Jenny Kincaid Boone

Jenny Kincaid Boone has been running since she was in eighth grade. She competed in cross country and track at Fort Defiance High School (Fort Defiance, Va.) and at Roanoke College, where she was all-ODAC in cross country for four years. When her knees and legs aren't aching from the wear of years of competition, she hits the 19 to low 20-minute range for a 5K.

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If it weren’t for biking, Steve Hetherington wouldn’t be running.

He was an All-American cross-country runner while competing for Virginia Tech, but he turned to his bike after an injury sidelined him from running.

Biking has shaped his life and later, his career, marked by the opening of Just the Right Gear, his bike shop at the foot of Catawba Mountain.

Whether it involves running, biking or rock climbing, Hetherington, 46, likes the extreme routes in life. Once he hitchhiked from Blacksburg to Grove City, Penn., for a friend’s college graduation, only to miss the event by one day.

That friend, Pat Bateman, a former professional triathlete, said he’s tried to convince Hetherington to compete in triathlons. But swimming is not Hetherington’s strength. Bateman recalls matching T-shirts that they each wore to cross country practice at Cave Spring High School.

“His said, ‘I’m the runner,” Bateman said. Bateman’s shirt stated, “I’m the swimmer.”

Hetherington “was way beyond my ability” in running, Bateman said.

Hetherington first competed in both cross country and track at a high school in Marion, where his family lived before moving to Roanoke. He finished high school at Cave Spring.

He earned a full scholarship to run cross country and track at Virginia Tech, though he said he had the most success in cross country. In 1982, Hetherington earned All-American honors after finishing in the top 10 in the NCAA cross country championships in Indiana. After college, Hetherington wanted to qualify for the 1984 U.S. Olympic trials in the 10,000 meters, but he overtrained. Ankle and Achilles tendon injuries sidelined him.

So, he decided to take up biking and called a former college roommate who enjoyed the sport.

“I asked him, ‘How do I get into this?’ ” Hetherington said.

His friend told him what to buy and how to get started, and Hetherington was hooked. He biked through his injuries and finally could run again.

He ran professionally for Addidas from 1987 to 1988. But injuries continued to creep up and forced him to return to biking. He competed in road races from 30 miles to 100 miles and also earned money racing with several regional teams, such as Coca Cola and a team out of Asheville, N.C.

“I could win enough to make it part of my living,” Hetherington said. He also worked at a restaurant on the weekends.

Later, he tried mountain biking and began to mix his daily routines with mountain biking, running or road biking.

At least four days a week, he runs four to six miles in the mornings. He bikes in the afternoons. Hetherington said he likes being able to bike if his body doesn’t feel like running that day.

“You can do something every day and that’s nice,” he said.

Steve Hetherington in his shop, Just the Right Gear.

Hetherington took his biking skills and interest to the next level when he opened the bike shop in 2003. In a small building on U.S. 311, he sells bikes, accessories, shoes and clothing. The shop has an inviting atmosphere, with shiny hardwood floors and a fireplace with a rocking chair and sofa in front of it. Picnic tables and benches sit on an outside porch at one side of the shop. It's just past the intersection with Virginia 419, before you reach Bradshaw Road.

Hetherington said his vision was to create “a place where people could come hang out … and feel like they didn’t have to buy something.”

“We’ve had people come in and dry their socks at the fireplace,” he said.

Although his shop is on the outskirts of the Roanoke Valley area, bikers can find it easily when exploring Carvins Cove, McAfee’s Knob and other trails and popular roads nearby. Hetherington also sells passes for Carvins Cove at the shop and passes out maps of the area.

“I like to shop there because they stock a lot of high-end bikes, components and cycling gear and are never too busy to help even the newer riders,” said Daniel Foster, president of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, a local biking club.

Hetherington said he’d like to be a source of information for bikers, rather than a salesman. Foster credits Hetherington as one of the knowledgeable biking sources in the Roanoke Valley. Bateman said Just the Right Gear is a “perfect fit” for Hetherington.

“I think that everything that he has done has helped him be what that shop needs,” Bateman said.

Hetherington plans continue operating the shop, although his exercise schedule has been squeezed with the demands of bike sales.

He said he’s trying to cut back on competitive racing, yet he still runs or bikes 15 to 20 hours a week. One of his favorite and most challenging runs is running 18 miles up Mount Pisgah in Asheville, N.C.

“I’m the typical runner,” Hetherington said. “I want to do too much.”

His personal best times include running 23 minutes 28 seconds for a five-mile road race.

But biking has allowed him to train through running injuries. He said he could not have been successful without doing both.

“You can supplement your running [with biking],” he said. “The cycling has enabled me to still be running.”

Often people ask Hetherington which is more difficult for him, running or biking, and his response: “Anything can be as hard as you make it, depending on how fast you go.”