Cree says:
I'd say it's about time to wrap this shebang up - I made a dad joke, out loud, today. You heard me right; we passed the town of Dewitt and I just couldn't help but say "Just Dew-It"!! Yikes, personal low.
On another note, I turned 22 today, another year older but not a lick wiser... yep, I fell again. Dad shot up to me "hang a right" and oh boy did I do just that, right into a bunch of sand and onto the ground. Thank goodness it was on a back road and absolutely nothing happened other than a few laughs.
McDonalds dialogue of the day:
"Yep, we came from Maine, it's taken about 20 days or so" - me
"How wonderful, some trip to do with your husband (yes, she had seen dad), and now do you cycle no matter if it rains or snows?"
Thank goodness for Ben; best birthday present I have ever received. When it comes down to it, 30 dangerous miles in a truck is better than on the road. Also, first time I got a ride from a stranger... great start to my 23rd year (as dad about that "Whitehouse" reasoning).
He says:
Everyone breaks at some point. After 3 hours of in to the wind riding (again!), a flat tire (again!), and 3.5 hours of hill riding ahead of us in 88 degrees and a chance of showers, today seemed like a good day. So, when someone stops and asks if they can help, I seized the moment. HUGE thanks to Ben from McKenney VA ( born and raised and likely will never leave, Petersburg VA 24 miles away is "venturing too far" for him). Anyway, Ben was wondering if we had what we needed to fix the tire and offered to go get his air compressor, which wasn't necessary. He looked like he wasn't that busy AND...he had big truck. Creean and I were debating if we hitchhiked or begged... I think it was begging technically.
I was just looking to go 15 miles or so to split the difference, but Ben didn't seem to care about stopping once he got us loaded up for our 25 mile cheat. We learned about VA tobacco farming and how tough it was even 30 years ago because of state allotments and land rent costs. It's basically now impossible for small farms to grow. He was quick to compare us biking to him and his wife living in a 28 foot trailer for year while building their house... as in it's fun once, but never again.
We appreciated the ride in to town and honestly the first time we took the opportunity to be able to slow down and meet someone on this trip. Thanks again Ben.
Stats:
Miles - 56.5 (913 total)
Calories - 1,539 (43,651 total)
Time - 3:45 (105:15 total)
Total Climb - 1,991 feet (33,600 total)
Petersburg VA - South Hill VA
Holiday Inn Express room 406
El Saucito ( enchiladas, margarita and coors light)
Off to an early start for a lot of reasons. 1) not the best part of town and wanted to hustle out. 2) it's a long hot day of riding, 3) can't let the birthday girl sleep in.
We went by no less than 10 churches this morning in 2 miles
Morning shadow riding!
Politically incorrect market
Birthday breakfast of champions!
Raleigh is in sight!!
Battlefield camp for kids, really ???
Hey Creean "turn right".. and she's down but un-hurt on the sand.
Hey google... no bike trail here!!
Re-routing back to the highway, just a 3 mile detour.
One pretty road pic for the day!
First break and half way
OK, lets change another tire!
OK, lets cheat today! Thanks Ben, we really really appreciated the lift today!
Safe and sound.
Birthday meal for the birthday girl!!
Yep, that's a vault at the hotel tonight
Today's route
Cree says:
Another day down. The great thing about cycling is that pretty much exactly when you stop, the pain fades quick. This is great and we probably stop for water, breathers, or AC ten times a day; however, the first minute back on, every single time, feels like the burn of a thousand suns is surging through your thighs, and you just have to swallow it.
The good news is that we are getting close to Friday, so we are trying to muster up that second (or third, or fourth) spurt of energy and motivation to keep on keeping on. Other than the wind, a few tough hills, and that burning suns thigh feeling, today was pretty smooth and easy.
I couldn't stop laughing crossing a bridge leaving Richmond. Looking out across a beautiful stretch of water, rocks and waterfalls (with kayakers), dad croakes, "what a mess"... I suppose we all see nature differently huh...
Also, I'm laughing at how dad spun the first picture on the blog today... that is not stretching, that is a face of doom and bargaining not to leave the hotel.
He says:
Hotel spacing causing some imbalanced days. Since there are not any hotels from here in 56 miles... this is a shorter day. Shorter days mean leaving later in the morning ( but getting some work caught up) and then riding in the hottest part of the day to get to hotel for 3PM checking. Good thing the miles are low though for this "worst kind of riding". Still had some 10MPH winds in our face and very inconsistent roads. No shoulders, 10 foot shoulder, sidewalks, 3 foot shoulders and 1 foot shoulders all mixed up, every 1/4 mile could have all of those things. Vary strange road building here.
Missed a great photo op today as we passed our first roadside mileage sign with Raleigh NC 139 miles to go. That is always a great sign to see the first time and great sighting Creean!
One more big day tomorrow and then we are coasting in from there. We've got a plan, so short bit of writing tonight so we can get to sleep and get out of here early!
ALSO.....put a little shout out comment on this post for Creean...tomorrow is here birthday! One she'll never forget with 6 hours of riding.
Stats:
Miles - 34.5 (856 total)
Calories - 1,732 (42,112 total)
Time - 4:00 (101:30 total)
Total Climb - 1007 feet (31,605 total)
Glen Allan VA (north Richmond) - Petersburg VA
Motel 6 Room 110
Longstreet Deli ( Beef ravioli, chicken panini and chips)
Early morning stretching and bike repair
Hopes high and Hopes squashed!
Downtown Richmond architecture.
Creean's bridge crossing of the day, the James River
VA capitol building ( we only have 1 more to go !!)
Dad joke of the day...."I didn't know Aunt Snow had a hotel here".
Full bike path ( because no none else wants to drive on pavement grindup)
Petersburg VA for the night and dinner.
I had to look!
and it was impressive
Today's route
Cree Says:
Ouch. Today was a long, slow, drudge of a day due to tired muscles from yesterdays ride. I managed to find some comedic relief by finding all the ways we were acting like to old men today: grunting because we were too tired to talk, droopy faces, moseying our way up hills, and cursing at the wind (just to name a few). I really don't know how we made it another tough day, but we just tried to keep it mindless and methodical.
PS - Thank you McDonalds man for entirely ignoring my body language, no direct eye-contact, and zero verbal response and telling me about how your son puts bikes together and how our ride today isn't going to be that bad. We had a strong initial three minutes and then you had to deal with (but probably didn't even realize) rude Creean. Sincerely my bad sir.
He says:
To say we are counting down the miles is an understatement. We are pretty much ready to be done here. The heat, wind and hilly roads are now just draining our legs now. We have a 38, 57, 33, 32 and 16 mile days ahead of us and I'm sure we'll be limping in by Friday.
Today was just another long drawn out day in southern rural VA. We did have better roads and Sunday morning did provide light traffic pretty much the first 3-4 hours. So that's all a great part of the day.
Really not a whole lot to say about today. We meandered through the rest of Fredericksburg, had some breakfast in Bowling Green, and then just grinded out the last 30 miles in to the north side of Richmond VA.
Found a great rate at Springhill Suites that has a great pool and laundry room for us to clean up (maybe fresh clean clothes will make a difference these last 5 days ;).
Stats:
Miles - 67.5 (822 total)
Calories - 3,229 (40,380 total)
Time - 7:00 (97.5 total)
Total Climb - 2,851 feet (30,598 total)
Fredericksburg VA - Glen Allan VA (north Richmond)
Springhill Suites Room 333
One of these start pictures was faked (and one was how we really felt)
More like a dried up riverbed than a battlefield
Creean's bridge crossing of the day
That flag pretty much sums up the day of wind in our face
Various random rural VA pics
Some serious McD re-fueling at mile 24 ( biscuits, bacon egg cheese biscuits and cinibites)
It was there and so we had to ride it
So many unusual signs out there on the road.
Pit stop with 24 to go
Pit stop with 16 to go ( and last 30minutes of World Cup)
3 levels of side road to choose ( none of them really comfortable or convenient)
And then my favorite stretch of 600 feet of road today. Where I'll assume some type of Federal Law exists that tells the states they need some bike lanes. Virginia (in my opinion) could care less and so some random place.
a) Bike Lane RANDOMLY starts here and we're like "awesome, we get a bike lane the rest of the way".
b) No more than 300 feet later the bike ENDS here
c) No more than 300 feet later, there are random bike lanes at a stop sign.
There is just STUPID stuff out here in VA.
Today' route
One late addition to our evening
