Tuesday, July 11th 2000
Fancy Gap, VA to Roanoke, VA; 82.1 miles, 6,400’ climbing
by Arend-Jan Koning
After the early start of the previous day, 6 am means back again to the regular routine, though some of us would have preferred an even longer night, taking into consideration the rather short day and the tough previous day. Getting out to set up breakfast the cars seem to be wet by rain and clouds are threatening to bring some more rain. Temperatures are definitely lower than they used to be, but not to the extend that jackets are required.
It takes 2.4 miles and some serious climbing to get back to the bliss of the Parkway and back into the rhythm of climbing and descending. Yours truly is used to starting as the very last rider to set off from the hotel, after helping as crew member to clear up after breakfast. It’s good fun overtaking many riders working my way almost to the front. Today is slightly different; German powerhouse Bernd is very late as well and we set off together and stay together, taking turns at pulling. Being a very talented climber (amongst others) it doesn’t take much effort for Bernd to climb mountains way faster than the average rider. I cling to his wheel, with the negative side effect that I don’t see much of the surroundings, except during the sag stops. At the first stop we at least see the very pretty Mabry Mill, worth a picture.
The rest of the day seem to fly by in a blur, either hanging onto Bernds’ wheel or pulling with most of my power. Shortly after the first stop we have passed all riders and keep on riding Bernds’ pace, which is fast.
From lunch it is only 5 miles or so to Roanoke, but before we reach lunch we experience a great downhill that seem to last forever; all the climbing is quickly forgotten. In fact, it takes so long that the neck muscles are getting sore from taking the most aerodynamic position while still seeing what’s going on ahead of us. Minor details as bends in the road are certainly worth to notice some time before getting there.
First helping to set up lunch and than eating a freshly prepared marinated piece of chicken, we take our time at lunch, knowing that showing up very early at the hotel doesn’t help, since keys are very often not available before 2.00 pm anyway.
After 3 miles of another reminder of how life looks like outside the Parkway, we reach the Holiday Inn in the busy town of Roanoke. I thought that Holiday Inn had a good reputation, but they manage to make some mess of the key distribution, letting some riders wait for well over 1.5 hours. Apart from that, Holiday Inn lives up to their reputation.
This day one of our crew people, Peter Toner from Sweden, is taken to hospital for a short examination because a throat and mouth problem that had left him sick for over 5 days, doesn’t seem to heal. Some new prescribed medicine should solve the problem within three days; we certainly hope so.
One of the local bike shops is located in the same street as the hotel; they are pleased to see some new customers. Since Roanoke is a big place, there is a choice of where to eat, thus avoiding the embarrassing situation that one single restaurant is cleared of its food supplies by a visiting PAC Tour crowd.