Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Lexington, VA

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To avoid missing out on the rest stops we decided to try to get an earlier start today. After another decent breakfast at the Hampton Inn, we were on the road by around 8 a.m. While the rain that was predicted the night before never materialized, it was still overcast and looked like rain as we left. Once again I packed all my rain gear hoping to ward off any wet weather. While the first part of the route was gently rolling, there was a steady increase in elevation of around 1000 feet over the first 20 miles. At Spring Valley Baptist Church they had run out of all food except oranges, which was OK as it kept me from filling up on cookies and cake.

Right after the first rest stop we were headed down a fast descent when a rider ahead flagged us down; there had been a bad accident just ahead and he was warning us not to speed around the bend. As we passed we noticed a young woman who looked in bad shape, with a bloody nose and chin. A short while later an ambulance came by. We never heard how badly she was injured, although later in the week I noticed a young lady rider with a bandage on her chin and I assumed it was the same person.

At the second rest stop at Rockbridge Vineyards I sampled a few of the local wines. The Heritage red was very good, $15 per bottle. The Tuscarora White and Red were renamed the BikeVA wines and sold for $20 for both. The red was not great so we bought two bottles of the whites. The are supposed to be delivered to Victory Stadium awaiting us near our cars tomorrow.

There was still a bit of haze in the air and there was mostly continuous cloud cover throughout the day. It kept the temperatures down, but there were no spectacular views, and it was not good picture taking weather.

After a gradual downhill we stopped at Vesuvius Baptist Church for lunch. Vesuvius is known as the location of the steepest climb on the entire TransAM route or Bike Route 76. From the church there is a very steep, about 12% grade climb to the Blue Ridge Parkway. A few people made the climb but it didn't appear that there were many takers.

Over a cheese sub and pasta, three-bean, and fruit salads, we talked to a woman from Ohio and a woman from Delaware who was on her first organized tour. She was also the person I had tried to help the day before with her frayed shifter cable and housing. She said that Cycles Ed did a great job fixing her up.

From Vesuvius there was a long stretch of slightly downhill, mostly flat road. Most people were in tight formation to avoid the headwind. A tandem pulled in behind us but was frustrated, saying "You can't get a decent draft behind a recumbent". The final rest stop was well-stocked with fruit, including some watermelon. It was in the middle of a shadeless field, but there were two tents set up to provide some shade.

We climbed some more before returning to the 631/11 intersection where we peeled off to head into town. I started to turn into the Washington & Lee University campus as Kerie said "turn here". It is located adjacent to the Virginia Military Institute campus and we cruised through both and took a few photos. VMI was torn up due to summer break renovations. They are both attractive campuses in lovely settings.

We capped off the ride with ice cream and sorbet at the Sweet Things Ice Cream Shop and Kerie bought a glass hummingbird at Artists in Cahoots, a local artist's coop.

The Virginia Horse Center, site of the dinner and party that night, was a bit of a bust. There were no walkup dinners despite earlier assurances. We had a microwave-zapped garden burger and hotdog at the concession stand instead. The BikeVA dinner we heard was rather skimpy, which resulted in Alan Turnbull ordering many pizzas that were brought out to where the music was being performed, another nearly shade-less field set away from the horse center. The horse competition that was supposed to be part of the evening events ended as we showed up at around 5 p.m.

The Center is quite a place, with many very nice stables and performance spaces, including the main ring that holds several hundred people.

Tomorrow we return to Roanoke and our cars. It's a 60 mile day and we will try to leave early so that we can get on the road at a reasonable hour for the four or five hour drive to Reston.

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