Soaked to the bone and happy!

[Leslie]

I now have more impetus for reinstalling my rear fender!

Sunday afternoon, I took my son and younger daughter up to ride the Creeper Trail.   Alex and I have ridden it several times, usually starting in Damascus, then riding up and back down.   However, as this was Abby's first time riding it, I decided to 'treat' her to taking a shuttle up from Damascus to Whitetop.  It essentially becomes a 17-mile downhill coast doing it that way.   It had been a beautiful weekend thus far, radar was clear, no fronts coming through, so off we went. 

We arrived in Damascus, and literally caught a shuttle at Blue Blaze a minute before it was going to depart.  I had shotgun in the van on the way up;  the driver remarked that it was odd to see a 'road bike' on the Creeper (I was on my Ram, my son on his Motobecane CX bike).  The driver and I were chatting about trips out west, folks we knew in common, etc.  As we were between Konnarock and the turn to Green Cove, he shouted "Bear!", as a lanky yearling black bear ran across the road in front of us, crossed the guardrail in a single stride, then disappeared into the rhododendron down below.

At Whitetop, we started rolling down the trail at a decent clip, enjoying the scenery. However, the beautiful clear sky started showing signs of afternoon summer 'boil-up' storms.  It started sprinkling a bit, just as we reached Green Cove.  The rangers there were doing a "use-survey", so we stopped for a couple of minutes to chat with them, which allowed it to clear up, too.  We then departed there, and continued on. 

A couple of miles or so out of there, though, it began to rain again, this time in earnest.  However, by that point, there was nothing for it, but to press on.   At first, it wasn't a bad rain, and the trees along the trail were sheltering us from a lot of it, but we were getting drip-thu's.  But it continued to increase in rate.  Didn't take long until we were soaked through and through.   Then, I heard lighting.  Rain, doesn't bother me too bad, just not particularly comfortable perhaps, but, I respect lightning.  However, we were still miles away from Taylor's Valley, and there was nothing anywhere between us and it that would be of any use shelter-wise.   As much as I hated to, we continued to roll on.   Thankfully, the storm wasn't 'on top' of us, we would hear thunder at a distance about every 15 minutes.   If it had come up before Green Cove, we'd have stayed put there, but we were half way to Taylors Valley before it came upon us.    I was hoping we'd be okay, then take shelter when we got to the cover there. 

By the time we reached Taylor's Valley, though, the storm was mostly passed, and the rain tailing off.   We no longer heard lightning, and it was a gentle sprinkle left.  Of course, the trail was soaked now, and the rest of the ride was simply rooster-tailing all over us.  As I'd removed my rear fender when we'd been out on the OBX, and hadn't reinstalled it yet, I only had my front fender on.    Before yesterday, the times I'd been riding, my saddlebag had caught the brunt of any spray, keeping me clean, so I'd not fretted over it too much at that point.   However, seeing the black streak up across my Acorn, on the back of my Brooks, and up my back... my rear fender's going back on this week.  Alex and I stripped our shirts off before getting into the truck;  I had a jacket in there, wrapped Abby up in it before getting her into the back seat, trying to reduce the amount of cleaning I'd have to do later.  

This evening, I'll have to strip my bike down and really clean it well, and the kids', too (their bikes! they showered the grit out of their hair as soon as we were home).

I wish I'd taken pictures; I'd planned to along the way, but after it started raining as hard as it did, the camera was forgotten, really...

On the way home, I was asking them if they enjoyed the trip even though it rained.  Alex said he was having a ball the entire time;  Abby was a bit more coy, said she had fun until it started raining;  later, she amended it, that she had fun even in the rain, but that she stopped when she realized how muddy she was getting.   However, after getting out of the shower and into clean clothes, she finally admitted that she was having fun in the mud, too.  

Aside from my bike, I think I need to get fenders for their bikes, too....

Good, wet, filthy, fun ride.

-L

[Philip Williamson]

That's the best story ever.

Philip

[Bill Carter]

Thanks for the ride report, Leslie. It brought back happy memories
for me. The Virginia Creeper Trail was a favorite ride for me and my
family back six or seven years ago when my daughter was younger and we
rode a lot of rail trails together. It rained on us every year the
three years we went, so I know exactly what you mean by "wet and
happy." The 17 mile downhill from Mt Rogers to Damascus is absolute
delight. The Appalachian Trail crosses the Creeper there in Damascus,
so there is a chance for great hiking too. There was an older
gentleman who was known as the Legend of the Creeper Trail who rode
the entire distance from Abingdon and back, around 75 miles round
trip, practically every single day. His name is Laurence Dye and was
in his mid to late seventies then, and rode a silver Litespeed
Mountain bike. I met him once as he was finishing his round trip and
got some pics made with him. I just googled him, and apparently he's
still at it:

http://www.vacreepertrail.org/ride-legend

It sounds like you enjoyed the ride as much as we did. I would highly
recommend it.

Bill