Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993                   TAG: 9307010077
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHATEAU MORRISETTE                                LENGTH: Short

`I DO' ON A BICYCLE BUILT FOR 2

Literally.

Pumping in unison on a tandem bicycle, the couple barely made it to the church - er, vineyard - on time.

Not that it mattered. The 1,200 or so guests they invited - all cycling on a five-day tour of Southwest Virginia - were literally dropping off the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway behind them, hoping to catch a ride in one of the "sag support" vehicles sweeping the road.

Most of them caught up in time for the ceremony, or at least in time to see the couple ride off into the midday sun, a string of tin cans bouncing behind the nuptial bike.

"It was very emotional," Roach said after the ceremony, as his bride urged him to join her for a quick champagne toast with family members, who arrived in transportation of the four-wheel variety.

Those who made it in time to see the couple exchange their own vows sniffled and wiped sweat-soaked tears from their faces as they sat on the lawn in front of the vineyard.

The tears really started flowing after Roach, of New York, knelt before his bride to declare his love for "a girl who likes ice cream and Winnie the Pooh" but could still bike 100 mountainous miles two days before her wedding.

"You make me very, very happy," Dallas, of Washington, D.C., said when her turn came to recite her vows.

"That's cause I pedal," he joked.