May 14, 2006
Day 4: Mineral to Charlottesville: Luck finds us!
3:53:24, 10.0 avg
The weather channel report coming into the fire station wasn't hopeful. Rain all around predicted and rain every day in the seven day forecast. Sigh. The chief the night before had told us they were expecting rain, so when I woke up at 6, I thought I better not go back to bed.
The morning started off sunny, and we headed out on a shortcut recommended by the chief. It was a beautiful road and almost certainly flatter than the adventure cycling route since it crossed fewer streams. We got our first sight of the mountains and our first moments of biking in the rain. My legs felt a little sluggish during the morning, but I didn't push it and kept a comfortable pace, letting Cristey get ahead of me a bit. I think I'm better at the slow and steady thing. She might be better at getting miles in during the morning while she's fresh. I don't know. We haven't ridden enough days to have a routine yet.
The rain got worse as we got closer to C-ville, so I stopped to put on my jacket, take off my tights (no use biking in wet tights), cover maps, etc. Then off with the jacket, on with the jacket, and off with it again as we stopped at a convenience store for some food--first pie of the trip!
Now, I know better than to listen to the average driver when getting road information. But I thought a public safety officer would give better information. The fire chief's shortcut was nice, but the traffic got progressively heavier as we went along and got pretty nasty at one point as we entered C-ville. Even to the point where I pulled off and looked for some other options. And this was on a Sunday. Since we were off route, we were partly going by guestimation, but we finally found something I thought connected to our route and, even better, the sign for the library.
But no library...I knew we were getting close, so we looked around, found a police station, and went to ask them. While I was getting really vague information from someone who obviously didn't know the area, someone had seen Cristey with our loaded bikes, given her directions to the library, and offered a place for us to stay BECAUSE her roommate had done the TransAm a few years ago. Awesome! And, the roommate's riding partner was coming over for dinner. So thank you, Alia, for the invitation, and thanks to Jen and Jill for the wonderful stories and advice for the trip.
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 188 miles (303 km)
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