Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993                   TAG: 9307020140
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT WAS AN ASSIGNMENT TO DIE FOR - ALMOST

You're an education reporter. It's summer. School's out. You're looking for a good story. You spy a brochure promoting a five-day bicycle tour across Southwest Virginia. It promises "gently rolling" hills.

Your editor goes for it.

Too cool - an assignment to die for.

Until you think you might.

That moment arrived in the middle of the night after my first 43 miles of struggling up hills that were anything but "gentle," when my quadriceps locked into a death grip and ripped into an otherwise peaceful REM cycle.

Visions of shamefully picking up the phone the next morning to beg for a ride home flashed through my mind as I dove for my Ibuprofin.

They reappeared the next night when I nearly face-planted into my baked potato, my body heavy with exhaustion.

I was saved by a pregnant sports therapist named Cindy McConkie from Williamsburg who massaged miracles into my thighs. She sent me back to my campsite with well-healed muscles and a few good tips: Stretch out each morning for 30 minutes before you ride, drink lots of water to flush the lactic acid through your blood stream and never, ever stray too far from your Ibuprofin.

During my five-day endurance test cycling up and down (and up and down) the mountainous trails between Bristol and Floyd, I gathered a number of helpful hints. Some came from other cyclists. Some came from experience. Others came from the local folks who settled on their porches each morning to watch 1,200 fools furiously pedaling up terrain they wouldn't attempt without four-wheel drive.

Here's what I learned:

Never ride downhill with your mouth open. (The bugs will stick to your teeth.)

Always zip your tent flaps shut, even if it doesn't look like rain. (Sleeping in a puddle is no fun.)

If you have knobbies on your tires, don't run over dead toads. (You'll have to pick them off later.)

Never camp on an incline. If you must, put your luggage at the bottom of the tent to stop you from sliding.

When a Bike Virginia staff person - particularly one who isn't cycling - says "flat" or "gently rolling," substitute the words "death-defying" and "nose-bleed steep."

There's less shame in flagging down the "sag wagon" than calling your editor from a hospital bed.

Staff writer Laura Williamson survived 230 miles of Bike Virginia's Southwest Virginia Odyssey from Bristol to Floyd June 18-23. Photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis muscled through 250 miles. Neither was fool enough to attempt the three-mile climb up Walker Mountain or the 100-mile trek through the Jefferson National Forest and Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.