Middleburg Hills with Dan and Rich

BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN ROAD

Middleburg is a beautiful area with quaint old town businesses, inns and restaurants.  Immaculate homes sitting on large plots causing a case of the "I Wants" line the country roads.  Lots of cows, chickens and horses to entertain the kids.  And guess what else Middleburg has?  Hills.  Lots and lots of steep long hills.

Dan Wolfe, Rich Spencer and myself drove out for a little spring training last week.  It was a beautiful day in the 80's with lots o' sunshine.  A perfect to mount the bike and pedal 'til one can pedal no more.

It was a snafu start of the day for Dan.  Not sure if he secretly wanted to ride all day in his sandals, but he left his shoes at home.  He decided to tough it out anyways, with the aid of a stinky old pair of tennis shoes Rich had in his car.

Gently rolling country side to begin the ride, a few snafu's directional wise that were no big deal, and we are on to the climbing.  The big climb is Snickersville Turnpike up to Blue Ridge Mountain Road.  Man, that is one long steep climb.  It's been awhile since I've ridden it and it's a little shocking!

What may have been more shocking is just how fast Rich went to the top.  Those skinny legs were churning out the RPM's to motor to the top.  I'm more of a grinder, slower RPM, power my way to the top.  Rich said he's gotta keep the legs moving quick or he'll come to a stop.  How did Dan do on that climb, well, he forgot his shoes.

On Blue Ridge Mountain Road it's a series up rolling hills over ~11 miles.  As always, the benefit to the climb is the awesome down hill.  My GPS recorded a max speed of 49.7, which Rich doesn't believe.  But how can you argue with technology?

Nice foot wear, Dan

It was a pretty warm day.  We're about 40 miles in, water bottles empty, lots of hard work behind us.  Then this cute little diner appears before us and of course we're stopping.  The best part of this stop was the walk-in fridge.  Dan bee-lined it straight for the "Man Cave" as it was called.  Loaded with beer, Dan took a seat and chilled for a bit.

Frost the Dan-Man, was a very happy rider ...

We rounded back to Middleburg and ate a the Red Horse Tavern.  Great little place and the tuna steak sandwiches were pretty good.  Dan took a few minutes to painfully cramp up.  Gotta hand it to him, that was a remarkable ride for someone in tennis shoes with clip pedals.  Nice job Dan.

Hey Dan and Rich, I'm ready to do this ride again including Naked Mountain any day of the week.


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