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Joe Morgan unpacks his gear at the huge Bike Virginia campsite at Orange County High School yesterday. |
Terry Detrie of Washington, Pa., rolled over in his tent at 5 a.m. yesterday and began packing up his gear.
At 6 a.m. he ate a PowerBar for breakfast and at 6:45 a.m. started his 55-mile bicycle ride toward Orange. Around 12:30 p.m. Detrie wheeled into downtown Orange and cleaned up for the night's festival.
Detrie is one of the 2,000 cyclists pedaling with the 22nd annual Bike Virginia tour that turned Orange into a tent city for one night.
Orange held its Bike Virginia Journey Through Hallowed Grounds Tour Festival as part of the visit.
Riders from all 50 states and parts of Canada were part of this year's ride.
Along their trip, riders slept overnight in three host towns--Charlottesville, Culpeper and Orange. Orange's festival was among the largest, riders said.
"We haven't seen a lot of this," Kathy Detrie, 60 and resident of Eugene, Ore., said.
Before stopping in Orange, cyclists rode past Montpelier, home of James Madison, and stopped for lunch in Madison County.
"Beautiful ride we did today from Culpeper to Orange. It was the prettiest we've have. We're from the 'big city,' so we don't see that much," Chip Hydrick, 62 and a Richmond native, said.
Once the riders arrived in Orange, they set up home in "tent city"--fields designated for riders to pitch tents and sleep for the night--or checked into a motel.
Chuck Connor, 62, from Sherrills Ford, N.C., said this has been one of the best tours he has done in his 15 years of cycling. Orange's festival helped set this tour apart from the rest.
"That's the interesting part. We get to talk to the locals. When towns do something like this, that makes it even better," Connor said.
Today, they leave for Charlottesville, where they began, and will end their tour.
Jennifer Neff
Email: jneff@freelancestar.com
