Day 4 of biking PA to NC
Mt Vernon to Richmond/Ashland, VA - 95.5 miles - 4663 ft of elevation gain
I woke up at 6:15am to breakfast and get ready before my cousin arrived shortly after 7am. My cousin, Greg, practically my birthday twin was joining me for the entire ride today. He took a train and Uber to get to me, then was taking the Amtrak train home from Ashland.
It was in the mid 40s when we started our ride, so I was wearing my extra leg and arm warmers, plus my full gloves. Greg was wearing multiple layers, but at least it wasn’t as cold as when we started our ride in Jacksonville in January 2022. It did warm as the day went on and at one point my bike computer said near 70, although the air was cool.
Our route started on a path beside a busy road, which we followed for a while, then we weaved through neighborhoods and a variety of roads. Our first stop was at the Marine Corp Museum, where my aunt was able to come and say hello. It’s so fun to see people along the route.
We rolled through the old town part of Fredericksburg, VA and then we found some beautiful back roads. I was loving the leaves with the sun glistening through the trees. Thanks for Melissa for keeping us hydrated and fed, because we had 19 registered hills today and that was taking a toll on our legs. I’m pretty sure that the pickles were the main reason that my legs didn’t full-on revolt with a charley horse.
The last 17 miles or so had us dancing with Route 1, which was a two lane (each direction) road with no shoulder. Thankfully the last 7 miles were off of Route 1 and on some back roads, although I’m sure it added some miles. The town of Ashland was really cute, so nice that we went back there for a really good dinner before Greg grabbed the train from that station.
I’m looking forward to less elevation gain over the next 3 days. Although the mileage is going to be really high for each of these days. When you have a goal and need to knock it out within a certain time frame, well the body just has to cooperate, right? No spitting or squirrel stories today, but there is always tomorrow when I’m back to riding by myself to add something wacky to the day.
