Go Hokies!

cool bridge over the train tracks

On the list of things I love, two things are in the top 5 - riding a bicycle and Virginia Tech football.  My 2018 to do list had included riding my bike from the mall in Christiansburg along the Huckleberry Trail to a game at Tech.  Of course I didn't get to do it last year.  

Last Saturday I pulled it off.  I had wished for cooler weather, but here lately there is no such thing.  None the less the ride from the mall to campus was amazing!  Smooth, paved path with good scenery.  A few other users none of which seemed to be going to the game.  Odd I think.  If I lived in the area and had access to the trail, I'd go to every home game this way.  I wish I had left earlier in the day and allowed more time to explore the stuff along side the trail and take more pictures, but like I said it was going to be a hot and sunny day so I figured I'd limit my outside time as much as I could before the game.  Had to save enough oomph to get back to the car after!  The ride was around 6 miles long and seemed uphill more than down.  There was a nice wind blowing.  I really did enjoy it.  I had to stop at one point because I lost my water bottle and the bike lock started rubbing the back tire.  I had just grabbed a small bottle of water out of the frig so it fell out on a bump. As it turns out I probably could have taken a real water bottle with me and filled it up in the stadium.  I have since learned it's permissable to bring in an empty bottle to fill up on hot days.

all locked up

There were a lot of things I was uncertain about.  One being where I would leave my bike.  Of course a huge campus like Virginia Tech has bike racks galore, but I was hoping to find one close to the stadium to maximize riding, minimize walking.  I also hoped for one where it would be safe to leave my bike.  As it turned out, I found a good one right near the stadium and right in front of where the Virginia State Police had vehicles and people milling around.  :)  One officer complimented my mode of transportation.  The cool thing about the HT was that I pretty much rode right past hundreds of people stuck in their cars waiting to get parked. HA! 

view from corner

view from seat I paid for

 From the bike rack, I had a very short walk to the stadium.  I would find my seat on the east side where I was sardined in a row with gobs of people.  I was on row PPP which required that I walk up quite a few steps then hunt down the seat as it was on the end of section, but on the middle of a row of seats.  The seat to my right is the last on the row in the next section if that makes sense.  The evens run into the odds.  Ah well, I plopped down in my seat and realized the rows were kind of crammed for my hip.  I stayed in this seat almost until half time.  It was fun to be there for Enter Sandman and the team entering the field, but I couldn't jump up and down.  Kind of an emotional fun moment to be back in Lane Stadium for this and finally accomplishing a goal that I had set over a year ago.

SEZ seats

When my bladder decided it was time we move on, plus the sun was baking the back of my head (the wind was getting blocked by the stands) and I was getting hot; I side stepped gently past the row of people - this was not easy.  I never considered this.  OOPS.  Oh well, I went up to the top portals and wound my way down the ramps to the concessions and bought two bottles of water (well one was free, Thanks VT!)  I ended up in the corner between the SEZ and east stands for a bit.  It was shady and the wind was blowing here.  The event staff asked us (there was several others hanging out) to move which I obliged and went under the SEZ for a few minutes.  After that I decided to head up the SEZ seats that I have in a couple of weeks for the Friday night game.

I stayed here until a bit into the 3rd Quarter.  I was kind of bored.  I decided to head on back to my car.  Walked back to the bike, figured out a way to take the program I had found back with me, hopped on the bike and road back to the HT.  Took a wrong turn on the HT and was soon at the Vet school.  OOPS, back tracked and was on my way south again.  About a mile from the parking lot I hear, pop, foooooshhhhh.  OH NO!  A flat!!! 

I had nothing with me to change the tire and I knew I was close to being back at the car so I just rode the flat.  Probably not the best pro tip, but it didn't hurt anything.  The tires are getting old and they are big enough they were basically under the rim.

I had a fun day - I want to do that again - will have to see the schedule and see if weather would be ok to try it one more time.  I'd like to find a cheaper game ticket too.  We will see. It was good to ride the Cx bike again w/ the flat pedals.  I also have put a riser stem on it so it was much more comfortable that past rides.  Meanwhile I'm now ponder whether to leave the flat pedals on it for my vacation in October.  It would be easier than taking cycling shoes.  Will debate it.  Stay tuned....  if it ever cools off I'd like to get some more fun rides in.  I'm tired of sweating my butt off.