55: slim pickings, bull church, partly cloudy school, old house, clown drive, church pond, we blow!, 5-7 only, a tight squeeze, meade pyramid, pizza time

June 6, 2025

Ruther Glen to Fredericksburg

The choices were pretty slim, and this is just about all that was available for breakfast. A bit sad.

Some kids were playing around and made a big coffee mess but the person at the counter, the owners' teenager by my guess, didn't care. When someone pointed it out he said, "Yeah, the coffee machine is broken."

How does a church get to be named Bull Church?

"Daddy, I want to go to Sunshine School!" "I'm sorry, honey. We can only afford Partly Cloudy School. But we got you into Partly Sunny School next year, okay?"

About halfway through my ride today, in the corner of my eye I saw a gray blur streaking across a swatch of green. Turning my head, I could see a medium-sized dog sprinting faster than I thought would be possible for an animal with legs not much larger than Vienna sausages, and he covered the 75 yards in a matter of seconds. Clearly, I was in his territory and as he approached I felt some concern.

However, if you recall, this is Virginia, where even the dogs are bike-friendly. My real concern was that his tail was wagging so furiously I thought he might be helicoptered away.

The shiny carapace almost makes it look fake. The fact that it was crawling across the road made it look real.

I'm thinking a clown lived down this drive.

It's hard to tell with the perspective, but that's a steep climb ahead, not a downhill.

Was there a church, but the only thing left is the nearby pond? Or maybe the church isn't on this road, just the pond owned by the church?

5PM to 7PM? There isn't a building in sight.

There wasn't a convenience store, or any store for that matter, for the first 25 miles. That left me with no way to refill my water on this 80% humidity day, and I wasn't just glistening, I was reflective. Worse, I was on backroads so there were no billboards to tell me who to call if I have an accident and need a personal injury lawyer. I chugged all my water and ran out at the same time I arrived at my hotel.

My routing told me to take a left at this point.

If it keeps me off the busy roads and gets me to my hotel, I'm okay with it.

It briefly got worse. This is an 8% grade and I chugged along at 2.5 to 3 mph.

At this point I thought I'd probably need to remove my panniers.

I had to turn my handlebars sideways to get them through, and my bags juuuuust made it, rubbing against both posts.

Once through the gates, it was the best pedaling of the day.

In addition to being pastoral and serene, the park was also cool because of the greenspace and shade.

It took me through a quiet cemetery in order to avoid the major streets.

and when I did finally pop out onto a busy road I was three minutes from my hotel

It's 85 degrees and the humidity is 80% so I'm ready to get to the hotel, but first things first.

The forecast is a bit concerning since I'll be riding on the C&O/GAP, which can get really muddy.

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Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 1,466 miles (2,359 km)

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Lyle McLeodOur son has a miniature dachshund whose legs actually are the size of a small breakfast sausage. It’s amazing how fast she can run. She could keep up with our large 18 month old 38kg lab pup, and actually pivot much faster. Regarding the tail, I actually thought about using it to whip team once but K talked me out of it
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