Riding Day 5 - Ryan
Posted by ajmoreland | Filed under Uncategorized
Holy Cow!!! We rode mountains today like we’ve never ridden before! For the most part, they were absolutely ridiculously steep. Backing up for a minute, we finally had an opportunity to sleep in a little, until close to 0700 hours. I was still extremely exhausted because we had gotten home semi late from having dinner in Washington D.C. with my pops and an old friend, Megan. But somehow we scraped together enough energy to get moving. We began the day in parade formation for about the first 30 miles. Not long into this ride, AJ was told by another rider that his rear wheel was very wobbly. On closer examination, AJ noticed he had a broken spoke and had to hit up the nearest bike shop to get that repaired. Luckily, with his bike good as new, AJ was able to join us again at the Front Royal Fire Department. Then the very highly anticipated moment came when the group was just outside the Shenandoah National Park!
Now I had looked at the route for the day, I had consulted the elevation chart as well, but nothing (I repeat, nothing!) could have kept me from being completely and utterly surprised at how crazy intense the ride through this portion of the Appalachian Mountains would be. Skyline Drive ring a bell for anyone? I have been hearing all week that there would be plenty of riding to do on Day 5 and 6, but it never really clicked in my head. Well, they weren’t lying. Imagine this, 6 to 7 miles of incline without a single plateau… Ridonkulous! I think for these early miles, I only paced about 6 to 8 miles per hour. Several riders were having a very tough time early on so I took to riding behind them and cheering them on. Sometimes we need to be reminded that 6 mph in the lowest possible gear is good enough! As long as you continue to move forward, you are golden! When we finally reached the first lookout point (where you get a clear sight of the valley below), we snapped a couple beautiful photos and got back on the bikes! This was where the fun began. Somehow, I had a sudden burst of unrelenting energy! I took off at a pretty good clip, around 10+mph, up the mountain. There were riders ahead and I was determined to catch them! Before I knew, I was passing one, then another, then a third, and so on. I asked one fella at about 13 miles into the mountainous ride if he thought there was anyone else up ahead. He mentioned that there were probably 6 or 7 guys. Knowing that I had just increased my goal for the day, I continued on up the mountain. I was pretty sure we had 40 miles to trek before we would be finished for the day, so I was super stoked when I reached the 20 mile marker. I was sure not to ask any of the support folks how much farther I had to bike for fear that I might slow down or become self defeating if I knew what all I was in for. I just kept pedaling, and passing people. One here, one there, and it was obvious that I was having a great time the whole way because I was constantly smiling, singing, and putting on a show of enthusiasm for anyone that drove by, mostly support people! They are an amazing group of very helpful people!
Well, long story short, I did approximately 33 miles before the national park, and approximately 42 miles inside the park! My max speed of 42.2 mph occurred on a very fun downhill sprint and there were time when I was clipping along at 20-25 mph up hills that I would normally only climb at about 15 mph. Something has to have been in the air because the weather was fantastic, and the atmosphere was incredibly serene! If you’re at all wondering about the pain I had previously been suffering in my Achilles tendons, I had removed the toe baskets (which serve the purpose of keeping the balls of your feet on the pedals) and rode for the duration of today’s ride with my heels on the pedals. This actually limited the movement of my Achilles tendons and gave me instant and consistent relief.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Wow!!! I have thoroughly enjoyed your journaling of your bike trip. Your mom notified me that you’d made it back. I’m so thankful for you having this trip….I’m sure there will be lasting memories. Uh, I have to say it…you remind me a bit of Mimi with your “singing on the bicycle.” Anyone else catch the similarity yet? Love ya, Auntie G