My little family has been going to skyline drive with some regularity for about 7 years now.  The great thing is that, inside of 90 minutes, you’re in a whole different world.  It’s back to basics and it allows me to recharge in a relatively short period of time.

For the last 3 years, I also take the bike and hitch myself up for a little mountainous abuse.  I pulled a 9 mile hitch in a little under an hour yesterday.  The climbs are pretty intense as they are very long.  You might find grades as steep in our area but you won’t find a climb that’s well over a mile followed by a 40mph descent followed by another very long climb.  You’ve got to be able to climb consistently in order to get much down up there.

I also love the weather up there:  It’s always cooler than down here.  Sunday morning when I went out onto the little patio outside of the room I almost needed a jacket.  It was delightful.  By way of contrast; by the time we got to Warrenton (about 11:30) we had the windows rolled up and the A/C on.  Sadly Sperryville seems a little less vibrant than in years past but it’s holding on.

On another note, the amount of smog seems to have gotten worse over the years.  Witness the photo at right.  When I visit Skyline in the early spring you can see over at least 4 rows of mountains.  You’re lucky to see the silhouette of 1 row in the summer these days….  It’s my guess that most of that smog is generated in the coal-burning electric plants of the Ohio valley but all of the cars…well, I’m a child of the age of cars and it hurts to say this but they probably don’t help much….

Item 1:  The Tour of California is on Versus this week.  A pretty good bike race.  It isn’t quite the level of the european tours but it looks tough enough to me.  The course today is a 9% grade for over 10 miles.  I think I’d be cryin’ like a baby…;)  Lance crashed out yesterday so Team Radio Shack is minus their fearless leader.  Interestingly, he was playing domestique for Levi so Armstrong wasn’t going for the win in any event.

Item 2:  I’m going to take the rims off of my road bike and personally pound them into pizza pans.  I’m sick of fooling with the spokes breaking, coming loose, etc, etc.  I’m tired of it.  I treat that bike better than almost any other possesion and it gives me fits!  Just the rims tho.  The rest of the bike is ok…well, exept the derailurs and maybe the crank.  However, I expect that whatever bike I’m riding and regardless of the cost, that I’ll never escape complaining about gears, shifting of gears, creaks, squeeks and groans in the equipment…

Item 3:  Today is Bike to Work Day!!  Sarah and I rode out to the gathering at the Freedom Center this morning at about 7:45.  There were about 20 people there at that point and an additional 35 riders had already come and gone!  That’s pretty good turnout for a first-time bike event out here in the hinterlands.  They had some Freedom Center folks there, a bike mechanic and some pretty good food.  I confess that I didn’t really bike to work.  Sarah and I biked out there, had a cup of coffee and biked home.  Then we showered and came to work….maybe not cheating but maybe not really in the spirit of the event either…:)