Boys and Girls Club

CROZET, VIRGINIA

My good friend, Scott Scudamore, moved from Montclair to near Charlottesville a couple of years ago. We don’t get a chance to ride together much because Scott’s passion is mountain biking and mine is road. But a few weeks ago Scott asked me to come down and ride with him with the kids from the Boys and Girls Club.

The Boys & Girls Club of Charlottesville has a program to get kids on bikes. Any kid who signs up and completes the program gets to keep the bike. A pretty nice road bike. Depending on their age, they had goals all the way up to completing a century.

I arrived at Crozet, met up with Scott, and met the kids from the club. Most of the kids riding were older and Melissa asked Scott to ride with Eli, a pretty big 12-year old, on a different route from the other kids.

Photo: Our job was not to get dropped by this 12 year old. I think we did that.

Scott had invited me down to ride Afton Mountain. The older kids were going with two other adults over Afton Mountain but Scott and Eli were given a 30-mile route that didn’t go over the mountain. Scott encouraged me to ride with the older kids. I chose to ride with Scott and Eli.

Eli is strong. The three of us headed out into the mountains. We had a great ride on a beautiful day. We stopped at Chiles Peach Orchard, looking for a rest room (closed) and enjoyed the aroma of the orchard.

We arrived back about the same time as the kids in the older group. There was a cooler of frozen snacks. The frozen lemonade pops were the bomb.

It was great riding with the kids, especially Eli. They will all meet their goal on September 15. I wish I could join them but have other plans that day.

 

EPILOGUE (October 15, 2013) – I am hoping this was not my last ride with Scott. Just one week after Scott rode with the kids on their challenge, he was mountain biking at Bryce Mountain Ski Resort. A crash broke his C1 and C2 vertebrae. As I update this he is paralyzed from the neck down.

What I remember most about August 29 was Scott was insistent that I ride with the older kids on Afton Mountain. He invited me down to ride Afton Mountain but didn’t understand that it wasn’t where you rode but who you were with. I was much more interested in riding with Scott than riding over Afton Mountain.

Scott, at the start line of the Boys and Girls Challenge, Sept. 15

Please keep Scott in your prayers and good thoughts. 
 

Stranger on the Road

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

I began the day in Baltimore where we rode to Race Pace Bicycles on Key Highway. After a light breakfast of bagels we had a dedication circle on the sidewalk. I dedicated my ride to Jake The Hero Grecco.

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Although the ride was billed as biking to Key West, in reality we would drive 3/4 of the way to Key West and bike one fourth of the way.  We were formed into four groups with each group riding 1/4th of the day’s mileage. We rode over to the Inner Harbor where Groups 2, 3, and 4 would be transported to their starting locations. My group, Group 2 did the segment from Washington DC to Nokesville, Virginia.

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Barry (L); Robert Della Vecchia (R)

We were transported by staff members Abby Ramirez and Vince Schiano. My riding group included Patti Jackson, John Beck, and Rob Keleher.

My group, Group 2, began in NE Washington, D.C. in front of a Catholic church. Two nuns came out and posed for our sendoff photo. We then followed the Metropolitan Branch Trail to Union Station, through and past the Mall and across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia.

 

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Barry, Rob, Nun 1, Nun 2, John, Patti
Credit: Vince Schiano

On the Virginia side we rode up the Mount Vernon Trail to the Custis Trail and connected with the Washington and Old Dominion Trail out to the Virginia suburbs. In Vienna we stopped at Nottoway Park for a lunch of bagels. And peanut butter.

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On the Mount Vernon Trail by the Memorial Bridge
Just out for a Saturday run

 

It was an uneventful but beautiful ride. It was sunny but the temperature struggled to reach 60 degrees. The day would be a day without cues because this was my domain. I have ridden every inch of this route many times and it was fun to just ride without worrying about turns.

 

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Potomac River, Virginia side, looking at Memorial Bridge,
Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument

On the run in to Nokesville on Kettle Run Road, I caught a rider. I asked her how far she was going (a set up question to be sure) and she said “not far” or “just down this road.” Of course when she asked how far I was riding I told her “Key West” (always a good conversation starter).

 

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Jan Roberts Stover

A brief discussion ensued. As we talked and I told her my name she told me my friends, Marty Cox and Acacia Ellis have talked about me. Small world.

 

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John Beck on the Custis Trail
Cramping forced him to be shuttled

My team was astounded that I ran into a cyclist who knew who I was. They were astounded even more when arriving at Nokesville Park even the dog knew me. That was easily explainable since my son, Andrew, brought some items that I wanted to take with me but had forgotten. But Maggie was one that could not ride with us.

 

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Barry, John, Rob, Patti

There’s also a story of the Gnome that traveled the world for years with Patti and somehow got smashed but that’s for Vince to tell.

 

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Gnome. Before and After

We went to the restaurant, Positively 4th Street, in Charlottesville for dinner before driving to the hotel at Zions Crossroads.

 

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At 11:00 p.m. I was visited by friends Scott and Margaret Scudamore for desert at the IHOP next door. At midnight it would be a late night but that was normal for me since it was the beginning of soccer season and, even on this trip, I had to burn the midnight oil to get the games assigned so the kids have refs.

 

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