Just Creeping Along
While visiting my mom in the mountains last weekend, Barry and I took a few hours out to ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. One end of the trail, in Whitetop, Virginia is about 45 minutes from Mom's place near Jefferson, NC, so that was where we started out. Us and a whole lot of other folks.
We had no idea that van after van transporting riders and rental mountain and cruiser bikes would be coming to Whitetop, dropping many folks who probably hadn't been on a bike in decades and their offspring on the trail, where they could mostly coast 17 miles downhill and be picked up at the bottom in Damascus. So it was crowded. And Barry hates crowds, so that was strike one.
Strike two was taking our Bike Fridays, which are folding touring bikes with drop bars. They have wider tires than typical road bikes, but no shocks. The trail was packed crushed rock and generally fairly smooth, but there were definitely ruts and washed out places, not to mention rocks. Shocks and wider tires would have been a lot more comfy.
But for me, strike three was having to stay in my drops for miles downhill to get a good grip on the brakes, which I had to apply off and on (more on than off) for much longer than is typical for a ride, since the trail was all downhill at this point. I have a rather long reach to my brakes, being a woman with standard brakes made for men, so my hands started cramping up, something I don't normally experience on a ride. I was actually looking forward to turning around and riding back uphill just to give my hands and back a break!
With these strikes against us, we didn't ride nearly as far as we'd planned -- around 19-20 miles round trip. And riding uphill was actually more pleasant than downhill. It was frustrating at times dodging the many riders hurtling downhill, some of whom had that "deer in headlights" look that indicated to me to go far wide to the right to give them plenty of space, even though I really had the right to half the trail. But the mountain scenery was beautiful, and on a mountain bike on a weekday with fewer crowds, the Creeper could just be a little bit of heaven. We hope to go back one day and find out!
One of many vans with rental bikes and multiple riders. We had to wait behind several of these to nab our parking place.
Getting ready to ride
Cute little hut along the way in Green Cove
View from one of the many bridges along the trail
All done for now...
While visiting my mom in the mountains last weekend, Barry and I took a few hours out to ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. One end of the trail, in Whitetop, Virginia is about 45 minutes from Mom's place near Jefferson, NC, so that was where we started out. Us and a whole lot of other folks.
We had no idea that van after van transporting riders and rental mountain and cruiser bikes would be coming to Whitetop, dropping many folks who probably hadn't been on a bike in decades and their offspring on the trail, where they could mostly coast 17 miles downhill and be picked up at the bottom in Damascus. So it was crowded. And Barry hates crowds, so that was strike one.
Strike two was taking our Bike Fridays, which are folding touring bikes with drop bars. They have wider tires than typical road bikes, but no shocks. The trail was packed crushed rock and generally fairly smooth, but there were definitely ruts and washed out places, not to mention rocks. Shocks and wider tires would have been a lot more comfy.
But for me, strike three was having to stay in my drops for miles downhill to get a good grip on the brakes, which I had to apply off and on (more on than off) for much longer than is typical for a ride, since the trail was all downhill at this point. I have a rather long reach to my brakes, being a woman with standard brakes made for men, so my hands started cramping up, something I don't normally experience on a ride. I was actually looking forward to turning around and riding back uphill just to give my hands and back a break!
With these strikes against us, we didn't ride nearly as far as we'd planned -- around 19-20 miles round trip. And riding uphill was actually more pleasant than downhill. It was frustrating at times dodging the many riders hurtling downhill, some of whom had that "deer in headlights" look that indicated to me to go far wide to the right to give them plenty of space, even though I really had the right to half the trail. But the mountain scenery was beautiful, and on a mountain bike on a weekday with fewer crowds, the Creeper could just be a little bit of heaven. We hope to go back one day and find out!
One of many vans with rental bikes and multiple riders. We had to wait behind several of these to nab our parking place.
Getting ready to ride
Cute little hut along the way in Green Cove
View from one of the many bridges along the trail
All done for now...
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