Old Rag Mountain Stewards Training and Quick Ride on Skyline Drive

We spent the weekend at Pinnacles Research Station in Shenandoah National Park for Old Rag Mountain Stewards training in preparation for our upcoming spring season.  It was great to see everyone, meet with National Park Service personnel, refresh our skills, and, as usual at these events, eat good food.  Working with such a driven, yet cooperative group is a true privilege.

During some downtime, Michael and I managed to get out for a quick ride on Skyline Drive.  We started from the research station, which is near mile post 37, or just below Pinnacles Picnic Area and rode south.  Along the way, we passed Stony Man Mountain, Skyland Resort, and ultimately turned around at mile post 44 at Betty's Rock.  Snow still covered the ground in the shadows and it was chilly, but it felt good to get out and stretch the legs.

Pictures (from my phone):

 My bike at an overlook with Old Rag and Robertson Mountains in the background.

 Stony Man Mountain from Little Stony Man overlook.

The highest point on Skyline Drive at Skyland Resort.

2500 Miles

A few weeks ago, I realized that if got a few more rides in this year, I could get a total of 2,500 miles of riding in for the year.  Various things, including travel and getting ready for the holidays, conspired against me over the last couple of weeks, but this weekend, I did it.  I got out for a 41 miles ride yesterday with Michael and a friend of ours.  This morning, I did a quick 13 miles after breakfast, which put me at exactly 2,500 miles.  That is just slightly longer than the distance from Silver Spring to Spokane, Washington (!).  It has been a good year for cycling.

 Heading out for my ride this morning.

My mileage tracker after today's ride.

Seagull Century

We headed out to Salisbury, Maryland for our last cycling event of the year, the Seagull Century.  The ride winds 100 miles through eastern Maryland with a stop at Assateague Island.  It is a pretty big event, drawing around 3,000 riders for all three routes, but after RAGBRAI, it didn't seem nearly as crowded.  We arrived in Salisbury on Friday night to pick up our t-shirts and stayed in a nice little cabin in Pocomoke River State Park a few miles south of Salisbury.  The cabin was really basic:  just a few beds and a table, but it held three of us comfortably.  It was nice to sleep in a bed the night before the ride and not to have to take down a tent in the morning.

The ride started off a little rough for me because something I ate at dinner the night before disagreed with me, leaving my stomach a little jumpy for the first leg.  It passed, though, and the weather was beautiful, if a little windy.  For the first and second legs of the ride, we had it mostly to our backs.  We made it to the second stop in good time, took a short break, and continued to Assateague Island.  That is when things started to get tough.  The wind had picked up, so crossing the bridge to Assateague Island was an adventure in holding the bike steady in a very stiff crosswind.  My legs started cramping shortly before the second rest stop.  By the time we reached the rest stop on Assateague, they were screaming.  We took a long, pleasant break on the beach and I drank water and ate bananas to try to calm my muscles down. The last 35 miles of the ride were pretty much straight into the wind and my leg cramps never did settle down.  I finished the ride, but it was a slow, painful struggle.  This was the first time I've ever had problems with leg cramps and hopefully, it is the last.

This morning, I woke up and my legs felt better, which was good as we had another 43 miles ride planned with a crab feast at the mid-point.  I drank a lot of water last night, hoping to correct whatever hydration problem I had the day before and it seemed to work.  Today's ride was much better.  We had headwind all the way to the restaurant, but it wasn't horrible.  On the way back, it was mostly tailwind, so the ride flew by.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

Sunrise on the Pocomoke River.

The bikes at the third rest stop.

Assateague Island.

Two of the Assateague Ponies.

Toes in the sand.

Cyclists crossing the bridge leaving Assateague Island.

A pile of crabs on our table.

Skyline Drive Sufferfest (In a Good Way)

We, in a fit of insanity, have signed up for an event called the Savage Century, a 100 mile bike ride in western Maryland with over 11,000 feet of climbing.  We have been doing long bike rides since the beginning of the year, but we decided we had better start riding some serious hills to prepare.  The weather on Saturday was terrible, so on Sunday, we headed out to Front Royal to ride as much of Skyline Drive as we could.  The weather was bright and sunny and promised to be very, very windy.  I really didn't know what to expect.  Skyline Drive has no shoulder and can be a hotspot of distracted driving ("Honey, look at the bear over there...and the pretty view over there.").  I also didn't know how we would handle serious climbing since we hadn't really done any.

Things started out a little rough, but rapidly got better.  We parked outside of the north entrance to the park, where it seemed like most of Northern Virginia had also decided to park.  We got ready, started up the hill and, not twenty feet from the car, I got a flat (due to a flaw in the tube, it turns out).  We had a mini pump with us, but it is hard and time-consuming to get a road bike tire pumped up to the right pressure with one.  They are good for getting you home from a ride, but it was a little disheartening to start a ride looking at twenty minutes of pumping to attempt to get the tire up what would hopefully be the right pressure.  Too little and you get pinch flats.  Too much and, well, I've never been able to get too much pressure in a tire with a mini pump.  While we were changing the flat, a van full of another group of road cyclists pulled up.  One of their group got out and asked a question about the park fees.  When he noticed we were changing a flat, he asked if we wanted to borrow their full-size floor pump with a gauge.  Thanks to them, we were back on the road much more quickly.

The first six miles of the ride climbs 1500 feet, past flowering redbuds and dogwoods.  The creeks and waterfalls were full from Saturday's storms.  After a relatively short descent, the next climb began: 1160 feet over 8 miles past Mount Marshall and back into late winter/early spring.  The trees have barely begun to leaf out at that elevation.  That was followed by a descent of about a mile and another climb:  this time 650 feet over a little over a mile past Hogback Mountain and the highest point on the Drive in the North District.  From there, we descended three miles to Elkwallow Wayside, for a total of 24 miles from the car.  The ride south was anything but fast.  We averaged about 11 miles an hour.  On most of the long climbs, I would hover between seven and nine miles an hour.  We took a break at the wayside, not looking forward to the three mile climb back towards Hogback Mountain. 

The climb back up from Elkwallow Wayside took almost half an hour.  As I said, we were slow.  From there, however, there were only two steep, but relatively short (less than two miles) climbs left.  Most of the return to the car was downhill.  Those two climbs were still hard, but we were rewarded with long descents after them.  We finished with a total of 48 miles and almost 5500 feet of climbing.  It was an incredible ride.  The weather was great, although the wind was pretty crazy.  The crosswind could be rather startling when it hit suddenly, particularly when we would come around corners on descents.  Traffic actually wasn't too bad.  Most people gave us plenty of room and were considerate.  It was one of the toughest rides I've done and now the only thing to do is get out and do it again.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

Dogwoods on Skyline Drive.

Pulled off at an overlook taking a short break.

Looking north towards Front Royal from one of the overlooks.

Looking south from Hogback Mountain overlook (I think).

Redbuds on the Drive.