To celebrate the first weekend of spring break the family went up to Damascus, VA to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail. We left W-S just before noon on Saturday and returned around 20:00 on Sunday. In total we rode 70 miles over the course of those two days.
Day one: We arrived in Damascus and grabbed a quick bite to eat at Subway (not my fav, but not much choice this early in the season), and gave the dog a good long walk. Then we were off on our bikes. We headed north from Damascus on the VCT into Abingdon (17 miles). We found a lovely little soda shop, which used to be the old pharmacy in town. They had lots of vegetarian options and they had dinning on the patio, which was nice. We didn't waste too much time, because we only had about 2 hours of sun left in the day, so we made it back to Damascus (17 miles) with just enough time to walk the dog again as we lost the light. Needless to say the whole family slept well on Saturday.
Day two: We woke and walked the dog and then grabbed a hearty breakfast, I was NOT worried about counting calories. I even had a decaf, soy mocha, yum!!! The plan for the day was to head south from Damascus till we dropped from exhaustion then turn around. The entire trip from Damascus to White Top (the opposite end of the creeper) is 18 miles, ALL UPHILL. We were certain we wouldn't make it the whole way up... but we did. So we had a nice break and ate all our packed food (apples, peanuts and protein bars) then headed back down the mountain (18 miles). We averaged 8.5 mph on the way up and 16 mph on the way down. We were tearing down the mountain. It was fun, cold, but fun. That is until about 5 miles from Damascus. Nick's rear wheel blew a flat and I had to finish alone and come back for him. It turned out alright because I brought the dog back up and luckily we were close to a parking area when it happened and he only had to walk a mile and wait for me. The VCT and the Appalachian Trail crisscross quite a bit in this area, so we ended up walking the dog for a couple miles on the AT. So everyone was exhausted by the end of the day.
I feel so incredibly good, and accomplished. It was beyond beautiful up there. I am even more inspired to get good biking trails established closer to home. I'm not sure if I will be able to walk let alone bike on Monday, but I'm gonna try. We had such a wonderful time, we are now planning another trip to Damascus for hiking/biking/camping over Easter weekend.
I will update with more personalized pictures very soon!!
Last time we biked the Virgina Creeper I hit a rock, flipped over my bike handlebars and landed flat on the ground. I'm proud to say I only ended up with two scratches and my bike still intact.I still had a great time. It was exquisitely beautiful with fall just beginning. It's a great trail, especially the downhill part ;)I think that's because I really love going fast.
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