Day 7
What a day. The forecast was rain, which I knew would also mean fog in the mountains. Trying to sleep the night before I had visions of traffic, fog, rain, and steep and slippery ascents. It wasn’t sounding too fun. But all of my worries proved surmountable as the day became a lesson in trusting myself. And in patience. Because it takes patience to ride 3.4 mph for hours!!
Deidre’s boyfriend Doug dropped us where we left off the day before, and we snuck into a winery to use their bathrooms to start.
We rode about 10 miles before starting up Afton Mountain. This ascent had such steep switch backs they made you feel you might flip over backwards. This is where I started watching my odometer to see how slow I could go without tipping over. At 3.2 mph I got wobbly and weaved like a drunkard, esp with the weight on the bike, so I settled on 3.4 mph and set the pace for the day. The climb ended with this little church parking lot, which offered the rare gift of flatness.
Then onward to reach the blue ridge parkway. Then we rode along the parkway for 30-ish miles. Climbing climbing climbing. The good thing about the weather was no traffic. We had the place to ourselves. I turned off my music and rode through silent fog for miles. Accompanied only by an occasional bird or deer. At one point, an indigo bunting landed in the middle of the road and watched me approach out of the fog. Then he flew into the trees and followed along for a bit.
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| Deidre climbing to an overlook |
Visibility shrunk to almost nothing.
After about 25 miles, we reached the crest of the Blue Ridge at 3200 ft.
Huge relief! Even though we still had miles to go—can’t remember how many, at this point I knew I could do it. From there it was just views and more views. Even when the view was fog.
Along with the mountain laurel that was surprisingly still blooming, these little pink bloomies were everywhere, more numerous than the miniature orange lizards that crept up onto the road (my father-in-law would correct me that they are red salamanders).
Then the sun came out! Thankfully so. We mistakenly thought the las 12 miles would be all downhill, but we needed a lesson in reading an elevation chart better. A general downward slope does not mean all downhill. The ups and downs in the last 12 miles were tough—but beautiful in a whole new way.
The ride ended with an incredible 4 mile drop into the town of Vesuvius. It was so wet, steep, and twisty it felt hard to control the bike. I stopped twice to rest my hands and cool my bike rims.
Finally after 56 miles of riding, we arrived at our Inn: the Osceola Mill. The place was unmanned and empty, so we had to do a self check in. It was historic and cute, but it was also empty, so it proved creepy. When we noticed the light was on in the attic and the door to the attic was locked and marked private we felt like maybe somebody was secretly living up there. 😳
But really, it was cute.
Best parts of our stay were a space heater that looked like a fireplace that dried our clothes and shoes and gloves and socks and then we loved the Keurig that gave us hot tea and coffee. Great end to a hard day. And that’s a wrap on Week 1!
Day 6
We’ve had 24 hrs of heaven. I stayed with my friends, beth & Jim riddle last night. After the long day yesterday, they picked me up in Charlottesville and carted me and my pile of gear to their home where they fed me an amazing meal on their porch overlooking the meadow they planted in their backyard. We caught up as a chuck-will’s widow sang a constraint refrain. This was a new bird for me! (Which is the kind of thing that’s exciting when you’re over 50). It has a pretty little song, but let’s be honest, it’s kind of a toady looking bird. After the treat of a 3-Notched beer, I went to sleep in a 4-pillowed bed listening to the many-numbered yips of coyotes. I admit I first thought they were owls and didn’t understand why my Merlin birding app didn’t pick them up. Mistaking dogs for birds strongly suggests I need to work on my wildlife identification skills.
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| Beth and Jim on their back deck. |
After breakfast, I met up with Deidre and her boyfriend Doug at there hotel and set out for the short ride to Crozet. Doug drove our bags for us because hey, it was supposed to be a rest day!!
With our bikes unburdened, the miles flew by and we found ourselves at a winery. I know—this does not sound like roughing it! Doug then drove us from the route to a friend of deidre’s who put us up for tonight. We are only staying for one night, but this is the pile ‘o paraphernalia we arrived with.
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| Doug’s dog Winston guarding our gear. Or at least looking like he is! |
If Elena was overwhelmed by the exhorbitante possessions of two people living off their bikes, she didn’t let on. Instead, she fed us and gave us mountains of towels. She even let us use her massage chair, which Deidre loved and I found kind of horrifying.
So we are fed, watered, rested, and in some cases massaged in time for our big day tomorrow. Hopefully it was enough to get us ready to climb Afton Mountain then ascend to the Blue Ridge parkway. Keep your fingers crossed for us! 😬
Distance: 20 miles
Day 5
It was chilly overnight in Mineral—43 degrees—which made us slow to rise. When I did, I ran into a retired mineral fire fighter—Edwin—in the parking lot. I’d yet to change out of PJs or brush my teeth but we chatted for 15 min. about how connected the town feels to the cycling community and how the fire dept has supported cyclists since the first organized TransAm ride in 1976. I could feel that connection in the welcome we received from people who stopped by to say hello and to tell us “ the people of Mineral are thinking about you.” Later, Edwin returned to invite us to breakfast at their Sat. morning soup kitchen. So many nice people.
We slept about 40 yards from these tracks. When the first of at least 3 night trains came thru, I had to remind myself where we were in relation to them—between the ground shaking, the whistling, and the high-volume clickety clacking, I was sure it would go right over us.
Meeting more new friends along the way.
We were enjoying the rolling fields
when we came to this.
Heeding the sign meant adding significant miles, so we persisted thru—hoping a cyclist could go where a car could not.
After that, the cute town of Williamsburg
A long lunch with ingredients scavenged from our bags and from a market in Palmyra
Our first view of the Blue Ridge (if u zoom and squint).
And the “climb” up to Monticello (I’m sure we won’t call it a climb after we start up to the blue ridge parkway on Monday. But it kicked our butts today).
The good news about going up is that u get to go down, and we shot down off Monticello into Charlottesville in a swooping descent that made the whole day worth it.
Distance: 56 miles
Day 4
Today was our first in uncharted territory, so for me it felt like our trip had finally begun. We fueled up at Waffle House, which I was so excited about I dreamt about it.
Then we set off for Mineral. We climbed our first 7% grade 5.5 miles in, which reminded me of the bananas I bought the night before—which I’d left in a nice (and new) dry bag in our fridge. After my ruined pannier from Day 1, I couldn’t stand the idea of losing another bag, so I U-turned at the top of the hill and raced back to the hotel. At a cost of 11 miles. But I’m glad I did it.
Today was all VA. Rolling farmland, horses, and wild flowers.
Lunch happened under a tree. PB&J and bananas
We passed by Lake Anna—at rush hour on a Friday before Memorial Day. Traffic! But still beautiful.
The boaters made me momentarily jealous, but then I remembered:I’M BIKING ACROSS AMERICA!
Then I started to feel the miles. The last 5 I could feel the crick in my neck, the hardness of my saddle, my numbing foot. Time to arrive!
We set up in the mineral volunteer fire department lawn
and were promptly greeted by residents who came over to say hello, ask about our trip, and make us feel welcome. One woman brought an extra friend—more piglet than dog.
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| Deidre’s cute pic |
Then it was dinner and our fave: quiet time.
Distance: 56 miles
Day 3
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