Bike Ride Report - Sort of Lost River 200k

I attempted the DC Randonneurs Lost River 200k yesterday. It wasn't really the Lost River 200k, because there was a foot of unplowed snow over the pass in West Virginia, and Matt the RBA changed the route to go to Harrisonburg on 42 instead.



This is where I gave it up.



This was just over 30 miles into the ride, on SR 42 in Conicville, VA. It was a really beautiful spot, especially if you weren't riding a bike since it was about 30 degrees out with a 20 mph wind. But front-wheel drive recumbents with skinny road tires and snow don't mix.

Looking west.



Looking east.



Looking north, back the way I came.



The route went along Back Rd. and 42, which follow a ridge line. The roads were plowed, but overnight, the howling wind had blown drifts over them. I decided to get off the ridge and ride home on nice dry route 11.

I wound up doing a nice metric century with 4000 feet of climb. I wasn't feeling very strong at all, and I was fighting sleep on the drive home, which was in the early afternoon. I had a nice ride, though.

Check out the ice buildup on the bike in front of the rear wheel.



There were even icicles on the tool bag!



Despite all the snow, there were signs of spring. There were lots of robins out, and I saw a couple phoebes. Robins don't migrate, they hide in thick woods, but phoebes do. They are the last to go and the first to return.

Here's the MotionBased link, which has a link to a Google map with a track for my route.