My bicycling goal for 2006 was to ride twenty centuries. I had done thirteen back in 2001 and then fifteen in 2002, my only two years with more than ten. My first for the year was a tough one. I only had a little over 1600 miles in my legs through April when Len Clymer wanted me to join him in riding the Skyline Drive from Front Royal to route 33, then back home on May 6th. In 2002 I had at least 2100 miles by this time. Going south on the Drive has quite a start, and most of the vertical elevation gain comes in those first 65 miles. All told, I did over 12,000’ of vertical climbing on the day. The next weekend was almost as much work – partly due to the route (over 10,000’), which went to Churchville, over to Headwaters, then Brandywine and home. But also because I rode the first twenty-five miles with Larry Kelley, who likes to lead you out as if you’re always only going for a couple hours. I kept up the punishment on my third century by riding solo the new Shenandoah Valley Bike Festival route, which has over 8,000’ vertical.

My fourth century was another solo effort, but I took it easier, riding a couple new roads for me. That was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. On Memorial Day itself, I “stumbled” onto a century by doing a course I knew to Mathias, but adding a few new roads into Bergton. I didn’t expect the new roads to add so much mileage, but since I was close, I rerouted to do a full century. That made two in three days and five in the month of May.

The next Saturday I was back to climbing, doing both Little North and Reddish Knob, with a total of 9940’ vertical. This century was training for the next weekend’s century, which was the entire Skyline Drive from Afton to Front Royal. Len Clymer again was the instigator. We had a cooler day, with most of the ride done in the mid-50’s. This was the century with the most elevation gain I’ve ever done, 15,587’, though the grades are fairly gentle. I felt good that we were on the drive itself for seven hours exactly. I “rested” the next two weekends. On the first I rode our Shenandoah Valley Century with my wife Robin. On the second I lumbered through and along Port Republic, route 340, Afton, and Churchville. At halfway through the year, I was up to nine centuries.

My tenth century was mostly the route I had done on my second one, only in reverse, and without Larry to wear my legs out in the early miles. Three days later I celebrated July 4th by riding a somewhat easy century down route 11 (to Fairfield) and back. It turns out to have about 100’ more vertical than our SVC. I didn’t enjoy the wind much on the way south, but it held and helped on the return portion. I finally took a weekend break after this one. This was due partly to me beginning to feel the miles, and partly because Len Clymer was again calling to do another epic century – the Blue Ridge Extreme.

July 15th started overcast on top of Afton Mountain. Around twenty miles in, we were getting some light rain. That cleared out before we started the climbs into Raphine, our halfway rest stop. After that it was up and over Vesuvius. The downhill was great, but by the time we got to the climb at Wintergreen, the sun was out along with the heat and humidity. And climbing was anything but a picnic. We got through all 10,550’ in 7-1/2 hours. It was good to get done.

I was back at it the next Saturday, joining Mark Eckroth for a nice ride through Augusta County. I had been on some of those roads before when I had done the Waynesboro Century. Number fourteen was the same as number three, though this time it was the day of the Festival itself and I had others to ride along. That made another five century month.

In August I went solo again. The first one for the month was the No Quiche ride, going counter-clockwise. This was a route set up by someone early in the Club’s history – taking 33 to the Skyline, then north, then off the Skyline onto 211, and back into town on route 11. It’s a nice 11,100’ of climbing. The following weekend I did some new roads for me. I had heard Club members talking about some nice recreation areas, so I rode to Mathias. Then I continued a little further to the road to Lost River and then onto route 16 in West Virginia to Wolf Gap. That’s some nice riding and some great views. The downhill from Wolf Gap was fun. This was my longest ride of the year, though it was only just less than 107 miles, but it had 9300’ of climbing.

Jason Crist wanted to ride a century the next weekend and I told him I had a new route in mind. I rode up 11 to meet him in Timberville. We continued on to Edinburg, where we rode up and over Edinburg Gap, finally coming out in Luray. Then it was on to Stanley and Shenandoah before riding 602 back to Massanutten and then back into town. I finished and Jason rode back home. The end of August I rode down 42 to Goshen and back. It’s a pretty ride, not too crazy with hills, and if you’re lucky, you get to ride alongside a train for a few miles. Now I only needed two more centuries to meet my goal.

Switching to a Sunday ride due to the weather, I decided on another climber’s delight, riding solo what I call the No Quiche South route. This route takes 33 to the Skyline, but then you head south and come off at Afton Mountain, working your way back along 865 to Grottoes and then back into town. It was 13,300’ of climbing and scenery. My twentieth century, meeting my goal for the year, was also a solo effort. As I usually work the day of our Shenandoah Valley Century, I ride the route the day before. And this is what I did. It was a fitting ending to my yearly quest. And with the rest of the year already filled with bicycle touring and other planned vacations, I was glad I made it happen without having to resort to forcing myself to ride just to get it completed. Now I have to start thinking about a goal for next year.