Central Virginia Bike Festival

After waking up bright and early at 6 am today, we ate some breakfast and headed on over to the Forest Medical Center for the starting area of the big Metic Century Ride of the Central VA Bike Fest. That was all pretty standard. We got there, got ready and met up with some buds and headed out at about 7:40.

Here's a shot of Luke dawg getting ready.

We left the center with Brandon and Pat, who we later lost when, as usual, I took a wrong turn. Though, I figured out my mistake and we caught up not too much later on. The ride took us down Old Cifax and up Charlemont and on to a lot of back roads that eventually brought us out onto 501 and then to the parkway. This parkway ride of course included the might thunder ridge. This was my frist time up the ridge and it was crazy, but I survived. The super fast and fun downhill was well worth me getting dominated on the way up. The picture shown here is what it looks like from the top of Thunder Ridge. I didn't take my camera on the ride today. I took this picture back in October when I was out in my RX-7 one day. It's absolutely gorgeous and every second of the ride made me love cycling all that much more. Well, save for the last 15 minutes of the ride when I was spent, hah!

I took my i-pod with me today and rocked out to an awesome mix that I felt really made a difference. I was more in "tune" with my riding and of course......more "pumped."

One of my favorite parts was the descent from the base of Sharp Top coming down 43. I maxed out my bike at 43 mph flying through all those tight turns. It was scary, but a great thrill and of course, time to relax some and let my muscles regenerate before all the rolling hills to make it back to the finish.

I really do enjoy riding my road bike. Granted, it is not as thrilling as a mountain bike ride, but it is so peaceful and satisfying to be out there on such a nice day as today amongst all the beautiful views that Viriginia has to offer. I wish I could have taken some action shots, but I hope that some of the official pictures will be posted on the site soon and I can get some of those. www.cvbikefestival.com

Anyways, it was awesome. All in all the ride was 63 miles, 4.5 hours, and a lot of climbing! Right now I am incredibly tired, my knees hurt and my body is totally sore. I wouldn't trade it for a second. I always feel so comfortable and at peace when I'm riding my bike. For now though, I'm gonna get really comfortable in my bed and crash.

Next up: Burn 24 Hour Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC.

My Team:
Luke
Dave
Eddie
and me.....yesss

Later on!

Jake