Alright, well, it's been a wile since I've posted, so, I figure it's time for an update. Sunday I started off again from Newport news. I met up with the bicentennial trail in Williamsburg. The trail was a nice reprieve from the 4 lane busy roads I had taken for the last 80 miles or so and the trail at this point "seemed pretty straight forward. The route had lots of damage from the storm all over, it looked almost post apocalyptic. Felled trees everywhere. I had to climb over a few with the bike. Large power lines where they were still standing, but a tree had fallen and brought the actual lines to the ground. It was beautiful in it's own respect. That evening, I about made it to Mechanicsville. I guess I was wobbling pretty bad by the end of it, because as I passed a trailer near Roxbury, a small group called me over for a rest and some food.
Actually, it kind of went like this.
Party: "Hey" Me : "hello" Guy at the party "Man you look rough, you need a break?"
Me: (looks back, thinks)
Guy: (sending the hesitation) "Get over her and soot down for a bit, we've got food, yo hungry?"
I hesitate and actually think about it. Which only encourages them more. The guy continues to be persuasive. At this point a woman gets out of her chair and starts to wave me off.
Woman: Donchya worry bout him, keep on going.
Guy: (with authority) "GET OVER HERE AND HAVE A HAM SANDWICH!" (repetitively)
Me: (leery) "it looks like your lady doesn't want me over there"
The whole group, save for the woman: Don' mind her none.
Guy: "Come on over here and get a ham sandwich"
At this point, I'm thinking, not 10 minutes ago, I was worried about what I was going to eat for dinner here in the middle of nowhere, so maybe this was a sign. They seemed like nice enough. Just a group of people having a little party, they invited me over, so I figured why not. So I got off the bike and walked over.
Turns out they were great people, just having an aftermath of the hurricane party, cuttin' up and finishing off the rest of their ham and booze. They immediately offered me up their water jug and a ham sandwich. There was Nicki (the host) , Tug (the authoritative one), Anna (the one that shooed me away), Bubbles, and another older guy. Tug was hilarious, in an extremely dirty kind of way, almost everything that came put of his mouth was about picking up women or "eating that p*ssy" as he called it. He was after all the girls, and of course, talking about his wife too, never giving it up. His tenacity was hilarious, even if it was crude, the women didn't seem to mind either.
After a while he was just like "you just need to go set up your tent in those trees over there and forget about riding anymore tonight. " and tried to play matchmaker with me and Nicki. Nicki was a little more soft spoken than her counterpart, they had been good friends for a long time. We did talk a bit. She was going to school to be a welder, and she already had her own business hauling junk, though she had employees now to do a good bit of the work. Hers was an inspirational story. Someone out in the country could make it starting out their own business. We talked until the sun came down, then it was time for everyone to leave. I was going to pedal another mile or so down the road, but Bubbles offered a ride to Roxbury, and everyone else encouraged it. So I took him up on it and got another 5 miles down the road.
Bubbles dropped me off at a park in the median of the highway. I thanked him for the ride, but I thought that this could possibly be a dangerous and loud place to try to catch some sleep. So I rode down the road another few miles down to the gas station that Bubbles said would be open. Well, it was open, but it was also crowded, as it was the only place with power for miles. There were cars lined up for nearly a mile, purchasing gas to fill their cars and generators. I got in and purchased a drink and tried to charge my phone. No luck, there were no outlets that carried a charge in this emergency setup. So I sipped on my soda for a few hours and then took off to find a camping site. I noticed a little dirt road off the main road that led to a patch of woods. Unfortunately the words were covered in thorns and I couldn't seem to find an edge in. So I parked the bike and walked around looking for some loose trees. The lighted gas station was still off in the distance and I was somewhat worried that someone would notice my light and call the cops, so I kept the light as low as I could. The dim light made it tough to walk around and I somehow stumbled into a impromptu bog left by the hurricane. So it seemed like the whole area was a no go.
I took a side road off the dirt road, by this time, I've been walking around for about an hour an I was starting to get tired and impatient. I walked nearly smack into a small unlit house. It looked like it could be occupied, I've been trying to stay away from house visibility the entire time so as to avoid and confrontation. So that was wasn't going to work either. And on the other side was a house behind the gas station, with power, likely form the same generator, so I didn t have much to go with. Fortunately their was an expansive field between me and the gas station, so I traipsed through it, which had a few sparse trees, but in open visibility to the dirt road. At this point I realized that I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight and I'd need to wake early. So I tied the hammock to two large limbs of the pine tree and climbed in. SNAP! The limb that I thought was the stronger of the two sheared right off at the trunk of the tree, and I fell to the ground. There were no other limbs easily accessible that would provide sufficient support for the hammock. So I tried to balance on the one limb, no luck, it sagged to the ground, but surprisingly held. So I swung a loop around a high limb on the tree, unfortunately, this made the hammock rub against the tree trunk. So I needed a counter balance to pull me off of it. I found some old posts and a few old window frames in the field, perhaps from an old house long since collapsed, and used it as a counterbalance, but it wasn't heavy enough. So I went and got my bike from where I left it, hoping to not pop in the burrs. I got it over without a scratch and leaned it against the rest of the improvised counterweight. It was just enough, and I mean JUST enough. I hung mostly off of the tree, as the counterbalance swayed to and fro, and I remained abo to 2 inches from the ground. It wasn't comfortable by a long shot, but it was enough to get some much needed sleep.
I woke early, 6:30ish, after tossing and turning all night. But oddly, I felt well rested. The warm sun kissed my face a chilly night and though I thought I sho sleep more, I decided against it for safe reasons. I packed up and was on the ro by 7. The place looked like a ghost town even the McDonalds was shut down, but cars were still lined up at the gas station as if the business kept operating all night. I set on the road and caught up with the bicentennial trail just about where the road I was on connected with the Interstate. This would be the first full day that I would be on the '76 and I was excited to see what was in store. Oddly enough, the road immediately started to turn east, back towards where I had come from, at first I was concerned that I may have gone the wrong way, but then I remembered that the road kinda makes a hairpin around Richmond, I was fully reassured about 20 minutes later when I started seeing "adopt a highway signs" with the local Mechanicsville cycling club as the sponsor. The road was beautiful, winding me around an old civil war route, chocked full with plenty of history. With that I went through Mechanicsville with what seemed like half the day. Passing by an historic Cold Harbor and Gaines Mill and veered to the north perimeter of the city. The looped back hairpin turn and outside loop did finally take me into the town at around 10:30, I was getting hungry so I stopped by a local CVS, which had just got their power back. I told them about my travels and their jaws dropped, as has been the case with most people who aren't endurance cyclists...they also called me crazy...as has also been the case with most people who aren't endurance cyclists. I stopped by and got some juice and trail mix, which I downed along with an energy bar. This would be the first day that I would seriously chow down on some energy bars. I got to wondering if I'd hit the point where my body started needing calories and couldn't just merely consume most of them from all of those fat reserves I had accumulated during my 5 year desk job. I also calculated that I was burning 4000 to 9000 calories per day.
So after a good 2 more hours on the '76, I hit up Ashland, Virginia. And I'll have to say, it was one of my favorite little towns on the trip. A two directional railroad bisected the town, with a small one way road that ran parallel to the railway all the way up until you got to main street. Running parallel to the roads we the small town shops. A portion of the road was brick and in the center of town, between the rails was a small rail station and platform. They kept that old timey feel. Further down was Randolph Macon University, a small school that lined the other end of downtown Ashland. I passed by and followed the road out to a....major highway? With no signs? There were always signs, especially at large intersections. Something wasn't right, so I headed back to downtown, almost all the was back to where the town began, there weren't any more signs showing a different direction. So rode back to the middle of town and asked a woman there. Turned out that she was also an avid cyclist and she and her husband had done a few tours in Europe. She also knew plenty about the routes in the area, which was a huge plus. Apparently, the college had just expanded and redid the intersection by the ball field, well they neglected to put up a turning sign for the bicycle route, and coincidentally, after a train passed, we were right across from the turn I needed to take. As a final warning, she said that the road would be a bit more "hilly" than was expected...too hilly for her, I was surprised since she had been to Europe, she said I'd probably be okay with it since I'd been riding a while.
So I went down he road, and it was hilly, but nothing really that bad, I was beginning to wonder if she was just overplaying the hillyness. But then came the steep downhill down to the river...and then shoop, a big scoop downhill to the bridge, and on the other side...an equally big scoop right back up. I'd been up and down the hills and mountains and I have to say, this was one of the steepest declines and inclines on the trip. Then I rode until about 3pm and passed by Thomas Payne's home, it was about midday rest time so I figured I'd go see it. The place had a phone tour which I thought was pretty cool, though I didn't take it. The area also had signs with descriptions of the area. The home was about the size of an average house, odd as this would have been considered a manor back in the 1800's. There was a woman tending the site. She said the house itself was closed, but that I could take the tour and stay a while. She also said that, with notice, cyclists are allowed to camp there for the night. After a bit of reading, I stopped by the picnic shelter and took a rest and let my phone charge. I got up about an hour and a half later and got back on the road. The '76 was hilly and windy, very windy. I was getting nowhere, and I had hoped to get to Charlottesville, or even Staunton by the end of day. But it was just too windy.
The road took me up to Lake Anna, where I discovered that there was a nuclear power plant. Moreover, the power plant also apparently was slightly damaged during the hurricane that struck by Mineral Virginia...not but 15 miles down the road. Glad there wasn't any damage, especially since I wouldn't have known about it. The '76 also took me to Mineral, Virginia -the epicenter of the earthquake. Their were multiple buildings where the front brick facades were cracked. Some of the weaker buildings were being held up by wooden braces as the buildings were being repaired. Mineral is also a very hilly town, with a few nice long, steep roads. It was a bit of a push, but enjoyable all the same.
At this point, it was nearly nightfall. So I called my Dad and coordinated a ride that we had talked about. We met up in Cuckoo, Virginia of all places. I was glad to be off the road after being on it for nearly 14 hours (with 12 hours of riding). I was looking forward to a nice restful sleep in an actual bed in an actual house.
Actually, it kind of went like this.
Party: "Hey" Me : "hello" Guy at the party "Man you look rough, you need a break?"
Me: (looks back, thinks)
Guy: (sending the hesitation) "Get over her and soot down for a bit, we've got food, yo hungry?"
I hesitate and actually think about it. Which only encourages them more. The guy continues to be persuasive. At this point a woman gets out of her chair and starts to wave me off.
Woman: Donchya worry bout him, keep on going.
Guy: (with authority) "GET OVER HERE AND HAVE A HAM SANDWICH!" (repetitively)
Me: (leery) "it looks like your lady doesn't want me over there"
The whole group, save for the woman: Don' mind her none.
Guy: "Come on over here and get a ham sandwich"
At this point, I'm thinking, not 10 minutes ago, I was worried about what I was going to eat for dinner here in the middle of nowhere, so maybe this was a sign. They seemed like nice enough. Just a group of people having a little party, they invited me over, so I figured why not. So I got off the bike and walked over.
Turns out they were great people, just having an aftermath of the hurricane party, cuttin' up and finishing off the rest of their ham and booze. They immediately offered me up their water jug and a ham sandwich. There was Nicki (the host) , Tug (the authoritative one), Anna (the one that shooed me away), Bubbles, and another older guy. Tug was hilarious, in an extremely dirty kind of way, almost everything that came put of his mouth was about picking up women or "eating that p*ssy" as he called it. He was after all the girls, and of course, talking about his wife too, never giving it up. His tenacity was hilarious, even if it was crude, the women didn't seem to mind either.
After a while he was just like "you just need to go set up your tent in those trees over there and forget about riding anymore tonight. " and tried to play matchmaker with me and Nicki. Nicki was a little more soft spoken than her counterpart, they had been good friends for a long time. We did talk a bit. She was going to school to be a welder, and she already had her own business hauling junk, though she had employees now to do a good bit of the work. Hers was an inspirational story. Someone out in the country could make it starting out their own business. We talked until the sun came down, then it was time for everyone to leave. I was going to pedal another mile or so down the road, but Bubbles offered a ride to Roxbury, and everyone else encouraged it. So I took him up on it and got another 5 miles down the road.
Bubbles dropped me off at a park in the median of the highway. I thanked him for the ride, but I thought that this could possibly be a dangerous and loud place to try to catch some sleep. So I rode down the road another few miles down to the gas station that Bubbles said would be open. Well, it was open, but it was also crowded, as it was the only place with power for miles. There were cars lined up for nearly a mile, purchasing gas to fill their cars and generators. I got in and purchased a drink and tried to charge my phone. No luck, there were no outlets that carried a charge in this emergency setup. So I sipped on my soda for a few hours and then took off to find a camping site. I noticed a little dirt road off the main road that led to a patch of woods. Unfortunately the words were covered in thorns and I couldn't seem to find an edge in. So I parked the bike and walked around looking for some loose trees. The lighted gas station was still off in the distance and I was somewhat worried that someone would notice my light and call the cops, so I kept the light as low as I could. The dim light made it tough to walk around and I somehow stumbled into a impromptu bog left by the hurricane. So it seemed like the whole area was a no go.
I took a side road off the dirt road, by this time, I've been walking around for about an hour an I was starting to get tired and impatient. I walked nearly smack into a small unlit house. It looked like it could be occupied, I've been trying to stay away from house visibility the entire time so as to avoid and confrontation. So that was wasn't going to work either. And on the other side was a house behind the gas station, with power, likely form the same generator, so I didn t have much to go with. Fortunately their was an expansive field between me and the gas station, so I traipsed through it, which had a few sparse trees, but in open visibility to the dirt road. At this point I realized that I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight and I'd need to wake early. So I tied the hammock to two large limbs of the pine tree and climbed in. SNAP! The limb that I thought was the stronger of the two sheared right off at the trunk of the tree, and I fell to the ground. There were no other limbs easily accessible that would provide sufficient support for the hammock. So I tried to balance on the one limb, no luck, it sagged to the ground, but surprisingly held. So I swung a loop around a high limb on the tree, unfortunately, this made the hammock rub against the tree trunk. So I needed a counter balance to pull me off of it. I found some old posts and a few old window frames in the field, perhaps from an old house long since collapsed, and used it as a counterbalance, but it wasn't heavy enough. So I went and got my bike from where I left it, hoping to not pop in the burrs. I got it over without a scratch and leaned it against the rest of the improvised counterweight. It was just enough, and I mean JUST enough. I hung mostly off of the tree, as the counterbalance swayed to and fro, and I remained abo to 2 inches from the ground. It wasn't comfortable by a long shot, but it was enough to get some much needed sleep.
I woke early, 6:30ish, after tossing and turning all night. But oddly, I felt well rested. The warm sun kissed my face a chilly night and though I thought I sho sleep more, I decided against it for safe reasons. I packed up and was on the ro by 7. The place looked like a ghost town even the McDonalds was shut down, but cars were still lined up at the gas station as if the business kept operating all night. I set on the road and caught up with the bicentennial trail just about where the road I was on connected with the Interstate. This would be the first full day that I would be on the '76 and I was excited to see what was in store. Oddly enough, the road immediately started to turn east, back towards where I had come from, at first I was concerned that I may have gone the wrong way, but then I remembered that the road kinda makes a hairpin around Richmond, I was fully reassured about 20 minutes later when I started seeing "adopt a highway signs" with the local Mechanicsville cycling club as the sponsor. The road was beautiful, winding me around an old civil war route, chocked full with plenty of history. With that I went through Mechanicsville with what seemed like half the day. Passing by an historic Cold Harbor and Gaines Mill and veered to the north perimeter of the city. The looped back hairpin turn and outside loop did finally take me into the town at around 10:30, I was getting hungry so I stopped by a local CVS, which had just got their power back. I told them about my travels and their jaws dropped, as has been the case with most people who aren't endurance cyclists...they also called me crazy...as has also been the case with most people who aren't endurance cyclists. I stopped by and got some juice and trail mix, which I downed along with an energy bar. This would be the first day that I would seriously chow down on some energy bars. I got to wondering if I'd hit the point where my body started needing calories and couldn't just merely consume most of them from all of those fat reserves I had accumulated during my 5 year desk job. I also calculated that I was burning 4000 to 9000 calories per day.
So after a good 2 more hours on the '76, I hit up Ashland, Virginia. And I'll have to say, it was one of my favorite little towns on the trip. A two directional railroad bisected the town, with a small one way road that ran parallel to the railway all the way up until you got to main street. Running parallel to the roads we the small town shops. A portion of the road was brick and in the center of town, between the rails was a small rail station and platform. They kept that old timey feel. Further down was Randolph Macon University, a small school that lined the other end of downtown Ashland. I passed by and followed the road out to a....major highway? With no signs? There were always signs, especially at large intersections. Something wasn't right, so I headed back to downtown, almost all the was back to where the town began, there weren't any more signs showing a different direction. So rode back to the middle of town and asked a woman there. Turned out that she was also an avid cyclist and she and her husband had done a few tours in Europe. She also knew plenty about the routes in the area, which was a huge plus. Apparently, the college had just expanded and redid the intersection by the ball field, well they neglected to put up a turning sign for the bicycle route, and coincidentally, after a train passed, we were right across from the turn I needed to take. As a final warning, she said that the road would be a bit more "hilly" than was expected...too hilly for her, I was surprised since she had been to Europe, she said I'd probably be okay with it since I'd been riding a while.
So I went down he road, and it was hilly, but nothing really that bad, I was beginning to wonder if she was just overplaying the hillyness. But then came the steep downhill down to the river...and then shoop, a big scoop downhill to the bridge, and on the other side...an equally big scoop right back up. I'd been up and down the hills and mountains and I have to say, this was one of the steepest declines and inclines on the trip. Then I rode until about 3pm and passed by Thomas Payne's home, it was about midday rest time so I figured I'd go see it. The place had a phone tour which I thought was pretty cool, though I didn't take it. The area also had signs with descriptions of the area. The home was about the size of an average house, odd as this would have been considered a manor back in the 1800's. There was a woman tending the site. She said the house itself was closed, but that I could take the tour and stay a while. She also said that, with notice, cyclists are allowed to camp there for the night. After a bit of reading, I stopped by the picnic shelter and took a rest and let my phone charge. I got up about an hour and a half later and got back on the road. The '76 was hilly and windy, very windy. I was getting nowhere, and I had hoped to get to Charlottesville, or even Staunton by the end of day. But it was just too windy.
The road took me up to Lake Anna, where I discovered that there was a nuclear power plant. Moreover, the power plant also apparently was slightly damaged during the hurricane that struck by Mineral Virginia...not but 15 miles down the road. Glad there wasn't any damage, especially since I wouldn't have known about it. The '76 also took me to Mineral, Virginia -the epicenter of the earthquake. Their were multiple buildings where the front brick facades were cracked. Some of the weaker buildings were being held up by wooden braces as the buildings were being repaired. Mineral is also a very hilly town, with a few nice long, steep roads. It was a bit of a push, but enjoyable all the same.
At this point, it was nearly nightfall. So I called my Dad and coordinated a ride that we had talked about. We met up in Cuckoo, Virginia of all places. I was glad to be off the road after being on it for nearly 14 hours (with 12 hours of riding). I was looking forward to a nice restful sleep in an actual bed in an actual house.
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