Rapha Continental: Lost River Barn

When I look back at the most recent Rapha Continental ride in West Virginia I think a lot of things. One of them is that it was incredibly hard. The terrain and never-ending dirt climbs were just a small part of it. The rollers never quit either and our host, Jay, is seriously tough as nails.

But, I keep thinking about the actual Lost River Barn that we stayed in. Jay built this place practically with his bare hands. Well, not the actual structure, but he did have to clean up after a few pigs (literally and figuratively) that were residing in it before he got ahold of it. Then, he applied what can only be called a 'cyclists touch to the place' which entailed photos, books, films, workstands and anything else that you could ever think to need as a cyclist on the move. Thing is, we didn't want to move, we all just wanted to hang out right where we were.

This was the beauty of the trip. We all banded together to make this a better cycling trip than one could ever imagine. Dan Action applied his vast mechanics skills to the bikes. Ben Lieberson cooked us an amazing meal and Steve and I helped out on laundry duty and provided comic relief.

Graeme Raeburn, one of the heads of the Design Department over in Base Camp London, also entered into our little story. The Lost River Barn was to be his first Continental ride, straight off the plane from the UK. And if I do say so myself, he did a pretty fine job of tearing our legs off. I would come to curse him under my breath more than a few times on this trip as he would pull away from us on the long climbs that were to come.

Also check over at the Embrocation blog for more behind the scenes looks at this ride. And while you're at it watch Dave Christenson's Video as well to see the Banjo playing taxidermist that we got to meet up with mid ride. What a great day.