ATeam @ RTR Part II

Sunday's Ride
Contributor - Kristy Scheffenacker

When you are in West Virginia enjoying the unbelievable landscape and clean mountain-air (well mostly clean except for the differing manure aromas that waft in your direction from time to time) there will inevitably be those “Deliverance” moments. DA NA neer neer neer neerneer neer neeeeeeer. So Sunday the Altarum women’s cycling team got off to a leisurely start. It was quite the ladies ride that day, full of mechanicals,giggles, singing, rest stops and posing for pictures. I believe within the first 5 minutes we had a flat and within the next 5 minutes I discovered I needed a new wheel because my cassette was rattling itself loose- easy enough fix if you have the right tools on hand -but we didn’t, so it was easier just to send our fearless leader and team director Kate, who was supporting us in the follow-car, back to the Lost River Barn for a whole new wheel. But we neglected to tell our fearless leader Kate what direction we were headed in exactly and she was on a mission to take photos of us in action. So, that meant that the one, the only, Michele, AKA Mama, had to wait on a corner in hopes of intersecting her on the way back down the mountain to steer her in the right direction. Remember it is West Virginia; cell phones don’t always work here, only when they feel like it. DA NA neer neerneer neer neer neer neeeeeeeer.

So we manage to find our way onto the Lost River race course and do ½ a lap and Kate and Mama find us on the course and flag us down for pictures and so I can swap out my wheel. But what is that awful smell. Is it Kate? Is it Mama? Is it that New Zealand chic? God that is anawful stench…Oh. It is the road kill, a dead deer. So, I change my wheel and we take some team photos by the road side with the roadkill. Charming. Then I notice it, further back off the road, I noticewhy the stench is sooooo bad. It is not just one deer by the roadside….but many many deer carcasses, maybe 10 or more all lumped together with an old crumpled up blue tent that has just been left there by the road side. Why? If people were hunting deers theywouldn’t leave the carcasses. What are they all doing here? What went on in that tent with those deer? Hmmmmmm. DA NA neer neer neer neerneer neer neeeeeeeer.

So we managed to actually get back on our bikes and actually ride after our 50th pit stop – like I said it was truly a ladies ride, Jay was off racing for the day. Most of the ladies headed back after we finished the 1st lap of the race course because they had to head homeor in Lorena’s case because they were pregnant. Thank God Lorena headed back early…nothing like getting your butt kicked by a pregnant chic. The rest of us Kate V, McLoon, Kelso, Mama and myself decided to try to follow the ride that Jay had mapped out for us. We had did have a map and thankfully not only does McLoon have lots of brawn she has a big brain too and she was able to steer us in the right direction. Good thing, because we realized as we were peering at the map, we had parked ourselves right in front of one of Lost River’s finest residences. You could have gone shopping for pretty much any appliance you might need right there in their front yard or hunted for your dinner for that matter. You had to cross a stream just to get up to what resembled to be a house. And off in the shadows something was rustling around behind the No trespassing sign… DA NA neer neer neerneer neer neer neeeeeeeer.

OK, so McLoon saves the day with her mad directional skills and we make our way into Virginia along a beautiful rolling country road. Our goal is to make it to the store that Jay says definitely exists once we get into Virginia, so that I can get a Coke. So we find the store and strike up so conversation with the local folkon the porch. … DA NA neer neer neer neer neer neer neeeeeeeer. And wekeep it a true girl’s ride by yet again posing with Smokey the Bearfor some more photo ops. So we survive the store stop and head back to Lost River. It is abeautiful day, the sun is out and we have truly had a great girly dayon the bike, singing and sun bathing as we pedal along and then…BANG!!! What was that? Was that a shot gun? That was a shot gun. That was a shot gun and it is really close because that was really loud. Is someone hunting us? Are we going to be someone’s dinner? … DA NA neerneer neer neer neer neer neeeeeeeer