Apr 3, 2006

the ride that bruised my bum

Current mood: drained

this past weekend was a blast. despite the aching muscles and bruised bum, i survived my very first long ass bike ride.

we went to abingdon, va last saturday to camp at riverside campground. that place was cool! we got to camp out beside a riverback and slept with the sweet sound of the flowing river. we picked campground #5 (we were supposed to get #14 but the people in front of the cashier line took it before we did- Blast!) and set our tents up before going to town to get some decent dinner. mike, jamie and i opted for their pasta while mark indulged on a juicy steak. the food was great! no hairs, no spit of any sort. lol.

we went back to our campsite, started a fire and enjoyed the bonding with nature. we forgot batteries so we were groping in the dark until we got the fire going. we ate smores, roasted marshmallows, drank wine, listened to music and just enjoyed the whole camp experience.

it was pretty damp the next day. mark started to boil water for "rations" but mike forgot the rations at home! oh well, we just went to a gas station and got our breakfast "samiches". we went to the shuttle/bike shop to pick up jamie's bike. while we were there, i also bought a virginia creepers trail cap and a hoopty bag.

i prepared my self by making sure my ipod is working, granola bars in my hoopty bag, lemon water to drink, and clothes to change to if it gets hot. we were all ready to go! we rode a van with a bike tow and drove up to white top mountain where we would start our bike ride. it was pretty chilly when we arrived at the trail but it was ok because the sun was shining.

the first 15 miles was very easy with its downhill ride. we never even had a chance to actually use our pedals on those first few miles. i only got freaked out with a few steep sides so i kept on slowing down once in a while. i am afraid of heights and i was afraid to bail. anyway, ti became a flat surface after that and eventually started to use our pedals like we were supposed to in a bike ride. the town of damascus came but we never found the restaurant that we saw earlier on our drive up so we continued to ride.after a few milse, i decided to pass mark and jamie while they were stopped because i was always behind and i thought it would get me some distance before they catch up on me again. i was a slow poke. not only because my bum was starting to hurt but also my thighs was getting sore too. mike, i guess, decided to ride along with me and we continued on until i got really thirsty. we decided to wait fro mark and jamie while eating a granola bar. but, few other people passed us and there wasnt a sign of those two. so we decided to continue on slowly and stopping frequently until they catch up. we stopped under a bridge, beside a meadow full of cows, and some random road before mike's bike seat gave away. he was biking standing up for a few miles until we came to old alvarado sation were other bikers were eating and resting. he got to fix his bike with a borrowed allen wrench(?) and i ate french fries while askign people who came after us about mark and jamie. we got the story from other bikers and waited for them to arrive. they came a few minutes later and decided to stay and wait fro the shuttle ride, while mike & i headed on to finish the trail. we only had 8 or so miles to finish the trail and i thought that was going to be easy. at first it was flat dirt road then it eventually became a little bit steeper. by this time i had to distract myself from remembering how sore my bum and my thighs were. we had to stop a few times on benches so i can ride again. ouch, ouch, ouch!

we finally saw our 1 mile mark, took a picture and continued to frinish the trail. we rode side by side up to the last section of the trail! mark and jamie was waiting for us at the end. we took pictures of our victory ride and went on to find a place to eat. (logans restaurant)

mark drove home and into the eye of the storm. oh boy! was that scary or what! everybody was stopped on the side of the road and we were almost blown to one side too. but our master driver, got us out of there and was home at around 2230.

i had a goodnight sleep after watching an episode of battlestar galactica.

nope, i guess i passed out. and my bum still hurts..
Posted by nixinne :: 8:31 AM :: 0 Comments:

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