Saturday, May 13, 2017

VIR (Alton, VA)



The last time I went to VIR was one of the first trips with the bus. In a sort of commemoration of that trip, Scott, his son Alec, and I decided to make the trip to Alton, VA for the MotoAmerica race. Scott and Alec rode from Roanoke, while I drove my Vstrom from Richmond.



I arrived just as the national anthem played to begin the day's races. I unloaded my mountain bike from the new rack and began pedaling the perimeter of the spectator area as the 600cc class raced around the course.



Near the halfway point of the 1000cc class, Scott and Alec arrived. We watched that class finish their race and then made our way around the facility, exploring the pits and enjoying the sunny day that emerged from a gloomy forecast.





After the award ceremony, the place emptied out except for overnight campers. We rode into Milton, NC for dinner at Milton Tap & Dye, returning to a ghost town of sorts. We kept the good times rolling, though, kicking back a few cold ones and catching up on lost time. At one point a torrential rain fell from the sky, so we sprinted to my two-man tent and crammed in to wait it out. After that surprise, Scott and Alec decided to sleep under one of the event shelters instead of their original plan of sleeping under the stars.

In the morning, they woke me with the revving of their engines just outside the tent. I emerged and began packing up the bike to head out. Once on the road, we parted ways near Danville as I took 29N to Lynchburg.





The main attraction in Lynchburg was the series of mountain bike trails on the campus of Liberty University. Although I only scratched the surface, I was fairly impressed with the trails - especially one called Playground which offered wooden features, tabletops, and berms.



They organized their trails on the south face of the ridge which houses the Liberty SnowFlex Center. Once you've reached the bottom, the climb back up is relatively arduous, so I only made one loop before continuing east to Richmond.



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