When it comes to cycling in America, all roads lead to Ashland.

This college town sits at the only intersection of the nation's two bikeways, Interstate Bicycle Routes 1 and 76. Route 1 stretches from Astoria, Ore., to Yorktown, while Route 76 runs from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla.

Whether they are nearing the end of a cross-country trip or enjoying a local weekend ride, bicyclists have become as much a part of the Ashland landscape as its stately Victorian homes and the railroad tracks that run through the center of town.

"Everything kind of fits," said Bud Vye, the advocacy chairman for the Richmond Area Bicycling Association. "It's really a comfortable kind of place. Everybody likes it, there's a train coming through, and it just happens to be on our route."

Each weekend, bicyclists gather at Laurel Park Shopping Center in Henrico County for the 20-mile round trip known as the "Ashland Breakfast Club."

"We get a really nice day in April when the weather really breaks, and you're going to see 75, 80, 90 people riding to Ashland," Vye said.

He attributed Ashland's popularity among bicyclists to reasons pragmatic and aesthetic.

The town is at the heart of various scenic routes with little vehicular traffic. Ashland breakfast clubbers can settle for 20 miles or pedal up to 70 miles through the surrounding farmlands and horse country. Topography varies from flat to rolling to heart-poundingly steep.

"The terrain is really nice, the roads are decent, the scenery's great," Vye said. "The people are basically bicycle-friendly -- they're used to seeing us up there, so they don't run us off the road. You put the whole thing together and it's a really nice setup."

Cobblestone Bicycles took notice. Three years ago, they opened a shop on Railroad Avenue.

"The whole atmosphere in Ashland lends itself to a good bike shop," said co-owner Joel Street. "Kind of small town, set in the past a little bit."

"The real plus to us is that it puts us in a location that's sort of a shopping Mecca" for bicyclists, said Street's business partner, Karl Rhyner.

Blustery weather on a recent Saturday did not deter bicyclists from donning helmets and gloves and pedaling up Old Washington Highway and Elmont Road into Ashland. As they refueled with coffee, bagels and muffins, the riders leaned their lightweight road bikes against the wooden patio rail of Ashland Coffee & Tea.

Bartlett Shaw, who grew up in Ashland, manages the coffee house, which hosts musical acts at night. The volume on Saturday mornings "ranks up there with a sellout show," Shaw said.

But for Shaw, the relationship between bicycles and Ashland is not strictly business. Last year, in a move he attributes directly to his cycling customers, he began pedaling around town himself.