Charlottesville. A beautiful ride through rolling countryside in the
morning, with some spectacular views of the mountains (yikes) in the
distance. The afternoon -- not so good. It got very hot and I ran out
of gas (and patience) on an aborted stop at Monticello. Limped into
the planned stop (a Budget Inn) via the long way 'round after another
map-reading ... umm... adventure. We ate out at a Mexican place then
stumbled home for lights out (mine, anyway) at about 9:30.
Thu 5/27 -- TOUGH hills. "Only" a 45-mile ride, from C'ville to a
cabin on the Blue Ridge Pkwy, about 15 miles south of the Rockfish Gap
entrance. Beautiful ride, but LOTS of climbing. I paid a visit at the
Cookie Lady's house and met the lady -- June (?) Curry -- herself.
She's been feeding and housing bikers for years, but is now 89 years
old, and pretty feeble (deaf too I think). But she's a legend, and it
was great to meet her. She told me that the remaining hills up to the
BRP were hard (correct), but after that the BRP itself was easy
(wrong). The cabin we stayed in was pretty plush (e.g., hot tub on
deck) but small-- lots of bodies on the floor for the night. I
actually pitched my tent, but chickened out (in) due to thunder and
lightning. It never did rain tho.
Fri 5/28 -- My blog title was prescient. My ass is sore. Loooong ride
today -- 70 miles -- esp. after Thursday's long and hard day. Another
10-20 up and down BRP miles, and then an insane-o downhill full of
switchbacks, with gravel and potholes and shadows thrown in for good
measure. A burning rubber smell let me know that I should stop for a
few minutes midway down to let my brakes and rims cool down. The end
of the ride featured many miles hard by I-81 -- very familiar from all
my car trips along that (miserable ugly endless) road. Lots of "roller
coaster" action--big downhill carries you up the following uphill--
which was kind of fun (although with very little BQ, Howard). Spent
the night in a Church of the Brethren campground--no alcoholic
beverages, but I persuaded the cook that wine should be an ingredient
and she readily agreed that a drop of red and one of white were
required. So we drank leftover alcoholic ingredients, not beverages.
BTW, dinner was prepped under a canopy in RAGING thunderstorm--and it
was uber-delicious, fettucinis alfredo and with pesto. I'm travelling
with some real foodies -- yes!
Sat 5/29 -- Nice not-too- long (54) ride to Christiansburg through
beautiful rolling farmland, although with a brutal uphill over the
last 5 miles or so. Just made the beer all the sweeter.
(Sent from my iPhone)
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