Bike Virginia is a multi-day event featuring rides of many different lengths and difficulties. This year’s edition was a five-day marathon located in and around the greater Blacksburg area with a maximum distance of about 350 miles if you rode the max everyday. Climbing was assured – this area is several thousand feet higher than Manassas and there is not much flat area there. So, I signed up! What could go wrong?
After taking a harder look at the website the next day, I almost researched the possibility of getting a refund – there’s a lot of climbing in them hills but I resolved to go forth and
climb.
In order to participate in Bike Virginia I did a fair amount of riding – 30 miles most days. I tried to include all of the hilly areas in the City and PWC. The Parkway trail has 3 decent hills on it. I rode them almost every day and pushed as hard as I could. I attacked the hills with a high-cadence approach (fancy bike words for “pedal fast”). I had seen Lance Armstrong and other pro’s use this approach so that seemed like a good idea and it worked for those hills. I spun the distance up over the weeks as best as work and Council would allow. I had originally wanted to go up to Skyline drive to train but never got there. Just didn’t have time.