Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 14, 1993 TAG: 9307140395
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
The New River Valley has certainly seen itself become a sort of bicycle Mecca recently, what with Tour Du Pont starting one of its stages in Blacksburg in May and the New River Bicycle Club holding its second annual Wilderness Road fun ride earlier this month.
But a different sort of bicyclist can be spotted in the valley, too, the kind loaded down with tents, sleeping bags and lots of gear; the kind who obviously has planned to spend a lot of time on the bike.
Who are these people? Where are they going? Why have they decided to answer that most American of legacies - the call of the open road - on a bicycle?
Many of these cyclists, who can be seen riding through Christiansburg, Radford, Wytheville and other communities, as well as straining up hills and mountains throughout the New River Valley, are riding their bikes coast to coast.
The valley is home to part of the cross-country bicycle route mapped out by Bikecentennial in 1976 to mark the nation's 200th birthday. The route is popular with cross-country cyclists.
It begins in Yorktown and ends at the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Ore. Most cyclists take about three months to finish the journey, which takes them through 10 states, across the Kansas prairie and through the Appalachian and Rocky mountains.
Recently, 11 cyclists stopped in Blacksburg for a rest day.
"Up to this point it's been great," said Patty Stern, 30, a Californian who has been living in Richmond for five years. She was leading the group, none of whose members knew each other before they began.
The riding so far has been challenging, she said, "but the people have been good to us, and it means a lot when they wave. Those little things mean a lot when you're on your bike, and you're hot and tired."
Meeting people along the way is one of the big reasons these cyclists attempt the trip.
"It's really fun to talk to people. That's really the reason we're doing this," said Stern, who can relate any number of stories about people who have offered the cyclists water to drink or a place to spend the night.
She also can tell about motorists, with whom the cyclists must share the road. Most have been courteous, something the cyclists appreciate.
"Most motorists slow down and wait for a clear spot to pass you, rather than just buzzing around you," Stern said. "We like to believe we have a right to the road, but we know we're vulnerable. So when we're on a bike, we can't demand equal access. We have to hope people respect our position."
Other cyclists go on the trip to see the land.
"I wanted to see middle America," said Willard Hong, a 29-year-old bank researcher from San Francisco. "Living on the coast, you think of the United States as a two-coast nation and the middle as a void. People in the West don't have any notion of what the heartland is about."
Biking allows a person to experience American geography firsthand, he said.
"The experience of biking is that you can see, you can feel, you can touch. Nobody is interpreting your senses for you," Hong said.
He said people who live in the country - the New River Valley for example - "are not as paranoid as people in the city. Here, people are willing to open up their homes to you."
Some of the cyclists are carrying more than 50 pounds of gear, but they like hauling their stuff. For them, "sag wagons," common on many other bike tours to carry bags and food, are not the way to go.
"I think it's great to be able to pull up to where you're staying and have everything you need," said Colleen Hunter, 35, who teaches and plays the violin in Missoula, Mont., a town the cyclists will be riding through in August.
"When you have a sag wagon, you don't rely on your wits," said Kevin Condit, a 29-year-old marketing representative from Detroit. "When you're not carrying bags, you're just another bike rider."
Carrying their own gear means the trip is more of a chance for the cyclists to find out what they have inside.
"I'm pushing my limit everyday, and it's surprising to learn that I haven't reached my limit yet," Hong said.
"There are times on the trip when it has been physically demanding, but I wouldn't call it difficult. I wouldn't trade it for anything," Condit said.
The trip for him "was just kind of a dream that I had to see the American countryside, the people and to test myself. I've seen and met a lot of really great American people. We really have something great going here," he said.
Reinoud and Philip Waterreus, brothers from Holland, are part of the trip because, as Reinoud Waterreus said, "Holland is flat. A lot of people there want to see mountains."
Virginia's mountains reminded him of those in the middle section of France, said Reinoud Waterreus, a 31-year-old medical worker.
The toughest part of the trip so far for him and his brother has been contending with jet lag and the mysteries of American culture, such as the bewildering number of channels on the television and the amazing variety of breakfast cereals in the grocery stores.
Flying across the Atlantic "was the first time I had spent such a long time on a plane, and it was really exhausting," Reinoud Waterreus said.
by CNB