Former Gov. Mark Warner bikes it from Lynchburg to D-Day memorial

Mark Warner can ride.

The U.S. Senate candidate mobilized about two dozen Lynchburg-area bicyclists on a workday morning Friday to join him on a 35-mile jaunt on back roads from Lynchburg to the D-Day memorial in Bedford.

“Ready to roll?” the former Virginia governor asked the cyclists who met him on Commerce Street in downtown Lynchburg.

Actually, the ride started a few minutes late, but the candidate’s news release did say it would begin at “approximately” 8 a.m.

Starting with an easy pace out Rivermont Avenue toward Boonsboro, Warner waved back when several schoolchildren yelled greetings to the Spandex-clad cyclists. There was no indication the youngsters knew the rider was a former governor who wants to be a senator.

Riding without any vehicle escort that would indicate this was something more than a typical group of cyclists, Warner followed half a dozen riders who set the pace in front of him.

When the riders regrouped at a convenience store on Old Forest Road, a couple of them phoned their offices and found reasons to leave the ride.

“Those guys are peeling off before we get to the hills, right?” Warner asked.

Warner’s agenda for the ride included physical fitness and promoting natural resources, in addition to pushing his campaign against Republican Jim Gilmore for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner (no relation).

Turning west onto Coffee Road, the ride’s pace picked up. Heading downhill into a sharp curve, Warner braked noticeably.

“Downhills are not my favorite,” he explained.

He broke his left wrist and some smaller bones in a crash at Goshen during a Bike Virginia ride when he was governor in 2005. The accident involved a downhill spill when cyclists in front of him slowed for a rail crossing.

Since then, “I try to be careful,” Warner volunteered without being asked.

Now, “I prefer uphills,” he said.

As the miles passed on rolling terrain along Coffee and Otterville roads, another cyclist took note of the equipment on Warner’s carbon-fiber bike frame.

“Single chain ring, very impressive,” the rider said.

Warner had fewer gears than most of the riders. As a result, his pedal stroke was slow but powerful, propelling him up hills at a steady pace without much apparent difficulty.

Another rider asked Warner about his training routine. It consists of about one ride per week, but he does a workout nearly every night on a stationary bike at home, he said.

The ride’s pace was a little slower than the anticipated 15-mph average, mostly because of the unusual early-June heat that set in over its last 10 miles.

That’s when the newspaper reporter/rider wilted and became the last among the cyclists to reach the D-Day Memorial in Bedford.

Warner, who quickly changed into a suit, spoke for less than a minute to a crowd gathered to observe the anniversary of the D-Day landing.

The rest of his campaigning for the morning was limited to handshaking and thanking veterans in the crowd.