8/16-/8/17/14 Ooh, My Cheeks HURT!

(Damascus, VA)

Ooh my cheeks hurt and I’m not talking about the ones I smile with.

This weekend three couples, Jim & Patti,
Robert (Bob?) & Betty and Glen & Sandy came to stay the weekend and to spend most of their time on their bikes.  I know this because when they arrived on Thursday Patti asked if the Creeper Trail could be accessed close by.  My first thought was, “Ah newbies.”  I explained to her that they needed to go into Damascus and get a shuttle that would take them to the top and drop them off and then they could ride down.  I was happy to offer this info because, after all, I had just made (well almost made) the 17 mile trip myself.  In my mind this makes me a seasoned Creeper Trail rider. Patti came back with, “No, we want to get on someplace close by and ride up the Creeper Trail and then back down.”   I laughed out loud.  I said, “You want to ride UP the trail and then ride back down?”  Surely I misunderstood her.  She assured me that yes, that’s what they wanted to do.  I then proceeded to ask her if she was nuts.

By now several of the group were standing near the gatehouse for registration information and I’m hearing about how much they ride and my butt cheeks are involuntarily clenching at the mere thought of it all.  The feeling of my sore buns on that fateful day I rode the trail could be conjured up in a nanosecond.  Ouch!

Now I didn’t see them again until later in the weekend.  I don’t know if they were coming back from yet another ride or perhaps doing some shopping in town.  Jim told me right away that he had a picture they took for me and couldn’t wait to show it to me.  As soon as I saw it I told him I had to have it!

These nuts nice people not only rode up hill, are you reading this people, UP HILL for seventeen miles from Damascus to White Top Station and back down again.  They actually went a little further to the North Carolina state line while up there.  And then the next day rode from Damascus to Abingdon and that’s 15 miles or so, ONE WAY.  Oh my achin’ rear end from just typing that!

I really wish these folks had been in my camping loop.  They were fun and Bob and I would have loved to sit around the campfire with them.

So here’s a picture of the three fellows when they were on the first day’s run.



Now they took another picture for me.  I think this was in reference to my sore cheeks.




Regardless, we all had a good laugh!

These are the people and memories I always remember of Beartree Lake.  Thanks guys!