshake,  and a strawberry cider before starting the worst mountain climbing part of the day. It was only 9 am or so and it was already very hot and humid. The roads were skinny country roads and the switchbacks were the most steep slopes I've ever been on. Coming up to Afton Mountain was just breathtaking... literally, I couldn't breathe. I stopped at a Post Office just before the Cookie Lady's house (she would give out cookies to bikers before passing away 2 years ago). Finally, we came out to where the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive meet and headed south on the Parkway. The hills became more rolling, but also long, from this point forward. Don't get me wrong; it was still pretty darn hard! 

On the slow inclines in my granny gear, I noticed my crank arms were really creaking loudly. After riding 15 miles at the next stop,  Yusef,  one of the route leaders and bike mechanic,  took apart my bottom bracket and fixed me right up in about 15 min. So impressive! 

The next leg of the day was only 10 miles,  but most of it was climbing and still on the Parkway. The last 15 miles of the day started with 12 miles of climbing and ended with 3 miles of dangerously steep descent. It was epic and everyone's brakes need to be replaced now!! 

At the bottom, we had dinner at Gurtie's Country Store in Vesuvius - huge burgers and amazing bbq. The brakes on the van happened to be smoking on the epic descent. So, the yard they pulled into kindly offered to let us stay at the local church for the night since there were storms coming. After a cold house shower, one of women of the church made delicious chocolate chip cookies! Yum! I don't feel guilty because my GPS watch told me I burned 4,000 calories today. I ate basically all day and don't feel full. It's crazy how much we are burning!

I've been enjoying taking with the husband of one of the MS patients who received the modified van as he is riding today thru Friday with us.  It's great he was able to make the trip! 

Now it's time for bed because I am exhausted from this awesome day. 

Day 3: 55ish Miles

What a day. I can barely remember the ride today other than the fact that we saw rolling hills and farmland,  passed Monticello, and hill climbed into Charlottesville. At one of the spots,  we were by the Fluvanna Firehouse and one of the volunteer fire fighters was really stoked about what we were doing,  so much so that he wants to host us next year!  Way cool! The weather got hour,  but then it was overcast just at the right time of day when we were on rolling hills.  I couldn't believe how steep the climb was into Cville.
The highlight of the day,  however,  was not just getting to hang out for the afternoon in Cville, but there was a great reception attended by us and some MS patients from the Cville MS Clinic. The event was held at a restaurant called Maya and the food was epic. One of the doctors from the clinic spoke and a few patients stood up and spoke about their experiences,  but all were very grateful for the clinic and our fundraising.
The most heartfelt part of the reception was presenting a check to the clinic for $10,000, providing a patient with funds to install a stairwell chairlift, and a family received a modified minivan. There was lots of cheers, tears, and sincere gratitude coming from both us to the patients for inspiration and thank you's from the patients for our hard work and fundraising. We had a chance to speak to some of the patients who has MS. Each have their own struggles,  some more often than others, but all said their lives have improved by receiving medical treatment from the James Q. Miller MS Clinic here in Cville. It's hard to describe the emotions I felt and yet what I felt must've been a quarter of what the patients and their families living with MS feel.
After the reception i headed to a local church where we are camping for the night. To my surprise,  my sister came to visit with her Great Dane Greta!! What an awesome surprise.  We couldn't hang out too long because we had a group meeting about our big mountain climbing day tomorrow, but it was really fun to come have her meet everyone and show her support.  Sister of the year award goes to Meg!  :)
Ok, finally showered,  so I'm heading to bed.

Photos are from the reception.

Day 2: 80 Miles

I was too tired to write last night and feel the same today,  so this is going to be a short post about a very long day. We rode from Glendale to Mineral,  which was 80 miles.  We had numerous stops,  so it was a 12 hour riding day for me. The scenery was great and it was neat riding over 295 and 95 in places I've driven before. Each leg we ride is about 20 miles between stops.  First stop: Panera in Mechanicsville where I had a second breakfast of a smoothie and sandwich. Second stop was at a grille in Ashland where a local childhood friend happened to be home and stopped by to say hi while i chowed on a burger and fries. We had a member of the Richmond Area Bicycling Association join us for the ride.  He is in charge of maintaining that section of the Route 76 bike route,  so he knew the way very well and also shared history lessons along the way of the various battles that occurred in the Richmond area.
A friendly driver stopped and high 5'ed and said we are riding for him because he has MS. His excitement was awesome and made me feel really touched that he stopped to cheer us on.
The ride from stop 2 to 3 was really tough. I felt fatigued and mentally exhausted already,  and I still had 20 miles to go.  It was also getting really hot. We stopped at a country store gas station for ice cream in Bumpass. I changed into my swimsuit bottoms under my bike shorts and around 5pm we headed out on our last 15 miles of the day. About 7 miles in,  Chris and I found a place to get in and swim at Lake Anna. The water was surprisingly warm, but it was still very refreshing. We hung out until about 7.5 I think before tackling the very last miles of the day.  Chris and I felt very tired and we must hanging on to get to camp before dark.  We weren't the last ones in because others had also stopped to swim, so we quickly set up camp at the Mineral Firehouse. We ran across the street to the only restaurant that was open to have Mexican. I was in bed by 10:30 and slept fairly well,  despite sounds of cars,  dogs, someone walking around (probably just a fireman to check on us). Despite soreness,  it's time for another 60 mile day!

Day 1: 60 miles, if you didn't get lost

The day started at a reasonable time, with a 9 am group photo and rear bike tire dip in the Atlantic. There's no way we were all in 1 photo as I think there may have been close to 35 riders at the start.
I had biked the 1st mile last summer on a day trip to Williamsburg.  The very first turn of today's ride was missed by about half the group!  Ha!  We rode along the water on the Colonial Parkway, which was beautiful.  The road was so bumpy it caused my tail light to dislodge, so I had to pull over to rescue it. The first was stop was the 20 mile mark at Jamestown.
We didn't tour it, but did ride through historic Williamsburg on our way in. After refueling and hydrating, we headed west along the Capital Trail (after myself and another rider named Chris and I headed east for a minute). The ride was quiet and scenic.  It was shaded and there were too many other bikers around,  so it was easy to relax a bit.  We were all excited to stop at S&S Sub Shop for lunch,  until we arrived to find it was closed! A little further down the road, I stopped at a gas station to seek out ice cream or chocolate milk.  No such luck.  A woman came up to us and thanked us for riding for MS because her daughter has it.  It was nice she felt comfortable sharing her story with us. Those are the folks we are riding for.
Back on the road,  we had about 26 miles until camp. I was starting to get uncomfortable in my saddle and my shoulders were really tight. I knew we were close and I was ready to be done for today, but the miles just seemed to drag.  Finally,  we saw our destination: Willis Church. When I pulled in, I saw my car and sure enough Bret was there to have dinner with the group before heading home (he had turned back at Jamestown to go back to the start). The church provided a huge and amazing pasta and salad dinner with "cookie monster" sundaes for dessert.  We stuffed ourselves silly with trying to recover from the day. We couldn't have asked for better weather on Day 1 nor a better finish.  The church also provided towels and a shower.  After a little Frisbee and some chatting with new friends, I'm finally tucked into my sleeping bag at the front of the church sanctuary.
Tomorrow will be a big day: 80 miles from east Richmond up past Lake Anna and finishing in Mineral. Wish is good everything!