From the beginning - Berryville 2005

Last year's ride at Berryville was my first "real" ride. Before I go any further I would like to say this was not the best way to approach a ride. At the time, I definitely would not consider myself as being in shape. All the muscles from my activities withered away during my final years in academics. Needless to say, a broken arm a half year earlier does not motivate one to go to the gym. Somehow, under the influence of others, I was finagled into participating in this beautiful ride. I found it to be good motivation to get in shape and start a real exercise regime.

A month before the ride I was determined to ride my mountain bike that I owned for past nine years. A couple of weeks before the ride, a good friend let me borrow his sister's road bike. This situation may have worked-out for the average person but the bike as too big for me. My torso was all stretched out; when stopping I needed to angle the bike so the tip of my toes could finally touch the ground; and I lacked all confidence. I was determined never to get onto a road bike again - or so I thought!

The week before the ride, I bought the one hybrid bike that fit me (did I mention that I am shorter than the average person?) and it happened to be on clearance. It was nothing fancy but would do the trick. I still had my old helmet and water bottles. I knew enough about biking to know that the padding in the shorts is well worth it! Luckily my friend had a pair of shorts that were too small for her, so I was all set.

I decided to ride 25 miles. Unfortunately, I did not do much preparing for this ride but I managed to finish it! Before we started, I was introduced to some bikers’ food - there are gels and energy bars.

This is us getting ready before the race (oops! I mean ride). Notice my face of the first taste of the gel. I heard that vanilla tastes the best, but I do not like them at all. Some people live on these gels but I prefer some type of chocolate energy bar at the first rest stop.

Here is a group of us at one of the first rest stops. The rest stops had plenty of food and drinks to replenish! Throughout the ride, the views were amazing. There are so many historic sites that we passed by!

Here is just another picture perfect rest stop (credit to James Nitao for ALL of the beautiful photos!). The weather was great and scenes were beautiful!

There was a mix of people riding in Berryville. There were some novices like myself as well as families and more advanced riders. Everyone was very nice and you get to see some interesting bikes. A few families and couples were riding tandem bikes but the one above was most unique!