Maybe I Will Ride
the Virginia Grand Tour

August 1^st, 2006

muse@bikerenews.com

My last article gave you the highlights of my first day of riding over the 4th of July. This is a continuation of that ride. On the second day, my PLAN was changing, but not my enjoyment.

As PLANNED, I woke the next morning and headed for Greensboro. But first, there was a Grand Tour stop a little west of Rocky Mount in Callaway. I figured I'd ride over there, answer the questions in the Tour Book and be in Martinsville before breakfast. So, I rode to A & A Market (stop #6), counted the number of gas pumps, bought a bottle of water, and headed back to Rocky Mount.

If you haven't figured it out by now, when I detour off of a highway that I have PLANNED to ride across the state, I have to return to my departure point to make sure I can highlight the route on my travel map. (Yeah, Yeah - Backside Retentive).

As I turned south onto US 220 at Rocky Mount, I was thinking to myself that six stops in one trip was pretty good for one trip. Maybe I could find the time to finish the other 9 grand tour stops later this summer. The more I thought about it the more I realized that the hardest two stops on the tour for me to get to were west of I-81. If I had to ride from Virginia Beach, it would take me a couple of days to get out there and back.

If I turned west on US-58 in Martinsville I figured I could complete the two stops and be back in Martinsville by early afternoon. In fact, the way I figured it, I was doing myself a favor by heading west. Decision made - Go West Young Man, Go West.

Now this is where I got my second reminder that I was riding over the 4th of July weekend. Cruising on US-58, I noticed a gray car with a little blue light coming from the other direction. Unfortunately, he noticed that I was running about 70 mph. After he made the U-Turn and the blue lights started to flash, I pulled to the side of the road. It was a pretty straightforward exchange (license, registration, radio check, ticket, and a warning to slow it down). Personally, I thought of myself as a visual reminder for those other motorists on the road. After patting myself on the back for reminding others to slow down, I was back on the bike heading west. By the way, 70 in a 55 will cost you $139.

To me the best part of US-58 is between Martinsville and I-81. It runs through the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and the road turns into a two lane series of twists and turns that requires a rider's full attention. For me, this was a personal test. It was on this section of road that I took a spill two years ago. My bike's windshield still has some of the road scrapes. As soon as the trees shaded the road, the temperature dropped. The traffic was light and I was able to enjoy the view of the roadside mountain stream as I leaned from curve to curve.

On the other side of I-81, I took Alternate US-58 / US-19 to Cleveland, VA (just west of Lebanon) to find out what color is City Hall. City Hall is located next to Big John Car Wash. After my photo opt at stop #7, I headed up US-19 - VA 16 - VA 42 to Ceres to find out the name of the Presbyterian Church at stop #8. I followed VA 42 up to I-77.

The trip through Mount Rogers and the one from Lebanon to I-77 was the best part of the second day's trip. It is these back roads and new discoveries that keep me riding the roads of Virginia. To get back on track, I rode I-77 south to US-58 west and back to Martinsville (Must Return to Departure Point). It was at this point that I admitted to myself that I was hooked on completing the 2006 Virginia Grand Tour.

The only problem with my departure from my PLAN was that I didn't get back to Martinsville until about 7:00 PM. I still needed to get to Greensboro and say hello to my family. I scooted down US-220 to North Carolina (US-33 and US-220 have now been checked off my travel map). I made a surprise visit to my Father and his wife, Pam. We spent a little time catching up and after a short visit; I was back on the road. It was already 9:00 PM, so I headed east on I-85 until I came to US-501 in Durham and found a hotel to spend the night.

The next morning, I now had a new plan. East of Volens on US-501, stop #9 was in Nathalie, VA. After finding the abandoned Post Office and answering the Tour Book question, I headed back to US-501. In Brookneal, I turned onto VA-40 east followed it to the Hungry Bear Grocery (located between I-85 and I-95), and found the answer for stop #10.

Since I needed to get back to Virginia Beach on Sunday afternoon to pack for a trip to Spain, I decided the trip back would be an easy ride along VA-40 to VA-35 down to US-58 and back to Virginia Beach. With the four-day weekend, the traffic on Sunday was lighter than usual, and I made good time.

As I pulled into my driveway, the trip meter added up to 1,430 miles. I was tired, but felt a sense of satisfaction that my riding season had finally arrived and that my purple riding companion was running as good as ever. I hadn't ridden the ride I'd planned, but I certainly liked the ride I rode. The challenge now is to not lose the momentum and to plot my plan of attack on the last 5 Virginia Grand Tour stops. Yeah, I'm hooked.

Hope to see you on the road or at a rest area.
Ride safe.

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