Saturday, May 19, 2018
Tour de Floyd Metric Century
I've been eyeing the Tour de Floyd metric century ride for a few years. (You know, you hate to rush into that sort of thing, lol.) Well, this was the year!!
It's one county over from us and includes part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the 62 miles includes 5000+ feet of climbing. In other words, it sounded like a lot of fun!
We pushed off at 8:30 and, despite days of rain preceding this and an iffy forecast, it turned out to be quite a nice morning to ride. We had some misting rain but not much wind and we finished under blue skies.
One of the cool things about these rides is how you group up and pair up with people you don't even know and you look out for one another. There's a connection and common interest without even saying a word!
Also there's a lot of yummy food. This ride is known for the homemade cookies at the Parkway stop - they are amazing. I will be having dreams about the lemon cookies!
I met the ride founder and organizer, Paul Lacoste (below), at a rest stop. I asked him how the ride came to be. He said it was a favorite ride route of his and for probably 10 years he thought about creating a ride to share it with others. Good thing he finally did! This is the 11th year of the Tour de Floyd. The support, food, and route are fantastic! Even though it's a good bit of total elevation gain, there's nothing monstrously long or steep.
I rode much of the ~30 mile Parkway stretch solo because I knew that section (and there was no way to really get lost there - always my fear!!). I grouped up for the back roads as I could, even though the turns were very well marked. The probability of getting lost was really quite low (even for me).
There's one part I could have done without -- At one point I was part of a group and I had just gone to the front on a downhill stretch when a very large dog bolted onto the road in front of me. I just managed to avoid him but he took down the rider behind me. I knew the dog would claim a victim. I heard it before I looked back and saw the rider on the ground. Erring on the side of caution, the cyclist got a ride back with a SAG driver. I saw him post-ride and he was in good spirits, albeit with some road rash.
I really REALLY enjoyed this ride. Cycling never gets old. I appreciate new routes, new scenes, and new people now and again!
FUN!