Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
There were 542 riders signed up for the ride yesterday for the Land Trust of Virginia annual benefit. Just up the road, on the opposite side of town at the horse show grounds the annual 5 day Middleburg Classic with over 300 perfectly groomed horses, perfectly groomed riders, and tens of thousands of dollars in prize money for the over fences classes had been in full swing since Wednesday. Three of the local foxhunts had Saturday meets planned. Further up the road and across the mountain was the start of the week long Art At The Mill art exibit and sales to benefit the county's hustorical society. Across the Potomac River in Maryland the Drive Electric event was happening with over 200 Electric cars registered to show to the public, including a parade down main street, vendors, and crowds expected in the thousands.
And then Ophelia rolled into town. Tropical storm Ophelia. Bringing wave after wave of torrential rains, high winds, and chilling cold. Not the type of weather anyone would want to to be out in. The horse show canceled all their classes for the day. All three hunts canceled their meets as well. The day long electric car event closed down after only two hours since very few car owners and/or spectators wanted to be out in the foul weather. They had a whole boatload of raffle prizes they still had to give away, but said they'd figure out what to do about that later. The art show was inside so they were still on.
And the bike ride? Well, you can count on cyclists to be among those insane enough to not only ride in the worst weather imaginable, but actually enjoy the challenge. Over 120 of the registered cyclists showed up, grinning, laughing, and having the best time despite Ophelia showing us her worst. At 9:30 sharp a multicolored flood of rain gear clad riders set off in the downpour of rain, heading out on the now drenched gravel roads, dodging puddles of water the size of small ponds as they made their way through a countryside of scenic beauty shrouded in rain and fog.
Ophelia, unable to deter the cyclists despite her best efforts in producing a downpour of biblical proportions for the first 10 miles or so, sullenly took her bands of torrential rains elsewhere for the next 3 hours, giving a blessed respite to everyone on a bike, and to the stalwart gravel roads which had been doing their utmost to absorb all the water before ponding it or turning into mud.
I had been among those crazy enough to defy the weather, biking from my farm to the ride site, a mere 6.5 miles, in a misty drizzle. At that time Ophelia was winding herself up for the onslaught an hour later, holding onto her rain until all the cyclists were ready to ride. It certainly was a wild experience not being able to see because of rain on the glasses, and tree limbs coming down onto the roads from the winds.
My game plan had been to bike to the ride, enjoy the excitement of the start, ride the first 3 miles with everyone, then as they all turned left on course, I would ride straight ahead the 3.5 miles directly home. I almost changed my mind to continue riding the course but the conditions were abysmal at best, and the rain had seeped into every article of clothing I had on. Even if it claimed to be waterproof...it wasn't. The wind driven rain on my face felt like needles on my skin, and no matter how deeply I tucked my head, the rain on my glasses completely obscured the world at large. Home was too close and it promised warmth and dryness.
I kept to my plan and arrived home in record time, looking like I'd been standing under a waterfall. But grinning from ear to ear.
It had been a 14.2 mile in the worst conditions I've ever experience on a bike*, but it had been an adventure!
Long story short - stripping out of the soaked clothes into dry ones so that hubby and I could attend the art exhibit, come home with a gorgeous landscape painting for our art collection, and stop by the bike venue to enjoy the catered ride lunch inside the site's spacious hall and chat with several of the riders that had finished already, was just the perfect way to finish out the afternoon. The rains returned with a vengeance an hour or so later, waiting just long enough for the 70 mile riders to finish before the winds and the rains became Armageddon once again.
I took a video of the waterfall of rain coming off the big tent roof as many of the riders huddled underneath waiting for the start. Just have to drop it on YouTube in order to upload it.
*I rode a 2 day 100 mile Endurance ride in a nor'easter in New Jersey one year. Ice, sleet freezing rains, horrific winds so fierce they rocked my horse trailer at night, and water proof clothing that was (once again) not really waterproof. The rains were so torrential that it produced ponds of water across the trail with depth measured in feet. Not inches. At times my horse was wading through water so high it touched his stomach, and I had to lift my feet onto his withers to keep my shoes from being submerged. My horse did fine for the entire 100 miles. He had no problem with the weather at all. I was the one who suffered from poor clothing choices, freezing cold, and a slight scratch across the cornea of one eye the first day of 50 miles from a low hanging branch across the trail I failed to see in time. The second 50 mile day I was operating with only half my vision through the remainder of the ride, packing up and heading home - a 6 hour drive home at night, in the icy rain via back roads because the main interstate home had iced up, locking traffic in a 3 hour standstill. THAT was an adventure. Worth mentioning I came in 2nd overall in the ride, which would have been a big thing except there were only 3 of us in the 2 day 100 division. Still, it remains a memorable telling even after almost 2 decades.
And then Ophelia rolled into town. Tropical storm Ophelia. Bringing wave after wave of torrential rains, high winds, and chilling cold. Not the type of weather anyone would want to to be out in. The horse show canceled all their classes for the day. All three hunts canceled their meets as well. The day long electric car event closed down after only two hours since very few car owners and/or spectators wanted to be out in the foul weather. They had a whole boatload of raffle prizes they still had to give away, but said they'd figure out what to do about that later. The art show was inside so they were still on.
And the bike ride? Well, you can count on cyclists to be among those insane enough to not only ride in the worst weather imaginable, but actually enjoy the challenge. Over 120 of the registered cyclists showed up, grinning, laughing, and having the best time despite Ophelia showing us her worst. At 9:30 sharp a multicolored flood of rain gear clad riders set off in the downpour of rain, heading out on the now drenched gravel roads, dodging puddles of water the size of small ponds as they made their way through a countryside of scenic beauty shrouded in rain and fog.
Ophelia, unable to deter the cyclists despite her best efforts in producing a downpour of biblical proportions for the first 10 miles or so, sullenly took her bands of torrential rains elsewhere for the next 3 hours, giving a blessed respite to everyone on a bike, and to the stalwart gravel roads which had been doing their utmost to absorb all the water before ponding it or turning into mud.
I had been among those crazy enough to defy the weather, biking from my farm to the ride site, a mere 6.5 miles, in a misty drizzle. At that time Ophelia was winding herself up for the onslaught an hour later, holding onto her rain until all the cyclists were ready to ride. It certainly was a wild experience not being able to see because of rain on the glasses, and tree limbs coming down onto the roads from the winds.
My game plan had been to bike to the ride, enjoy the excitement of the start, ride the first 3 miles with everyone, then as they all turned left on course, I would ride straight ahead the 3.5 miles directly home. I almost changed my mind to continue riding the course but the conditions were abysmal at best, and the rain had seeped into every article of clothing I had on. Even if it claimed to be waterproof...it wasn't. The wind driven rain on my face felt like needles on my skin, and no matter how deeply I tucked my head, the rain on my glasses completely obscured the world at large. Home was too close and it promised warmth and dryness.
I kept to my plan and arrived home in record time, looking like I'd been standing under a waterfall. But grinning from ear to ear.
It had been a 14.2 mile in the worst conditions I've ever experience on a bike*, but it had been an adventure!
Long story short - stripping out of the soaked clothes into dry ones so that hubby and I could attend the art exhibit, come home with a gorgeous landscape painting for our art collection, and stop by the bike venue to enjoy the catered ride lunch inside the site's spacious hall and chat with several of the riders that had finished already, was just the perfect way to finish out the afternoon. The rains returned with a vengeance an hour or so later, waiting just long enough for the 70 mile riders to finish before the winds and the rains became Armageddon once again.
I took a video of the waterfall of rain coming off the big tent roof as many of the riders huddled underneath waiting for the start. Just have to drop it on YouTube in order to upload it.
*I rode a 2 day 100 mile Endurance ride in a nor'easter in New Jersey one year. Ice, sleet freezing rains, horrific winds so fierce they rocked my horse trailer at night, and water proof clothing that was (once again) not really waterproof. The rains were so torrential that it produced ponds of water across the trail with depth measured in feet. Not inches. At times my horse was wading through water so high it touched his stomach, and I had to lift my feet onto his withers to keep my shoes from being submerged. My horse did fine for the entire 100 miles. He had no problem with the weather at all. I was the one who suffered from poor clothing choices, freezing cold, and a slight scratch across the cornea of one eye the first day of 50 miles from a low hanging branch across the trail I failed to see in time. The second 50 mile day I was operating with only half my vision through the remainder of the ride, packing up and heading home - a 6 hour drive home at night, in the icy rain via back roads because the main interstate home had iced up, locking traffic in a 3 hour standstill. THAT was an adventure. Worth mentioning I came in 2nd overall in the ride, which would have been a big thing except there were only 3 of us in the 2 day 100 division. Still, it remains a memorable telling even after almost 2 decades.
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The wind was a direct southerly today and around 15-20mph, much better than my last ride! I headed NE so I had the breeze behind me for a while! I stopped at Hillend Loch for a couple of photos and was surprised to see the water so calm but then I realised it was due to being sheltered from the wind!
