Cyclists Participating In Bike Virginia Tour Ride Through Bristol

By Amy Hunter
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 22, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – Randy Dodge was leafing through the Los Angeles Times one leisurely Sunday morning some 15 years ago when he came across an article that changed his life.

On the front page of the travel section that day was a story detailing a week-long bike ride in Iowa that draws thousands of people annually. Dodge, then about 40, was not an avid biker by any means, he said, but something about the story appealed to him and he set out to learn more.

In the years since, the now 55-year-old Californian has gone on 14 such trips – clocking nearly four months total in the seat of his old, dependable mountain bike.
“There is something alluring about it that draws you back,” he said. “It’s the adventure – the freedom of it. You get out there first thing around 7 a.m. It’s cool out, and all you’ve got is the bicycle.”

Dodge is one of more than 1,800 cyclists who flocked to Southwest Virginia this weekend to participate in the 18th week-long cycling tour in the commonwealth.
The ride is organized by Bike Virginia and doubles as a fundraiser for BikeWalk Virginia, a non-profit organization that promotes safe cycling education and advocacy, said Marc Sartori, the event director.

It has grown impressively since 1988 when 187 cyclists participated in the first trek and now prohibits any more than 2,000 riders to register, he said.

Dodge represents the quintessential participant. At 55, he is just three years older than the average age of participants, Sartori said, and coming from California, he is just one of many who travel considerable distances to take part.

“It’s called Bike Virginia, but we try to highlight a particular region of the state,” Sartori said.

This year’s route took cyclists gliding across the verdant, rolling hills of the state’s southwest counties from Bristol, Va., to Bluff City, Tenn., to Damascus and Abingdon in Virginia, he said. Next year, participants will take to the country roads between Charlottesville and Culpeper, Sartori said.

Dodge said he wasn’t interested in the Iowa trip after reading about it – his interest lay in the concept. “You go to see the states,” he said.

At the end of the article was a list of similar rides in various states and Dodge decided his first riding adventure would be in Georgia.

“I’d never really ridden before,” he said. “The first day in Georgia, I rode with a group of Delta [Airline] pilots. We rode 79 miles the first day.”
After the Georgia ride, Dodge said he was hooked.

“It was really taxing. The heat was brutal. But I did it,” he said.

This year’s tour began at John Battle High School in Bristol, Va., where the bikers camped out in a city of tents that sprawled across school grounds.

Saturday morning, they rode to South Holston Dam with the option of continuing on to Bluff City before returning to the school for their second night.

It isn’t a race, Sartori said, and riders travel at their own pace. A series of specialized chase vans travel with the bikers to assist with any complications, and riders stop frequently to rest and hydrate themselves.

Bike Virginia organizes lunch each day and when cyclists move from one overnight location to another, the company handles transporting their luggage.

Dodge said the physical aspect of the vacation is a large part of what attracts him, but moreover, it’s the friends he’s made over the years. Often, the same people return year after year, and he’s made lasting relationships with people from across the country as a result.

“You’re out there with all these people and they’re all doing the same thing,” he said. “It just hooks you. June rolls around each year and you feel like ‘man, I got to go ride.’ ”

| (276) 645-2531