What really horrifies cyclists

[Cataboo]

It's a ride with 2,000 cyclists. The grass fields were usually littered with bikes - bikes were everywhere. My ti bike was lying on the grass sometimes. Actually, it was only hanging somewhere at this rest stop 'cause Kmerzhad had spotted some bike racks off by a corn field.

Sadly, the guy who had his bike run over, was either friends with heart attack guy or the guy who wascarried out in an ambulance at dinner on Tuesday - he kept saying how he'd in the emergency room with his friend all night, went back early to pack his tent & his friend's for the trip back, went riding... and poof went his bike.

The carbon fork & handlebars were definitely snapped on the bike - the frame looked fine, but could have been twisted... However, everyone saw it flex under the tires... and... do you really want to keep a frame that's been run over twice?

Becky - we got a late start on Wednesday (I don't think we left tent city till 9 or so), so you were probably long gone when it was run over.

That was the stop where the mennonites had really nicely woke up at 4 am to make 1200 homemade donuts for cyclists... so I was hanging out a bit to let my donut digest.

Hopefully they didn't make him ride to the finish in the same sag wagon that ran over his bike, but I didn't stick around to find out.

[tulip]

Oye, I guess it's a good thing I had to leave the ride early...

Everyone leaves their bikes in the grass at rest stops. These are rural areas, rest stops are set up in fields, only cyclists around. I routinely leave my Luna and Bike Friday like that on these rides. Not in the travel lane, mind you, but in the grass.

[OakLeaf]

I just hope they don't give him a hassle about replacing the bike. This is exactly the sort of thing those boilerplate releases are supposed to protect the organizers against. They don't generally stand up in court, but they could really make it difficult for the person who owned the bike.

[Cataboo]

I just hope they don't give him a hassle about replacing the bike. This is exactly the sort of thing those boilerplate releases are supposed to protect the organizers against. They don't generally stand up in court, but they could really make it difficult for the person who owned the bike.

They were assuring him that Bike Virginia and/or the insurance would pay for the bike... Now I don't know whether or not the people saying that really had the authority to say it.

He hadn't left the bike on the grass right next to the driveway or anything like that - he had it on the grass probably about 10 feet from the edge of the driveway - so the SAG wagon had pulled fairly far forward on the grass (I have no idea why when there was a great big driveway) in order to run that bike over.

Up until that, it was my favorite rest stop because the mennonites had made us home made donuts that morning.

Although, the rest stop at the winery with air conditioning at the top of a big hill when it was 101 degrees on Sunday was much appreciated as well.

[Trek420]

During ALC (7 days, 2000+ riders, 585 miles, hundreds of awesome, fabulous, hard working, wonderful, stupendous crew) on most days and at most stops there were bike racks.

Cheap, effective, spartan bike racks.

It scared me to leave my -full custom, hand made for me in Italy by the man with his name on the frame- baby on the racks. Yes, people moosh their bike into yours or if you leave your baby on the ground put theirs on top, racks topple because riders don't balance or alternate bikes, or crowd the rack.

Our bikes are meant to be ridden. Yes we love them, they're expensive, precious, unique/irreplaceable but they are meant to be ridden. Stuff happens.

OTOH If I ever do ALC or another large supported ride it'll be on a bike I feel less "precious" about. My eye's on a LHT for that and other rides in the future

OTOH ... no damage could have been worse than what I did myself forgeting that my bike was on the roof rack

G*d I love steel!

[Becky]

Becky - we got a late start on Wednesday (I don't think we left tent city till 9 or so), so you were probably long gone when it was run over.

Yeah, we were rolling by 7:00 or so. The cool temps and cloudy skies were wonderful, as were those donuts!

I hope that Bike VA comes through for that guy and his toasted bike!

What was the story with the ambulance on Tuesday? We were trying out a tandem on Park Drive and saw it arrive, but had no idea what was going on...

[Cataboo]

Yeah, we were rolling by 7:00 or so. The cool temps and cloudy skies were wonderful, as were those donuts!

I hope that Bike VA comes through for that guy and his toasted bike!

What was the story with the ambulance on Tuesday? We were trying out a tandem on Park Drive and saw it arrive, but had no idea what was going on...

Which one? The one at lunch or at dinner? Lunch was heart attack guy. Dinner (around 7 at tent city?) seemed to be just someone feeling ill. I think the heat & dehydration from Sunday got to a lot of people. There was an ambulance on Sunday's ride just after the lunch stop - at a left turn, dunno if the guy just wiped out or a car was involved. I didn't really look as passing, but it looked not gory, and his bike looked okay. There was an ambulance about 3 miles out on Monday morning, dunno what that was about.

[Becky]

Which one? The one at lunch or at dinner? Lunch was heart attack guy. Dinner (around 7 at tent city?) seemed to be just someone feeling ill. I think the heat & dehydration from Sunday got to a lot of people. There was an ambulance on Sunday's ride just after the lunch stop - at a left turn, dunno if the guy just wiped out or a car was involved. I didn't really look as passing, but it looked not gory, and his bike looked okay. There was an ambulance about 3 miles out on Monday morning, dunno what that was about.

The dinner guy. I missed the lunch stop on Tuesday, but heard about it afterwards, and T took the day off.

Saturday's and Sunday's heat were brutal. We opted out of the century just because it was so warm.

We didn't see any accidents or medicals- from the stories that I'm hearing now, maybe we were just lucky!

[Cataboo]

Yeah, I had been tempted to do the century until I felt the heat. 58 miles was enough. The accounts that I was getting from people that did the century weren't pleasant - no water up at the top after doing vesuvius climb and no water stops up on the blue ridge parkway section.

[skibum]

I did the century and it was brutal. I handled the heat okay, several weeks of riding in 95+ weather in GA had me somewhat acclimated. Although, honestly, when it's that hot, it's rough even if you're used to it.

The placement of the water stops almost did me in -- no water from just before the vesuvius climb until the lunch stop. I probably rode 10 miles with empty water bottles. I was trying to get up the nerve to knock on someone's door to ask for water when the rest stop came into view.

I know I was fairly dehydrated at that point and am amazed I was able to recover and finish. The final rest stop (I think that was the one at the winery) was a big help -- they had a sprinkler going and ice for our water bottles.

I was only doing two days of the ride. I would have opted out of the century because of the heat if I new I had several more days to ride.

[Cataboo]

It was a strange spring for acclimatizing to the heat - at least in Maryland, we would swing from 90 + degree days to 50-60 degree days. And it just basically made me kayak on the hot days and bike on the cool days...

So I'd completely not adjusted to biking in the heat.

One guy I talked to said he stopped at a church and used their hose to get water while on the century.

But even on the 58 mile ride that day, I filled up the 2-3 liter bladder in my hydration pack at least 3 times, and was drinking 2 cups of water at every rest stop. I think I had like 4 glasses of water with dinner, and I was still dehydrated.