1 Warrenton to Luray Monday 2 October
44 miles @ 10.3mph Ascent: 3,012
After a reasonable night's sleep I went for a meagre breakfast in the motel lobby then began preparing for the day’s cycling – not without some trepidation as this would be my first solo multi-day cycling tour for more than 20 years. I gassed up the rental and got it back to the office just as it opened and after some discussion about the absence of advice from the renting location, I was free to cycle the half mile back to the motel. I did a few chores to keep myself occupied until the traffic abated around 9am and finally hit the road shortly thereafter.
I was still rather wobbly on the loaded bike
when the first uphill appeared, less than a mile from the start and with grades
up to 9%. The downhill was about as steep and I was concerned about the
stability of both my bike and its load, so soon in the ride and without the
chance to properly size up these things. I shouldn't have worried, everything
was OK and by mile 3 I settled into a pace that was slow but rhythmic.
There was a rumble strip for the first few
miles and mostly I had to “ride the white line” to its left. While I was doing
this, every single vehicle pulled over to the LH lane and left me plenty of
room. Eventually the rumble strip disappeared, the traffic became lighter and
the undulations less severe – by mile 7, I sailed galleon- like over a crest at
a stately 10mph.
My first rest stop was a planned at mile 11, a
store at Amissville. Ascent so far, around 700’.
I eschewed a planned small detour into Washington
(not DC!), preferring instead the smooth surface of the bypass and possible
less hills. Shortly thereafter, I got my first glimpse of the Blue Ridge
mountains
Lunch was as planned at the “Before and After”
restaurant in Sperryville, where I enjoyed a toasted cheese pannini. This was
just a few hundred metres from the start of the inclines that would lead up to
Thornton Gap, the high point between Warrenton and Luray. Ascents so far,
around 1,470’.
I found the climb difficult, to say the least.
Garmin data were limited as I fell below my ‘auto-pause’ speed of 3mph but I
did see a figure of 9.3% gradient beforehand. I plumbed the depths of my mental
and physical resources (pace Bruce Day) to haul myself and my gear up that
mountain but my glory was stolen a few hundred metres before the summit. A car
slowed down just in front of me and I was astonished to see a fair- sized bear
lumbering across the road just metres away. It looked enquiringly at me but
decided I was not worth the effort as I moved forward on the road. Thus
Thornton Gap and Skyline Drive came and went.
I stopped 3 or 4 times on the descent to allow
traffic to pass and my brakes to cool. It was then just an easy 4 mile cruise
from the bottom of the descent. I checked into the motel and immediately went
to the adjacent gas station and bought three 600ml bottles of fluids- 2
Mountain Dew and one Extra Sweet Tea.
I record this with as much surprise as pride –
no cramps as yet, after over 3,000 feet of ascent for the day.
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