The First dVELO 105

Early morning in Waynesboro, Virginia. dVelo cyclists un-mount their bikes from the trailer.

Entering Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive.

All cyclists stop at the ranger’s post to pay for the entrance fee. The red van is our SAG.

Fog and temperature hovers 50’s in the beginning of the ride. As soon as we get on the top of ridge, the fog goes away.

Wayne poses in front of a scenic mountain in the beginning of the route.

Daryl, David and Wayne discuss the next stop.

Chuck Bowie, SAG, enjoys the beautiful scenery at skyline drive.

Bev takes a nap while waiting for the other cyclists to pass by.

Colby darts downhill during the ride on Skyline Drive.

David Snow breezes into tunnel of darkness at 30 miles an hour.

Ralph cranks up a challenging hill.

David packs his bike into his bike box. He is to catch a flight back to Florida from Dulles.

Everyone poses for the final picture of the dVELO 105 mile ride.

by David Snow

Bzzzzz.

As befuddled as my mind was, I knew through the haze that the time had arrived. My hand snaked out from under the covers as I groped for the alarm clock to silence the vibrations coming from my side of the mattress.

The red digits of the clock read 3:15. In the morning. My wife and sons were peacefully sleeping, free of the feelings I was having right now. And that was just the beginning.

Roughly a month before, after I had read the dVELO's announcement of the inaugural annual ride at the Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah National Park, I opened the links for further information. After reading the logistics of the ride, I emailed Ralph to share my feelings of envy that they were going to do it without me.

You see, I live in Florida. At that time, I just couldn't see how I could come up during that weekend. I had run out of personal leaves from work for the remainder of this year. After concluding the email with a bemusing "I will be riding with you in spirit" and etc.,  I sent the message Ralph's way. I thought that was it. I told myself when that weekend rolls by, that I would try consolating myself by doing extra miles on the flat back roads near my home.

I was wrong.

Ralph immediately responded, giving – or rather reminding – me about his famous theory of squeezing the impossible time frame into the possible time frame. In other words, he was saying that there should be a way for me to cram the plan in coming up to do the Skyline Drive ride. That included returning to Florida without missing work on Monday.

Crazy, I thought.

But through Ralph's reminder, I vaguely recalled in the past how incredulous it was when Ralph successfully applied the time crunch for his own travel escapades. I could share some incredible stories about that but that is for other time. Or better yet, ask Ralph yourself.

Why not I do the same thing?

Naturally, my wife thought I was nuts, but I was surprised that she gave me the blessing to go for it. I think it helped that she knew Ralph pretty well, smile. And sure enough, I was able to find and book a flight that would make the time-crunch theory possible. Thanks, Ralph.

I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming that I was actually going to be part of the dVELO group to make history of doing the first annual Skyline Drive ride!

Now time forward. Much forward. After the speedy, 45-minute drive to the airport and the ultra-smooth plane trip, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't bring what I would need: more warm clothes. I had forgotten that the rest of the United States was not Florida.

That was what was on my mind when I was standing at the curb outside the Dulles terminal waiting for Ralph to swing by to get me.  I was in my shorts, shivering in the 50-something overcast weather.  Back in Florida, when I had gotten out of the house that morning, it was like in the 70's (even in the dark wee-wee hours).  What a temperature clash. When I remarked about that to Ralph, he agreed and said, "my blood is just as thin as yours." Guess he is still a die-hard south Californian no matter how many years he had been living in Maryland!

But I was too excited about the ride to dwell on it. After meeting the rest of the riders at the College Hall parking lot (Daryl, Bev, Wayne, Colby and SAG driver Chuck…great to see many of your old faces again!!), we all took off for Waynesboro, VA.

Yep, it was even colder (and drizzly) as we arrived at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. After setting camp at Waynesboro North 340 Campground (very clean and I highly recommend it although we did wonder why there were so many tied up tires in their swimming pool), we went out to a restaurant and had a great bantering time. It was really awesome to finally be with my old friends, especially Ralph and Daryl!

After braving the chilly night inside the tents, especially for some of those who made the unpleasant discovery that their tents weren't immune to flooding during the overnight drizzle, it was 8:30 in the morning when we finally set out to ride. Our beloved SAG driver Chuck dropped us off at the mouth of Rockfish Gap, the beginning of the 105-mile ride through the Skyline Drive.

That was when the adventure began! It was damp and so foggy for the first couple of hours of the ride. It felt almost surreal as we cranked up and down the winding road, cutting through the fog.

Ralph remarked later that it felt like "85% climbs and 15% descents." Wayne also agreed, saying that the ascents may be low, but seemed to go on forever. Yeah!  And having the cold (hovering between 50's and 60's) and unexpected gusts of wind and rain made cycling even more challenging!

"Real mountain weather," Colby said.

It was my first time climbing the ascents in such cold, and I realized I wasn't quite dressed correctly for this. Daryl made this perfect comment, saying that it was "no fun riding up slopes, sweating hard, then go screaming fast on descents with cold going right through my jacket. I should have brought a windbreaker."

And those authors who wrote up about doing Skyline Drive on the internet were right…it is challenging and that only well-trained riders should attempt if they want to finish the entire 105.

Daryl was one of the riders who was not able to train enough due to other commitments, but that did not deter him. "Even though I only did the first 45 miles before my legs gave up," he said, "it was still fun and rewarding for me.  It was fun to see what kind of slopes came next (for the other riders)."

Daryl, I didn't tell you this, but during a period when it was raining, I did feel teeny-weeny twinge of envy as it flashed across my mind that you were dry, snug and safe in the SAG vehicle. But many thanks for rooting for us all the way and for taking pictures!

Furthermore, it was also the endless scenery of the Skyline Drive that made it all worthwhile. We biked up and down the shady, canopy-lined roads. At the occasional openings through the woods, we caught  breath-taking panorama of tree-carpeted mountains and sheer drops. And more than often we saw deer darting through the bushes (and some just standing right there near the road staring at us). It was especially cool to notice more of the foilage turning into fall colors as we moved closer up north.

As for the traffic, it was at minimal, with occasional cars passing us at respectable margin and speed. We quite felt safe.

Regrouping had been planned for every roughly 25 miles, meeting at tourist/visitor stops. It gave us the opportunity to catch up on replenishing our energy. Having ridden a lot, I didn't think stopping every 25 miles was a big deal at first, but after the first 50 miles I realized the hard way that a cold and mountainous mile is a lot different than a flat and balmy mile as commonly found in Florida!

I think Colby was the only one who already had the smarts about it.  He was the first to finish the 105 with a plenty of waiting time to stretch flat on his back on grass and "chill" while the rest of us continued to labor to the finish.  "I had two cheeseburgers, a coke, a coffee, and several GU packs at lunch.  That made me feel like a Superman for the last 50 miles," he said.

Thanks for the advice, Superdude. I'll try that the next time I'm there!

If there was a scary moment for us, I think it would be at the 75-ish mile at a descent after going over the Thorton Gap. There was a tunnel bored right into a section of a mountain called Mary's Rock. It was over 600 feet long but felt like a mile.

It was a "hey who turned off the lights?" moment when I shot into the tunnel at over 30 miles per hour. I would be lying if I said I didn't envision the fear of crashing and sliding blindly down inside the barrel getting road rash all over my body.  Ralph remarked, "the tunnel was so dark except for a small bright hole at the end. I couldn't see what the road was like- did it have potholes or cracks? I had to pray that nothing would happen."

Amen!

The last part of the ride was a breeze, with the altitude winding down to the North Skyline Drive entrance. A really nice finish! It was around 6:30ish in the evening by the time we were all packed up and ready to go. The trip back to DC was really smooth – I got to the airport with enough time left to munch dinner and catch up on the much-depleted calories before boarding the flight home.

Yes, Ralph you are right as usual – the time crunch was successful. Thanks for renewing my confidence in your theory!

Of course, as smooth as it was, I felt a twinge of heartache at leaving my friends and cyclists. Thanks Ralph, Daryl, Bev, Wayne, Chuck and Colby for such an awesome time I have had with you guys!

That is what it was all about…the first dVELO 105!

I am already looking forward to the second annual. It would be much better now that we have first hand experience to share advice with those others who may be interested in doing it.  I sure hope more of you dVELOers would be part of it…and as Bev said, "we need more women cyclists!"