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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995                   TAG: 9505090048
SECTION: DISCOVER NRV                    PAGE: DNRV-43   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELLETT VALLEY                                LENGTH: Medium

ROLLING WHEELS SPIN DREAMS OF FAR PLACES

Sometimes when I ride my bike through Ellett Valley, I have a sense of deja vu. And for good reason: When I was bicycling across the country in the summer of 1991, my friends and I rode through Ellett Valley on the Bikecentennial route, which is marked by the "76" signs that we see throughout Southwest Virginia.

Sometimes, though, I feel a sense of displacement when I'm riding in the valley. For a moment, I can't remember if I'm riding toward Christiansburg, or if I'm approaching, say, Berea, Ky. A sharp wind in my face will suddenly transport me to Kansas, where we found the wind apparently blows hard all the time. Clear, dry air, on those rare days when it visits Virginia, reminds me of Montana's Bitterroot Valley.

Thus, when I ride through Ellett Valley, I am struck by the vast distances that separate the New River Valley from other areas in the country, and by how those distances are today so easily traveled, whether at a leisurely pace on a bicycle, or at a breakneck pace on a airplane, or instantaneously and effortlessly with the mind's eye.

As insulated and removed as the New River Valley may seem, it is not, really. We are at least as connected as most other parts of the country. That's something I think we all know deep down inside.

But something else that strikes me about this area of Virginia, after riding my bike through it and through other areas of the country, is how individual it is. Our mountains are not saw-toothed and snow-capped like the Rockies, but the Rockies aren't really verdant like ours.

The New River Valley has nothing like the plains in Kansas, but after a while, the plains are not dynamic the way our terrain is.

There isn't anything like the smell of wild-growing sage, but there isn't anything like the smell of dogwood or teaberry, either.

I've even found the New River Valley's architecture and place names to be unique. When we arrived in Berea, on the other side of our mountains, the houses seemed to be designed differently. And I know of only one place, for example, that's called "McCoy Falls" and only one road that's named "Tom's Creek."

Those are some of the things I think about when I'm riding my bike in the New River Valley, which, in my opinion, features some of the toughest riding conditions anywhere. And, I suspect, those thoughts are some the things that keep me riding.

by CNB