Of obsessions

Oh my, has spring struggled to get a foothold in VA. Here we are smack dab in the middle of June, with summer just days away and it is still cool and rainy at times. Heck, I just looked at the forecast for this week and the temperatures may not hit 70 on Wednesday. The good news is we have pretty much recovered from the past years’ drought. The rivers are running high. The flowers, the trees, the grass….everything…..is a lush green. My flowers are blooming; the blueberry bushes are loaded almost to the ground with fat berries and the “deck garden” of tomatoes and peppers is doing fine. My only concern is that roots may start rotting because of the moisture. That and the weeds; they seem to be prospering from the extra rain as well.

And then there’s Bart. Bart is our neighborhood bear. He visited again last night. He doesn’t do much damage – just enough to let us know he has been there. For instance last night he pulled down the humming bird feeder & three of the regular feeders. I know he keeps stopping by to check the blueberries. I only hope I can get them before he does.

I am lucky that I have a “do it itself” garden because while I love gardening, my focus has not been on yard work at all this year. Last fall I set a personal goal and my “test” is now less than a month away. To prepare, my sweet Michael has patiently trudged along with me on each and every bike ride. We have put lots of miles under our pedals and have done little else on weekends. January through April was a blur of grabbing the bikes, tights, arm warmers, jackets, full-finger gloves and all the other assorted gear for chilly weather, then getting out on the road whenever the weather permitted. When the weather did not permit, trusty Godiva dutifully backed herself onto the trainer and we spun away in the bike room, iPod charged and earphones in my ears to distract me from the monotony.

May began a flurry of organized rides each weekend. What fun! The first weekend Michael and I drove to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for the second annual Terry Wild Goose Chase at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge. There we gathered with good friends Jeannie Tripp, John Baynes & Kathi Brown. Rain, drizzle & chilly temperatures set in for the weekend but did not dampen our spirits as we rode on the flatter-than-flat roads of the refuge. Michael and I rode 60 miles on Saturday. The Wild Goose Chase is a women’s only ride on Sunday. Michael volunteered to drive SAG for the day while we women rode our bikes. I put in another 63 miles on Sunday. The evenings were spent eating seafood (Jimmy & Sooks – great restaurant in Cambridge – I highly recommend the crabcakes!) and laughing with our buddies.

The next weekend was the Cap2Cap Century in Richmond. This annual fund-raiser for the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation is one of our favorite rides. Not as flat as the Eastern Shore, but almost! MadCyclists support this ride well with the ’09 crew consisting of Aden, Bates, Phil, Chris, Maria, Michael, Barry & myself. Check out the photos at www.virginiacapitaltrail.org . Caution: there are 500 photos on there – look at numbers 23, 308 & 309. The first photo has (front to back on the left side) Aden, Phil & Bates. The next is Barry & the last is Michael and me. I did not see photos of Chris & Maria – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t in there somewhere! If anyone finds them, please let me know the photo numbers. The Cap2Cap has simultaneous starts in both Richmond and Jamestown, with over 1000 cyclists participating. The route was fun and fast on the southbound leg but much slower due to a beastly headwind on the way back. Still, it was a fun 103+/- miles.

The weather has been iffy during the week since the beginning of May and weekday rides have been spotty at best. Still, whenever we can, a few of us hit the beautiful back roads of Madison and adjacent counties for 20 miles or so in the evening.

The other May rides were the Tour de Madison (record number of cyclists participating once again) and the Tour de Greene. Michael and I supplemented those rides with additional long-mileage rides on the weekends in an effort to get me ready for my July event. We have ridden a self-supported century (100 miles) on the Skyline Drive and about ten days ago rode a 70 mile loop consisting of a climb up Crabtree Falls to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Last weekend was our third MS150, the Tour de Vine in Charlottesville. It is always such a fun weekend and a great celebration for all the hard work everyone has done to raise awareness of and funds for Multiple Sclerosis. This year’s MadCyclist team consisted of veterans Chris Franklin, Guy Kovner, Jeff Dillon, Michael & me with the addition of new members Kathi Brown and Doug Eden. Fund raising is difficult this year with everyone feeling the economic pinch, yet in spite of that we still had three team members recognized as top fund raisers at the Saturday night festivities: Chris, Kathi & Guy. Additionally, for the second year in a row, MadCyclists won the Tent Decorating Contest! Woohoo!

Friday night some of us gathered to set up the team tent on the grounds of Miller School. Dodging raindrops, we got the job done and then headed to Crozet for dinner. Michael and I snagged free digs just down the road from Miller School (thank you Craig!!) and avoided the long drive each way. It is a good thing we were so close considering we forgot something BOTH MORNINGS and had to go back to retrieve it. The cap on the whole forget-your-head weekend was leaving our pillows behind when we left for home on Sunday. Showing yet again what a wonderful friend she is, Kathi graciously delivered them to Lowe’s in Ruckersville yesterday in time for Michael to bring them home.

We rode 77 miles on Saturday over some challenging terrain and also over some of our favorite roads in the Albemarle/Greene area. Some notes on the ride:

>Kathi hit a personal best with the mileage!
>The weather was cloudy and very humid but as Chris noted, it was 30 degrees cooler than last year.
>The traffic in Earlysville and on Garth road is not very cycling friendly
>Two miles @ 17 mph of the strangest paceline ever, in this order: cyclist, huge John Deere tractor, truck with blinking lights, car, car, Chris, Michael & I. Too funny!
>The “warm-up” hill on Tillman Rd. was not that bad
>Peacock Hill at mile 70 was an ass kicker
>Climbing back up the road to Miller School is not all that bad – after climbing Peacock Hill!
>I felt bad for anyone left out on the road when the downpour hit.

Sunday we rode 75 miles over even more challenging roads in Albemarle & Nelson Counties. Michael and I were on our own because Kathi opted to ride 25 miles and Guy and Doug had taken off at 6:30. Jeff had gone to Richmond and Chris was down for the count with a bad knee.

The day dawned sunny and bright with much less humidity. It was a perfect day to be out on the bike. We left later on Sunday – closer to 8 a.m. – and headed to Crozet, just as the day before. This time we turned onto Jarman’s Gap Rd. and began an uphill trek. Just as we got to the hairpin turn where the road goes up, up, up, one of the support motorcycles came up behind us with his CD player turned up loud, playing “Calling Baton Rouge” by Newgrass Revival. Great climbing music! I stood and pedaled to the beat and made it up that hill in no time. We made our way out to Rt. 250 at Greenwood and turned right. “Oh dear,” I thought, “We are really close to Afton Mountain. We must be turning onto Rt. 151.” Nope. We passed 151. We passed Rockfish Outfitters on the right…and then turned left onto Rt. 750, Old Turnpike Rd. I had never been on this road before. We were clearly going up, but fairly gradually for probably the first mile. At first I thought this road might loop back to Rt. 151 but we kept turning toward the right instead of the left….which meant that we were heading higher on Afton Mountain. Soon the road turned to short, very steep switchbacks. After several (I can’t remember how many – 3? 4?), we topped out onto Rt. 6 just uphill (upmountain?) from the town of Afton, home of the Cookie Lady http://www.vabike.org/afton-cookie-lady-receives-gift-from-raba/ . We turned left onto Afton Mtn. Rd. (Rt. 6) and began the fun, if scary-on-the-switchbacks, hurtle back down the mountain. Michael & I were in a group of about six and all of us were having such a good time that we all missed the turn to the right off Rt. 6. Not to worry, the route continued just a bit down Rt. 151 so we went that way instead of climbing back up Rt. 6 to the turn. We rejoined the route & continued to have a fun day.

There were many, many other hills to conquer. The entire route seemed to either be up or down (mostly up :). Fortunately the scenery was some of the most beautiful I have ever seen which took a bit of the pain away. Finally we arrived back in Batesville (our second trip through) and turned right onto Miller School Rd. We climbed that hill, zoomed down the other side and under the banner at the gate to the school. Michael, Guy and I finished at the same time. It was a perfect finish to another fun MS150.

I mentioned my personal goal a couple times. Here it is: http://www.teamevergreen.org/node/2 .

Completing a bike ride of 120 miles (in one day) over three mountain passes in the Rockies is going to be a huge undertaking for me. Physically, I feel like I am ready – at least my legs, back, arms, etc. are ready. The bike is ready. My lungs are not and there is no way (available and affordable to me) to get them ready. That will be the big test. I am at the point now where I wish I could get out there and get it done! I am ready, doggonnit, so let’s get going! Michael has been a hero through this because he has not complained a bit. Well, maybe just a little bit. He is entitled. All our other cycling buddies have been patient as well. I have been focused, some probably say obsessed, but through it all they have ridden with me and continue to give me the emotional support I know I will need. Not to worry, gang, it’ll all be over in 25 days.