Saturday Road Ride - Stanley Loop

This morning Gary, Linda and I rode another one of our favorite road loops out to Stanley and back. The temperature was pleasant enough, but the wind was vicious! We were pummeled by it for most of the ride out to the turn around point. At least we were lucky enough to have the wind at our backs for a portion of the locally infamous "Ida Stretch." We decided to make a right on Valley Burg Road and climb a nice little hill on the way back to Luray. First there is a short, easy climb followed by a flat section with a slight downhill. After the downhill you round a corner and catch a glimpse of the next climb, which isn't really a killer, but it's enough to get the heart beating and legs burning a little. This is also part of the Luray Triathlon course and it always manages to illicit gasps, wide eyes and a few muffled expletives from the competitors when they round the bend and look up. I snapped a couple of shots of Gary and Linda approaching the top and I am pretty sure they both have smiles on their faces. From the top of Valley Burg back to Luray is mostly downhill and usually pretty fast, but the winds seemed to shift and nail us head on as we pushed the pedals back to town. Even with the strong winds, we love to start the day by touring the beautiful back roads of Page County aboard our bicycles. "Thrive Outside"