June 23, 2007, Saturday
Hopewell Loop
The first day of riding consisted of a loop that started and ended in Hopewell. It seems that each year there are fewer days of transit during BikeVA. In the early years we would travel to a different town each day, spending lots of time packing and unpacking, checking in, waiting, and waiting. There are distinct advantages to staying in a couple of towns and riding loops into the surrounding countryside. Even so, I think I prefer to travel to a new town each day. Once into the rhythm of traveling, it's not so bad. However, this year we would only stay in two towns, Hopewell and Williamsburg.
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| Kerie at Petersburg Battlefield | Cannon at Petersburg | Trail to The Crater |
The rides today centered on the Petersburg National Battlefield. We decided to ride the 62 mile loop. To start the ride, we left the motel with several other cyclists who were riding to the high school. While the roads were busy, with 6 or 7 cyclists in a group we had some strength in numbers and didn't have any problems. The first stop was at the Blandford Cemetery, where 30,000 Confederate troops are buried, which gives you an idea of the scale of the carnage at the Battle of Petersburg.Blandford Church is located in the cemetery and it contains 15 stained-glass windows designed by Tiffany to commemorate those who lost their lives from the 15 southern states. Alas, photos were not allowed inside the church.
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| Kerie at the Union tunnel leading to the crater | Blandford Cemetery | Blandford Church |
The first rest stop was located in Old Towne Petersburg, next to the Visitor's Center located in the old train station that was undergoing renovation. A farmer's market was underway with a bluegrass band playing nearby. The rest stop was a bit of a disappointment, as there was very little food, some apples and oranges, and gatorade. BikeVA has a great reputation for good snacks at rest stops, and that reputation was now suspect. We didn't take the time to "visit the museum, antique stores, boutiques, and craft stores" as described in our planning guide. We did take our time riding around town as we made our way toward lunch.
Even though we rode the longer loop, we took a shortcut to the lunch stop and arrived before the hungry masses. There were no lines and we had an excellent lunch seated under a tent on the grounds of Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary. We should have read our planning guide more closely as we missed seeing the Japenese Water Garden located nearby. Over lunch we chatted with Bill Cook, owner of Barcroft Cycles. Bill desigend and built the renouned Barcroft Columbia that we purchased a few years ago and that we use each year on Bike Florida. The flat route on this years BikeVA would have been very appropriate for the bike. Bill was riding his new titanium Virginia short wheelbase recumbent, and he had already ridden the 20 mile loop that we were about to start. Last year Bill rode cross country and wrote a very entertaining blog of his trip from Seattle to DC.
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| Petersburg rest stop | Inn near Old Town Petersburg | Lunch line at Richard Bland College |
It was fortunate that we had a good lunch, as the rest stop at Adams Acres was closing as we arrived. We managed to talk them out of a banana and some water. We knew the stop was scheduled to close before our arrival; we had made so many stops during the morning, plus our early lunch, had delayed us considerably. When we finished the loop and once again passed the lunch stop we were impressed with the long line that had formed. It was the longest that I've ever seen on BikeVA, another bad sign. There must have been 200 people waiting for lunch. That's one of the consequences of having 2,000 people on the tour.
After showers and a change of clothes we took the easy way out for dinner and went to a nearby Ruby Tuesday's. Not being a big fan of chain restaurants, I had an edible veggie burger, fries, and beer. Later we took the shuttle into town to briefly listen to the too-loud band, took a carriage ride through town, and visited with old friends from Norhtern Virginia who retired to a place on the Potomac not far from Hopewell. They seemed to be too busy now to ride much although they were enjoying the tour.