Upcoming Event: WV RAVE Bike Tour

Habitat for Humanity is sponsoring the WV RAVE (Ridge and Valley Excursion Bike Tour) on Saturday, June 4, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at Camp Caesar, near Cowen. Habitat for Humanity of Nicholas and Webster Counties will host this bike tour along the scenic Williams River and through the Monongahela National Forest with astounding views and breathtaking climbs! Three routes are offered, so everyone from beginners to avid cyclists will want to participate. This is the third annual edition of the tour, with the previous two being significantly helpful in bringing help to local families.

Ride Date:

June 4, 2011 at 8am.  All cyclists start from Camp Caesar parking lot.

Starting location: Camp Caesar – 4868 Webster Road – Cowen, WV 26206 ( MAP )

Take I-79 to Exit 57 (Summersville, Beckley) and follow Rt. 19 South for 10.5 miles. Turn left onto Rt. 82 at Brich River. At the end of Rt. 82, turn left onto Rt. 20. Camp Caesar is 5 miles on the left. All cyclists begin and end at the camp.

Rides to Choose From:

• Family Fun Ride (10 miles) This relatively flat route runs part way up Williams River Road and back. Scenic Williams River Valley
• Endurance Ride (50 miles) A mostly flat route that runs to Tea Creek Campground and back.
• Ridge Riders (75 miles) Includes a 4 mile climb and 8 mile descent on the Highland Scenic Highway (Rt. 150).
• Top of the World Century Ride (100 miles) Route includes a 5-mile climb and 5 or 6 other challenging, but shorter, climbs on the Highland Scenic Highway. Will go into Marlinton and return on Williams River Road.

Courses will be well marked for directions and hazards!

Lodging Special at Camp Caesar

$50 – Price includes 2 nights (Fri. and Sat.) lodging at Camp Caesar 4-H Camp, Friday evening meal, and light breakfast Saturday morning in the Camp Cafeteria. For lodging package, call Betsy Morris, Camp Caesar Director at (304) 226-3888 or e-mail campcaesar@frontiernet.net. Bike clubs or groups may choose to rent a cabin for their entire group. Late registrations (after 5/14) will pay $9 for dinner and $7 for breakfast.

Hotels, Motels, Camping

Mineral Springs Motel-Webster Springs (304) 847-5305, plus more motels and hotels are available in Summersville, approximately 45 min. away. For information on campsites available in area and cost per night contact the Forest Service of Richwood (304)653-4825 and Marlinton (304)799-7364.

Registration:

June 3, 2011: 5-7 pm registration and packet pickup at Camp Caesar, Burton Hall.  Cost of ride is $50.  Will take registrations day of ride, but cannot guarantee you will make the starting time.

Packet Pickup:

Packets can be picked up Friday evening from 5-7pm at Burton Hall at Camp Caesar and will include map of chosen course.  Ride packets will not be mailed.

Rave Dinner

Cookout-style dinner upon returning to Camp Caesar after ride.  The cost of the Saturday dinner is included in the $50 registration fee.

More Info:

Contact Sam Barger at 304-619-3552 or email: sambwebcomish@yahoo.com

Contact Audrey Flanagan at 304-742-6276 or email: audreywvmts@yahoo.com

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I’ve been wanting to do this ride for quite a while, but things always tend to pop up in the way of me. Luckily I have been well prepared, and registered way early. We have a gang of people from Buckhannon going, and William Given is meeting up with me for the ride.

Pretty pumped. I haven’t done a 100 mile ride since June of last year, so I’m also a touch bit nervous. I hope to see some of you guys there!

Route Maps:

75 Mile ride: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/397333

100 Mile ride: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/394698

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You Know You’re A Cyclist When…

This is what what you find in your mailbox:

Lovin’ the Competitive Cyclist postcard advert~ So classy 😀

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Speaking of Rule #5…

Jeff Dye and I, clearly and without a doubt were model examples of all things classic, brazen, and Rule 5. I’m sure we could have some room for improvement, but we’ll leave that for another day.

It was 6:44 PM. Jeff came to my door wanting to know if I wanted to go on a road ride with him. Not wanting to turn down a ride, I kitted up and was out the door in less than five (minutes). As soon as we were on the tarmac, we turned the ride into a hammerfest. Average speed was was about 3.2 kph faster than our typical ride, so immediately, we both knew this ride was business, not some lolligagging group ride. We were only wanting to be out for an hour, and we did 30km, with 610m of climbing. There was also one badass downhill where Jeff hit 80kmh.  He caught up to a Subaru Forrester, and I can only imagine what the driver was thinking about with us trailing it at those speeds.

The ride took us around the Sago Mine; you know, where the 2006 Sago Mine disaster happened? While the mine is sealed and flooded, there are still a lot of coal trucks on these back roads. We saw one of these coal trucks for a few miles until we decided to try and catch up to it. Imagine what you saw on the vintage, landmark American cycling film, Breaking Away. Yeah. The speed limit in that area was 35mph, and when we were tired of being hit in the face with dust from its backend, I decided to pass it instead of slow down. YES. We passed a coal truck. I said something about this being a brazen ride, no? We were so pumped about our pace time, that we hammered all the way until the last hill. The coal truck was several hundred meters behind us, so we took a water break, and let the truck accelerate up the hill, in order to gain momentum. We might be crazy, but we’re also courteous.

The last 8km of the ride was ridiculous as ever; we had raced cars, coal trucks, and each other, now we must race the sunset in order to get back home before dark.

Just in case you were wondering, Man 1 : Nature 0.

Sometimes just going out and hurting yourself is a wonderful thing. We rolled through the neighborhoods to get back to campus, and had the biggest grins on our faces, knowing that we had just learned things about ourselves that we may have not known before. For instance, I never knew that I could have a 199bpm heart rate. The typical standard for finding max heart rate is 220 minus your age. 196. I have rarely ever even reached that, let alone 199. This was 104% of my max heart rate. This just shows that we left it all out on the road.

104%….

My average heart rate was in Zone 5 the entire time, and numerically averages to 176bpm. This once again reinforces my belief that sometimes really stupid rides are great for you.

Have you ever gone out with your friends and tested each other the entire ride? Added a little bit of fun and competition to the mix, instead of the boring as plain grits no-drop group ride? They’re pretty memorable, no?

I suggest before it gets any cooler out, go on a ride with a friend or two, and just try to rip each other’s legs off. You won’t regret it at all.

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