One of the greatest advantages to living south of the green line in Virginia Beach is quick access to some of the best road riding in the city. While every road and section of VB can be a traffic nightmare Monday through Friday, on weekends the areas known as Princess Anne County and Pungo are quiet and virtually traffic free. Every Sunday morning for the last month, a buddy and I have been meeting at my house and putting in some quality rides through these two areas. We started out with an easy 20 mile loop and have worked our way up to about 35 miles. The goal is to eventually knock out a century or two. Although I have always considered myself first and foremost a cross country type of mountain biker, I have to admit that I like watching those miles tick off and seeing how far I can go on the road. I don't think any leg shaving will be taking place anytime soon and my buddy and I are both riding single speed steel road bikes, but road riding is actually quite addictive. Lots of time on the road bike does mean less time on the mountain bike though. I think, for now, I am ok with that. To get to a decent trail, I've got at least a 45 minute car ride to the Pennisula, longer if I want to get to Freedom Park, New Quarter or York River.
I've included two screen shots of our most recent ride last Sunday morning. Average speed was a little slower than normal because of a wicked headwind that seemed to shift to our front with every turn we made. I suspect that my gearing, 47x19, might have something to do with average and max speed as well. Who knows, this new found road riding enthusiasm might just lead to a geared bike in the future.
