Day 54 Lexington, VA to Charlottesville, VA – 82 miles

This is a long blog today so bear with me….

I’d gotten myself all worked up over the past several days worrying about today’s ride, convinced that if anything were to happen, it’d be today.

The ride was to be made up of 5 components:

1. 24 miles from Lexington to Vesuvius – roly poly but no big deal

2. This is where the fun starts – 4 miles of, as the Adventure Cycle map describes, very steep 2500 feet over 4 mile climb with switchbacks. I had visions of my bike giving up part way and sliding down the hill with me on it.

3. 30 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway with no shoulders, heavy traffic, no guardrails, RV drivers with little experience. Certain death. And to be honest, I was rather ticked off at the Adventure Cycle folks for putting us poor cyclists with zero body protection, except maybe our helmets and a bike glove or two, in such harms way. I particularly feel sorry for the folks going east to west who’d have to endure this horrific venture on the 3rd or 4th day of their journey – at least we can say we’d done 3700+ miles before this nonsense!

4. A very steep 1800’ decent down to Afton with poor roads and switchbacks. I hate steep downhills. Could have something to do with falling on my bike going downhill in Tokyo, 51/2 months pregnant and breaking my jaw in 3 places, and breaking both wrists. Downhill s and I just don’t get along…

5. 25 miles of easy downhill to Charlottesville – piece of cake.

Ok, so I slept really poorly last night thinking about the day, wondering in which of the above segments either of us would die or be severely injured. I even googled how many cyclist deaths occurred on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the past 5 years. I was a wreck.

The morning started with me dragging my feet till I could drag no more, wishing for thunderstorms or a freak blizzard. No such chance.

Segment 1 – hillier than expected (poor Mark) but fine.

Segment 2 – started at mile 21, sooner than expected, and seriously not bad at all. Took Mark only 45 minutes (he totally smashed it!) and Louise made it up just fine.

Segment 3 – The Blue Ridge Parkway is stunning! Almost no traffic, excellent road conditions, no worries at all. We loved it!

Segment 4 – easy peasy. Sure, I had to go slow in most places due to road conditions (pretty poor) but nothing we haven’t come across before. By now I’m thinking we’ve conquered the world ( particularly Mark) and my worries were just a storm in a teacup.

Segment 5 – LOTS more uphill than expected but super spectacular scenery. Made everything better when we stopped at Pollak Winery for a quick tasting.

We’re in Virginia’s wine and horse country. The lush, expansive, rolling countryside and estates are jaw dropping. We finished the day with a delicious Italian dinner so Mark could carbo load after our highest elevation gain day of the whole trip. I don’t know how he does it.

All in all, a wonderful day and I shouldn’t have been so worried!!!