Bike Virginia 2004 Shenandoah Odyssey

Previous | Newmarket to Bridgewater | June 23, 2004

Kerie at the Mt Olivet Church rest stop

The weather had been too good all week; we were bound to have to pay for our good fortunes. The day started out overcast and cool, ideal riding conditions. We got a relatively early start after the half hour bus ride from our motel in Woodstock to the starting point at New Market High School. This was the last day of the ride, a 50-mile ride from Tent City near New Market to Bridgewater. The first half of the route included two gradual climbs. The remainder of the route was mostly downhill, although one always seems to remember more vividly those short climbs along the way.

In our rain gear at the Pence School rest stop in Dayton

The rain hit after the second rest stop. It started gradually and as it increased we stopped to put on some rain gear. Although the temperature was around 75 degrees, it felt good to be wearing a jacket during the cool downhills. After getting accustomed to the rain, it was a pleasant ride back to Bridgewater, with the long descents for much of the trip. Kerie wasn't so lucky. She is now convinced of the need for at least a front fender on her long wheelbase recumbent. It was hard for her to see at times with all the spray coming off the front wheel.

The rain continued as we arrived at Bridgewater College to pick up our baggage and pack the car. It's normally a challenge to figure out the logistics of parking the bikes, getting the car to pick up the bags, taking a shower, and packing the bikes. In the rain it's not much fun. We finally managed to get a shower and change into dry clothes, and sat under one of the large tents to enjoy the free lunch and celebration cake. The bags were wet, but we had packed all our gear in plastic bags so we fared OK. The bikes were covered with grit, and we later spent the rest of the evening in Reston cleaning them.

The next challenge was the 3-hour drive back to Reston. We stopped in Harrisonburg for a coffee and I struggled to stay awake. Luckily it was Wednesday and traffic was light. When we got near Northern Virginia, the rush hour traffic was headed west so it wasn't a bad trip.

Despite the shaky start with the lack of food at the rest stops on the first two days, the trip went well and was well-managed. I hope the organizers will consider limiting the number of participants in the future, of course giving preference to us veterans. Having to take care of 2,000 cyclists each day is a challenge. I don't know how RAGBRAI does it, with up to 20,000 riders during a single day's ride. We hope to return next year for our 10th Bike Virginia.

[NOTE: I've heard that the organizers of Bike Virginia have decided to limit the number of riders in the future. That's the good news. The bad news is that the limit is 2,000.]