September 5, 2022
Riding On The River
I’m sitting here trying to write this blog and realizing I’m just a few days away from completing my journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean on a pea soup green Surly Disc Trucker. What the heck was I thinking…or was I even thinking? Ah but that’s a discussion for another day.
This morning I had a special guest join me for the first part of my ride. Avery joined me at the 7 mile mark and led me into and through Richmond, onto the Capital Trail, and turned around to go back home after he had gone 12 miles. So that’s a 24 mile day for Avery! Well done and thanks for the navigational support. And while we were out there riding, Miles was busy shooting an 86 on the golf course 😳.
Today’s route was really unique. Starting in the suburbs outside Richmond, traveling through the city of Richmond (one of the biggest if not the biggest city I’ve gone through), jumping on a paved bike path for 53 miles, and then taking a ferry across a river. And maybe most special was the total lack of hills. I had to laugh when I got off the ferry and the guy managing the unboarding process wished me luck on the hill? I’m still looking for the hill…I guess it’s just a matter of perspective.
Kudos to Richmond and all the towns in Virginia for creating an awesome, off the road, protected, 53 mile activity trail. And kudos to VDOT (not for their road painting skills) for running a really efficient and free ferry service.
From a milestone perspective, today was another big day. I have officially left the TransAm route and moved onto the Atlantic Coast route. 12 TransAm maps have now been relegated to the panniers, and the lone Atlantic Coast map is now my guide for the next 150 plus miles.
Can somebody please tell me why everyone wants to talk about flat tires? Do they not know that it’s bad karma to talk about that. In the last 3 days, four people have asked me how many flats I’ve had. Standard response is, “we don’t talk about that!” Feel free to ask me Saturday or anytime after Saturday. But for now, we don’t talk about that!!! And please don’t tell me until Saturday why people want to know.
It’s been a while since I’ve found a good bakery, but I found one in Surry, VA. They have adopted The Wizard of Oz as their guiding light and named all of their cupcakes after characters from the movie. I did show some restraint and only bought two of them (the witches of the east and west) and I’m trying to save one for tomorrow (I wouldn’t bet too much that one will survive until the morning).
Well my friends, time for me to get ready for tomorrow and get some sleep.
Forecast calls for rain tomorrow and the plan is to about 75 miles to Sunbury, NC (yup, I said North Carolina…the final state in my adventure).
Bye for now,
Ian
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Today's ride: 76 miles (122 km)
Total: 240 miles (386 km)
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1 year ago