Rose Pedals . . .: The Irony of Bumpass

Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Day 31 - Harrisonburg, Virginia to Ashland, Virginia
122 miles
5,407 feet of climbing

Far be it for me to complain, but I must say we've had our share of rainy mornings on this Tour. My rain gear is making way too many appearances lately. It had rained overnight, which made the roads wet, which means there's going to be road spray when we ride. Translation: wet shorts, rooster tails in the face if your get too close to someone's wheel, and a dirt stripe up the back. Eh, so what - I'm on vacation, I can get as dirty as I want. To be fair, we've also had numerous beautiful, sunny days during this Tour. When we started riding this morning, it was still raining lightly, but, thankfully, the temperature was mild and it didn't feel cold. We started the day with the last big climb of the Tour - the climb to Skyline Drive over Swift Run Gap in the Shenandoah National Park. I said to my legs, my knees, my achilles tendons - please, hang in there with me for just one more climb. This was a 6+ mile climb that started gradually after we crossed the Shenandoah River around mile 15, and then continued with steeper grades to mile 22. From there, we enjoyed an awesome and insanely fast "truck on cheese" descent for 5 or so miles, which propelled us almost to our first rest stop at mile 30. After that climb, the route consisted of big rollers - long climbs with some steep spots, but also some nice descents that helped you get up and over the climbs. We rode past James Madison's home at Montpelier. It was a really pretty ride today, part of which was on the Blue Ridge Turnpike. We had our lunch stop at the Walton City Park, and we were entertained by the sight of a truck picking up the various port-o-potties in the park. From lunch, we had about 37 or so miles to our hotel in Ashland, and the sky was looking like rain, so . . . contrary to what one might think, we didn't hurry. Instead, we said, "What's the rush?" and took our time getting back on the road. At this point, what's a little rain going to do to us? We didn't care! Let me tell you, it was very liberating to take that attitude, and I had a very pleasant ride for the rest of the route. We had a little misting rain fall on us for a short time, but never anything more than that. It's worth noting that we rode through a town by the name of Bumpass, which I, personally, thought was hysterical. Its sort of ironic, considering we've been sitting on our saddles for 31 days, often riding on rough roads, and our asses have ridden over a lot of bumps. I later learned that Bumpass is known for its many farms, alpaca ranches and a defunct ice cream spoon factory. I wondered what happened to the ice cream spoon industry that caused the factory to close, because those of us on this Tour are certainly using a lot of ice cream spoons. In any event, Bumpass was a very pretty town to ride through, as were Frederick Hall, Buckner and Tyler. It was a tougher ride today than I anticipated - even though the amount of climbing was almost half of yesterday's, it was still a significant in terms of mileage and elevation. I finished the day's ride just after 3:30 and, as soon as I got off the bike, it struck me that we only had one more ride before we reach the Atlantic Ocean. It's amazing how quickly the days of this Tour are flying by. A bunch of us walked over to the Ponderosa for dinner, which had a terrific salad bar and dessert bar. As per usual, we made quite an impression on the place. Once this Tour is over, it will be a welcome change to go back to my normal eating regimen, which does not typically include Oreos, chocolate shakes, and dessert bars.
But that's the way its been the last 31 days: eat, ride, sleep, repeat. : )