Tour of Richmond 2015 – Ride Report

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Flattus interruptus

I’ve probably been on two dozen big rides since I started road cycling a few years ago. Not once, on any of those, did I sustain a flat tire. I’ve come upon a bunch of people suffering them, even stopped to help a few, but never had one myself. That all changed in this year’s Tour of Richmond.

Later start means cooler riding conditions

With the UCI World Cycling Championships

Gone but not forgotten!

taking place in late September, the Tour of Richmond was pushed back two weeks later than its traditional start on the first Saturday in October. I was thankful for that! The last couple of years have provided rather warm afternoons (mid-90s, one year) and no one enjoyed riding into a hot headwind.

In addition to cooler temps, I was also backing off my normal distance. I’ve ridden the century route the last 3 years and was planning to do the same when I signed up in May. Unfortunately, work and life got in my way creating a great deal of travel sans bike and this put my mileage way down compared to the last three years. I typically have 1,500 miles in by the time this ride rolls around. This year, I hadn’t even cracked 1,000.

In addition, I was traveling the week before the ride and not arriving home until after midnight on Friday. With a 7:30 am start for the century, and having to drive 40 minutes to get there and check in, I didn’t see my making 100 miles on 3 hours of sleep. Instead, I changed my entry to the 60 mile course, a metric century and with a 9:30 start time I figured I’d be fine.

Training? We don’t need no stinking training!

With so few miles this year, I figured I’d better get out the prior weekend for some rides just to be sure I could manage. On Saturday, I drove down to the new Capital

Finally a reality!

Trail in downtown Richmond. It officially opened a week earlier and provides us with a paved, multi-use path from Richmond to Jamestown (the original capital of the Commonwealth) a distance of 52 miles. It is a beautiful ride, with gently rolling hills, lovely trees, some water views, and a spectacular view of the Richmond skyline on your way back into town. My plan was to ride for45-50 miles and see how I felt.

The ride was uneventful and provided me with the chance to look at the trail, check out the various parts of it, and get some miles on my legs. It was also a lovely day and I felt so great I managed almost 50 miles and felt great when I finished. I figured the Tour would be fairly easy for me.

On Monday, MB (who has “retired” and is doing volunteer work these days) and I rode down to Trail for a about a 90 minute ride. I used it to loosen my legs up from Saturday’s ride and it was another lovely day. It also put me in a proper frame of mind for having to get on a plane that afternoon and fly halfway across the country for the week.

After the ride, we loaded the bikes up and headed home. I hung them both in our storage shed after giving them a quick wipe down and headed off to work.

Off to the Ride

My flight home on Friday night was not only on time, it was early by about 20 minutes. (This is so rare, you can’t even imagine.) I considered this a good omen for the next day.

I got up early Saturday, ate breakfast and dressed with a plan to get to the start area (Richmond International Raceway) by 8:45 for the 9:30 start.

Bubba's paradise

When I went out to grab my bike, I noticed that the rear tire was flat. This isn’t unusual but it usually takes a few weeks to happen. I grabbed my floor pump and re-inflated it before carrying it out to the car. I also threw the pump into the car as a matter of habit; I do that at these big rides just in case someone needs it.

Loaded up, I headed to RIR and arrived about 45 minutes prior to the start where I walked to the registration desk and picked up my number and timing chip. Before unloading the bike, I pinned the number on my jersey and got dressed for the cooler weather. The predicted high was 60 for the day and it was starting around 40 so I donned arm and leg warmers.

I walked around to the back of the Subaru to get my bike off the rack and realized the back tire was flat again. I squeezed it with my right hand and immediately found the problem as a staple that was sticking out of the tire pierced my thumb, right under the nail. (Pain – high. Blood – flowing nicely.)

Bike skills are us

Not actually me

I swore at the pain and the bleeding, and sucked my thumb for a minute to get it to stop. (Also to stop whimpering.) Once it did, I carefully removed the wheel and prepared to fix the flat. I have a saddle bag that holds 2 fresh inner tubes, tire levers, a multi-tool and a CO2 pump along with a frame pump in case the CO2 runs out. (Floor pump coming in handy; glad I packed it!)

After identifying where the staple was, I pulled off one side of the tire and removed the flat tube. I relocated the staple and began to remove it when it broke off on the outside. I reached inside the tire and felt where it was poking in and would cause another flat. I needed to remove it but didn’t have a pair of pliers to do it. Time for creative thinking or, at least, what passes for it with me.

I first tried grabbing it with my thumbnail and pulling it out. That resulted in shredding my thumbnail and restarting the bleeding. Next, I tried pushing it back out through the tire wall using the fattest thing on the multi-tool but it kept slipping off. Finally, I took the tire completely off the rim, turned it inside out, and pulled it out with my teeth.

(Keep in mind, this is happening in a parking lot with hundreds of other cyclists watching me as they walk past. How I did all this without swearing a blue streak is beyond me. I’ve been working to become more accepting and Zen about things but I desperately wanted to throw the wheel for distance.)

Finally having removed the offending puncture creator, I ran my hand around the rest of the tire to ensure there weren’t any others hiding in there. Finding none, I reinstalled it on the rim and grabbed a fresh tube and shoved it inside the tire. I grabbed the pump out of the car and began to inflate.

About 20 seconds later, there was a very loud bang. I had managed to let a tiny little piece of the tube stick out from under the tire and when it pinched under pressure, it blew. At this point, I just started giggling. I was down to my last tube and hadn’t even started the ride!

I quickly pulled the tube, reinstalled the last one, and very carefully inflated it to the correct pressure checking all the while that I hadn’t set up another pinch. Finally, I had two tires that could be ridden.

Clean up and Go!

I got the wheel back on the bike, reassembled my saddle bag, jumped on the bike and headed to the registration area where I could wash my hands (and face it turns out; I had tire marks all over my nose and cheek) before heading to the starting line.

I hit the head while I was in there, just to make sure nothing else did me in, and rode over to the start line, arriving just in time to doff my helmet for the National Anthem.

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down and regain my Zen while putting my helmet back on. Group starts tend to be a little scary even without adrenaline coursing through your veins. I needed to be calm in order to not wind up in a pileup with some other Fred.

The signal to start came and people began rolling out. I managed to stay out of trouble and get into a nice rhythm almost immediately. Within a mile, I was rolling along at a fast (for me) pace and enjoying the day.

Popular Mechanics

One thing I noticed almost immediately was that my bike wasn’t shifting properly, skipping gears going up and down. I figured that I hadn’t seated the wheel in exactly the same spot prior to the flat and that was causing mis-shifts in a couple of gears. I was able to work around it but it was a bit of irritant. I kept going.

At the first SAG stop, there was a huge crowd at the volunteer mechanic’s tent. I grabbed two snacks, refilled bottles and headed out without stopping to get the wheel re-seated. It wasn’t bothering me much and I was having a career day on the ride, averaging well over 18 mph for the first hour. I just wanted to keep going and build up as much time in the bank as I could.

(Time in the bank is a game I play in my mind on a ride. If I want to average 16 mph on a ride, I’ll try to exceed that for as long as I can. Then, if a headwind hits or a large hill gets in the way, I can still keep my average. Yeah, I know it’s weird. It’s what you do to keep your head in the right place.)

At the second SAG stop, I pulled in to the Performance Tent and explained what was happening. The wrench loosened my wheel and felt it drop into place. Then he put it up on the rack and tweaked the shifter until it shifted perfectly. As he was taking it down, he said, “Hey, your back wheel is kinda soft.”

My heart sank. I told him it was 110 psi when I left the start. He filled it back up and suggested it might be a slow leak and perhaps I could make it to the end without having to change it. He asked how far I had to go. I said, “29 miles, dude. Too far.”

I was out of tubes and would have to depend on the kindness of strangers if this one flatted completely. And I just knew it was going to happen. Only one thing to do, keep pedaling!

Standing on a corner…..

I rode out of the stop as quickly as possible. I was still having a great day and even when the course turned into a stiff wind for the last 20 miles, I felt great and was holding my speed well above where I’d been hoping to keep it.

And then I noticed that the back end felt mushy. I looked down and could see that the tire was going flat after only 10 miles. Of course. I dismounted, grabbed my frame pump and reinflated the tire. Got back on the bike and continued on, cresting the hill and starting down a mild descent. When I hit a small bump in the pavement, I felt the rim hit and knew it was over for that tube. Dammit.

I pulled over, yanked out the wheel, pulled the tire and removed the tube in less

A little help?

than a minute. (You get better with repetition, I’m told.) I stood up and held the tube over my head, looking at the oncoming riders. As they passed, I hollered, “Anybody got a tube they can spare?”

About 50 riders passed me when I saw a motorcycle cop coming towards me. He stopped and I was praying he would have some tubes but no, he didn’t. He offered to let the SAG station, less than 2 miles away now, know that I needed help. I thanked him and went back to my pleading with the velo parade.

Another 10 minutes passed and finally, someone stopped and handed me a tube from his pocket. I thanked him profusely and told him he would now have good karma for all rides for the next year. He laughed and rode off.

I reinstalled the tube, carefully inflated it and packed my kit back up. I wiped my hands off on a small rag that I remembered to pack and got ready to head off when I realized I’d been standing there for nearly 30 minutes and my entire body was now incredibly stiff from standing around. Sigh, there goes the personal best for this ride.

I swung my leg over the saddle looking remarkably similar to the Tin Woodsman from the Wizard of Oz. You know, after he’s been standing in the rain and needs to be oiled? Yeah, that was me for at least the next 2 miles to the SAG stop.

When I rolled in, the mechanic saw my dirty hands and asked if I was the guy who had a flat; he’d gone to look for me and we’d missed each other somehow. He then offered me a spare tube for my saddle bag (just in case) for the last 18 miles of the ride. Having one would mean that I’d get no further flats and that, of course, turned out to be true.

I had a slice of pizza and a snack, refilled bottles, and headed off to the finish. I was no longer feeling unstoppable on the bike; I just wanted to finish and go drink a beer.

Aftermath

I rolled back onto the grounds of RIR a little more than 4 hours after I started which, considering everything, was pretty amazing. I managed to average 14.3 mph despite stopping for 25 minutes by the side of the road. My Garmin told me later that I’d managed an average moving speed of 17.8 mph which is a new personal best for me on a ride over 30 miles in length. Evidently, 2 rides the weekend before followed by a week of travel and drinking Manhattans is a great training program. 

I think they call it tapering.

I’ve sometimes wondered if carrying two spare tubes whenever I head out on my bike is a bit too belt and suspenders. Now, I realize that it’s the absolute minimum to have, at least for me. And I’m going to carry 2 spares in the car, too, when I drive to a ride.

Otherwise, you wind up looking like the Tim Woodsman and singing like the Scarecrow – If I Only Had a Brain!

Everyone knows it’s windy!

Ride Report on the Martin's Tour of Richmond 2014

Last Saturday was the Martin’s Tour of Richmond, an annual timed gran fondo put on by the Sports Backers organization; they put on a bunch of outdoor athletic events for the RVA. This was the third annual rendition of this ride and it keeps getting bigger and better every year!

This year’s event provided four different length rides, twenty nine, fifty eight, seventy eight, and one hundred one miles. There were over 1,400 riders signed up this year for all of the rides and I decided to do another century ride along with 392 other crazy people; the century had the largest number of participants.

The courses changed this year so that all riders began and ended at Richmond International Raceway, a famed NASCAR track. One of the cool parts of this ride is that it includes taking a lap around the race track before reaching the finish line outside. Looking at the course cue sheet and online profile, it appeared that the

This is RIR, Bubba!

new course would be much flatter than in the past and that was comforting to me as the last century I attempted, the annual Tour de Cure of Northern VA, I’d had to abandon to avoid killing myself in the Blue Ridge mountains when my legs were gassed. The online information would turn out to be inaccurate, of course, as my bike computer showed it having 50% more elevation change than the old course. 

Even so, it was a really wonderful course.

Instead of riding solo as I did last year, two friends planned to join me on the ride. Greg #1 would be riding his first century after taking up rode biking in the past year while Greg #2 would be returning to ride with me after dusting me by about an hour in the first event, two years ago.  Neither of them had as many base miles as me this year and expected to suffer, predictions that proved to be accurate.

Even though I had more miles in than past years, I was feeling anxious about the ride probably due to the Tour de Cure fiasco in June. The expectation would prove to be inaccurate as I felt strong the entire day.  Lucky for the Gregs!

Preparation is the key to something…sanity, probably.

I took time during the week to perform a tune up on Fast Eddy, cleaning off some road grime, cleaning and degreasing the chain, and then lubricating it, again. The result was that the bike felt great and shifted perfectly all day long. Mechanicals on a long ride just make the ride seem that much longer and, so far, I’ve managed to avoid one every big ride. I think it’s because I over prepare, which is totally unlike me; I’m not usually a belt and suspenders kind of guy but cycling is different.

Fast Eddy

I’ve also changed saddles this summer to a Brooks Classic hard leather model and the results have been excellent. With about 500 miles on it, I seem to avoid all the numbing that I’ve experienced in the past. I was looking forward to the century ride to see if that would remain the case.

Early start on a beautiful day

The scheduled time for the century riders was 7:30 and we all arrived, checked in, and were lined up in time for the playing of the National Anthem.  Right on time, the lead riders rolled out with their police escort leading the way. Their plan was to finish in about 4 hours. Their actual time was 4:30 due to the headwind that we all had to punch through over the last 40 or so miles. (More about that later.)

The rest of the riders moved smoothly out through the starting gate and we headed out on to Laburnum Avenue towards the city. The first seven or eight miles took us through the streets of the city, through the Fan neighborhoods and finally down a long hill where we hit 36 miles an hour just before crossed the James River for the first time on the Huguenot Bridge.

The newish Huguenot Bridge

The first of seven rest stops was placed in a shopping center parking lot at the bottom of that hill and we were going so fast, I’m not sure any riders stopped; most didn’t realize it was there until they were past it.

We turned onto Riverside Drive, a gorgeous winding road that parallels the river and it’s my favorite part of the Tour! The road is quiet and fairly untraveled, rises and falls along the river with some sweeping curves, and the early sun was coming over the trees making for some beautiful views. There were dozens of photographers set up along this part of the course taking advantage of the early morning light and our suffering (some of the hills are very steep so there are some stiff, short climbs) to show fascinating juxtaposition in their frames.

Riverside Drive

There are also some beautiful neighborhoods that we rode through and many people were out on their front porches or lawns, sitting in lawn chairs, drinking coffee and ringing cowbells and cheering us on. Little kids were waving and cheering, everyone was smiling and enjoying the weather (70 degrees and sunny) and it just makes for a great ride!

The second rest stop was in one of these and we stopped long enough to refill bottles, grab a couple of snacks, and hit the portable john.

As we crossed the river again over the Lee Bridge and headed into Shockoe

Are you home, Gov?

Bottom, Greg #2 started speeding up. I held his wheel and we left Greg #1 behind as we accelerated up a couple of hills and flew past the Governor’s Mansion. Our speed continued to creep up and I wondered if Greg had a lunch date and was planning to be early or something. There was no sign of the other Greg at about mile 25; we thundered on, heading east and out of town.

Suffering begins early

About mile 30, Greg finally started to fade when he was pulling so I took over and told him to just hold my wheel. I pushed us on until the next rest stop at mile 34. As we stopped, Greg said he was starting to suffer. I told him not to worry, I still felt strong, and just to let me break the wind for him. In only a couple of minutes, Greg #1 who we had dropped a ways back, rolled in and joined us.  He had hooked up with a couple of others and gotten a pull to catch us. We stretched, refilled, re-snacked for about 15 minutes and finally headed back out. (Stops that are this long are tough for me as my legs start to tie up and I have to work to loosen back up when I get back to riding. Anything longer can really be brutal.)

We rolled along for another nine miles or so and then came to the next rest stop at a fairly large park with lots of young families enjoying the day. We stayed there for about ten minutes this time and then headed off. Greg #2 was quietly suffering, trying to hang on until he felt better. That’s the key to riding a long event, I’ve decided. No matter how you feel, good or bad, it won’t last so just keep spinning the pedals until it changes or until you get to the end, whichever comes first.

We had one more twelve mile section until we got to the aid station at mile 55. I knew this one was key because the station after it was twenty miles away and we’d be turning back toward town and into the wind.  The ride up to this point had been fast (over 18 miles an hour average) and quiet, a sure sign the wind was at our backs. It was important, in my mind, that the stop there be a good one in order to set up the next section of riding.

But we still had to get there and this section had its own identity including a couple of long gentle climbs and some spots where we turned into the wind so we got a taste of what our future held. The road itself held some rougher sections giving it the consistency of a cobbled road; very uncomfortable to my hands and wrists but I gutted through it.

We finally came over the last rise and rolled into the aid station. Greg #2 immediately climbed off his bike and lay down in the grass. Greg #1 took off his shoes to give his aching feet a rest. I went and grabbed snacks for everyone before refilling bottles and stretching my back and legs. I couldn’t believe how good I still felt; strong, full of energy, and ready to get after it. It felt like I’d only ridden about twenty miles!

After about a 25 minute rest, we saddled back up and headed off. I kept stretching the entire stop in an effort to keep my legs loose and it seemed to help.

The hills make you stronger, the wind just makes you angry.

The next twenty miles were a combination of lovely and painful. The road wound through a number of farms, dead flat and into a 12-15 mph wind. I kept my body position low and just focused on spinning the pedals, managing to hold about 13 mph. The Gregs were unable to hold my wheel and fell off but I wasn’t going to stop if I could help it.

Between farms, the road would rise gently into some trees bringing some coverage from the wind but then adding a slight incline. I preferred this because I was able to hold a higher speed with less effort.

These two scenarios traded a couple of times and then the road rolled along between some marshy areas on one side and some housing developments on the other. About mile 69, we came around a curve and a nasty hill rose up in front of me. I downshifted to my smaller front crank and started up at a good speed, working my way through the rear cassette until I got to the 2^nd smallest cog. And then, I just put me head down and spun the cranks as evenly as I could, trying to not to go into the red zone. (This hill turned out to be about a mile with an average 5-6% grade. That’s nothing for the pros but for this old fart, it’s more than enough climb; one spot got to about 12%.)

I finally crested the hill and looked behind me. The Gregs were nowhere in sight as I regained my ability to breathe normally. I continued on for another fifteen minutes and rolled into the aid station. I was still feeling remarkably good, especially considering this last section, but I needed some nourishment. I’d pounded a couple of power gels during the last 90 minutes but now I wanted something to chew.

Pizza? Did someone say pizza????

The Gregs rolled in about 4 minutes behind me and found me standing in front of one of the tables eating slices of Papa John’s. It was the best pizza I’ve ever eaten, proving that hunger really is the best seasoning! The Gregs grabbed a few snacks, laid down, removed shoes, stretched, and got something to drink.

Yeah buddy!

I ate pizza. I probably killed one entire pie by myself. (A delivery of 20 had just shown up and it was hot and delicious.) I also drank my fill of water, had some Powerade, and refilled my bottles. I felt good knowing that there was only about 27 miles to go.

After about 35 minutes, I dragged the Gregs to their feet and we mounted our bikes and headed out. Almost immediately, we passed a woman riding a unicycle. Turns out there were 3 of them entered in the rides including one doing the century. As long as they made the time checks, they were good to ride and, from what I could tell, they would meet those times easily. I felt for them having to ride into a headwind with nowhere to hide from it although this woman’s uni had a set of aero bars on it!

One more stop and then we’re heading home!

The next session was flat with some gentle rollers with the continuing headwind. I lead the Gregs nearly the whole way and we held together well. We rolled into the stop and I pleaded with them that we keep it short so I didn’t stiffen up. They agreed.

I checked my phone and realized I had multiple calls from MB. I had turned on my RoadID app at the last rest stop, as we’d agreed, so she’d know my whereabouts. It has a function in it where it sends an “ecrumb” to her via text that allows her to

Never ride without it!

track me by my smart phone. Evidently, the service was so bad out where we were (rural New Kent County) that it registered me as not moving for a long time and sent her a warning text that I hadn’t moved for 5 minutes. She had been trying to track me down as a result. Once I got her, she let me know that the signal had finally moved and she wasn’t worried anymore. The Gregs overheard me telling her we were on Studley Road and they yelled that, “the road was named for me” since I’d been dragging them along. I signed off and we prepared to head out.

As we hit the road, Greg #2 took the lead saying he was feeling better. I tucked into his wheel and we rolled off and pulled away from Greg#1 again. We kept this pace for the next 40 minutes or so and climbed the second to last hill towards RIR. Greg is a really good climber and he started pulling away from me.

We turned onto the last road and climbed the last hill with Greg dropping me steadily. I started to catch him at the last traffic light but he swung the left turn and took off again, down the hill towards the entrance gate.

I pounded my way down it as best I could and turned into Gate 7 which has a pretty stout hill. I stood up to climb it and my left calf immediately cramped painfully. I sat back down and kept spinning my way to the top of the hill and continued on course to the track entrance, by way of the tunnel, to take my victory lap.

Low Speed NASCAR

I rode up into the infield and followed the ribbons out to the track surface for my lap in the opposite direction of cars driving on it. The official photographer was stationed at the end of the straightaway to take everyone’s picture and I smiled to show that I wasn’t actually dying. (I haven't gotten the picture yet but will add it later!)

I rode back into the infield, down the tunnel, past the two ladies who cheered their heads off for everyone that came by, and then around the outside of the facility and back to the finish line, stopping the timer at 7:59:04. (Actual riding time according to my bike computer was 6:23:41; the lengthy stops really killed my overall time.)

At the finish line, volunteers were handing out small bottles of Powerade and cups of chocolate milk which was incredibly delicious! Great idea and thanks to the volunteers!

Epilogue

The temperature was perfect for the ride, highs in the upper 70s with broken clouds and sun. The wind was the big story with a second half headwind of 12 – 15 miles per hour; it made for a tough day but I felt good about taking it on.

The volunteers were amazing, as they always are, friendly, encouraging, and smiling. The law enforcement personnel were out in huge numbers and did a remarkable job at keeping us safe at every intersection. (I understand that one officer was hit by a driver out on the road and I hope he heals quickly!) The course was well marked, easy to follow, and a joy to ride.

In short, the 2014 Martin’s Tour of Richmond was an absolute success!

Next year, Richmond has the UCI World Cycling Championships in September so we’ll be riding the Tour of Richmond in celebration of those. If you get time, come join us for either or both!

Heart of VA

Last weekend, MB and I got to ride in a wonderful event that is the only fundraiser for the Richmond Area Bike Associate – the Heart of VA Bike Festival.  Here’s a quick ride report!

The Seasons are a changing…

It seems that worst of the heat is behind us. I can’t complain, it was a relatively cool summer for Richmond. We had very few days where it got to 100 and the humidity wasn’t overbearing, either, most of the time.

Weather for this ride was over-the-top beautiful! The temperature was 50 at the start time and never got much above 76. Skies were mostly clear with a few, large puffy white clouds here and there. These temps have decided to stick around for a few weeks, too, and I’ve been enjoying my riding time whenever I can.

Pick a distance

We decided to do a metric half-century for this ride, one of the two shortest distances available. For those of you who are metrically challenged, that 50 kilometers or about 31 miles. There were plenty of folks riding the full century (100 miles) along with the metric century but I’d venture a guess that a third of participants rode our distance.

What’s great about this distance is that it’s short enough that nearly everyone can finish if you take your time, long enough to feel as if you’ve accomplished something and, most importantly, finishes just as lunch is being served at the after party!

The Start

The scheduled starting time was 9:00 am and we arrived in time to check in, unload, hit the rest room, and line up with the other 150 or so riders. We strategically stopped about two thirds of the way back through the field so we wouldn’t be leading the group at the start; I get nervous with all those riders in a pack, not knowing who can handle their bike and who can’t.

At the go signal, we headed out to the road, past a fife and drum team that was playing each group off at the start.  It was a really cool way to start the ride!

Sorry for the poor pic!

Speaking of Cool

I was bloody freezing! I had dressed for mid-day temperatures so 50 degrees felt very chilly as we headed down the road. The first couple of miles descended a long, slow grade that was almost entirely shaded and this coupled with 18 miles per hour had my goose bumps in full bloom. (At the start, we’d been in full sun and I wondered if it was going to feel this good all day. Yeah, no!)

Suddenly, MB sped up to about 25; I had to push hard to catch up to her wheel.  When I asked what she was doing, all I heard was, “I’m trying to get warm!” as she pounded the pedals. By the time we turned off the main road at the 2.5 mile mark, I was pretty sure we were leading the ride.

The ride wound along going in and out of the sun and we finally began to warm up.

That’s when the first hill appeared.

It wasn’t very long, probably half a kilometer or so, but it was steep. I kept up my normal rhythm and climbed nearly to the top when I realized that MB was no longer in my mirror. I pulled over and stopped to wait as a friend of mine crawled past saying, “This is a damn cruel way to wake up!”

After a couple of minutes, I spied MB walking her bike. She’d been unable to get into a comfortable gear in time and decided discretion was the better part of valor. We remounted our bikes and continued on, comfortably pulling up the rear, now.

Absolutely Gorgeous!

For the next hour and a quarter, we wound our way through two lane blacktop roads of several rural counties, passing cornfields, and pastures filled with livestock. It was so simple to just ride along enjoying the views, which were very pastoral, and taking advantage of the perfect weather. We chatted with each other and with other riders along the way.

At about the halfway point, we pulled into the SAG station to refill bottles and grab some snacks. Everyone seemed to have a smile on their face. It was as if we’d all gotten into someone’s stash and imbibed during the rides so that no one looked or acted grumpy. It was such a Zen day for all the riders that I’m guessing everyone would have gladly ridden farther than they’d initially signed up for, so that it wouldn’t end.

After the break, we remounted and headed off for the second half of the ride which was more of the same although one four mile stretch was the absolute frosting on the cake.

It began with a turn off a slightly busier road (we’d been on it for less than a quarter mile but more cars had passed than the rest of the ride combined) and wound back and forth before coming out of a grove of trees. The view opened to an expanse of farm fields, several miles across, with this two lane blacktop that we were riding, wandering back and forth for as far as you could see. It was a false flat so that the road and field rose up in front of us but the rise was so gradual that it didn’t feel like we were working very hard, at all.  There was a group of four of us riding together at this point, and we all kept talking about what a great sight it was; one of those amber-waves-of-grain moments that you see on a bike.

At the end of the last field, the road turned to the right and went back into trees and gently downhill. We coasted for about a half mile, hitting 30 mph with no effort before reaching flatter ground.  MB and I, both, had the same thought during that section, something like, “this is going to suck when we have to climb up the other side of this” but it never came.  Evidently, that long false flat had been the climb to get to this point. Road riding bliss!

On to the Finish

The rest of the ride had us winding our way back to the county seat of Hanover, passing some small houses and some poorer sections, too. This is eye opening to me as I never feel as if I see this part of life from inside a moving car. On a bike, though, it burns its way into my brain and I find myself wondering who those people are, what’s their story……

We made the last turn back onto the main road and into the courthouse complex, passing the tent that was setup for lunch. Nothing was being served yet so we headed to the car, hung the bikes and cleaned up in the restroom before sitting down to a delicious BBQ lunch….with cookies! There was also a five piece jazz band playing a soft groove while we ate. Nice finish to the ride!

Another Gran Fondo this way comes!

The Martin’s Tour of Richmond is scheduled for October 5^th and features a 106 mile timed ride around the entire Richmond region, finishing at the Richmond International Raceway. There are also 66 and 30 mile rides available. What’s really cool this year is the organizers have taken feedback from last year’s participants and will be having the riders take a lap around the NASCAR track as a finish to the ride!

Look! It's a lap around a city!

The ride is slightly longer this year, by about 4 miles, due to some bridge renewal work that is taking place in Hanover county. I knew this was going to happen as it's on one of my regular routes; just the same, that extra 4 miles is not fun as it's adding another climb into the ride.  Dammit.

If you’re within a couple of hours of Richmond and like to ride a bike, I recommend you come join us. This is a terrific course, huge crowd is expected, the support is top notch with coverage from the law enforcement to keep it safe and there will be people applauding the riders all along the course. It’s just awesome!

I rode the century last year and plan to do so again although I’m not as prepared as I’d like to be; I’m jammed up with the work for the last two weeks before it and won’t get as much riding in as I’d like.  But, it doesn’t matter though.

I hear the weather forecast is for more perfect weather!