Day 43 (6/10/22): Shifting Gears
Start: Waynesboro, VA
End: Charlottesville, VA
Mileage: 26 miles
Elevation: 1,647 feet
I hinted at this on Wednesday, but things are winding down. I have 6 days of riding remaining. Any tough climbs are behind me. And we have more off days than on until the end, because we’ll be catching up with lots of friends and family between now and the end. That started today (see Grateful).
You might look at today’s numbers and ask why’d I even bother. Actually, the 26-mile day was planned from the start. We’ve never been to Charlottesville and have friends here, so I wanted to have as much of the day as possible, so our plan has always been to pedal for 2 hours in the morning and have the rest of the day free for fun. And fun we had in a wonderful city.
The short ride was quite nice and rambled through some very nice residential areas as well as some farmland and even a few vineyards. As we get closer to more areas with denser populations the roads are, however, getting a little more crowded. I noticed that today.
I arrived in Cville at 10 a.m., cleaned up at a Panera (don’t ask), and then had lunch with a former Green Streeter and her husband (see below). We then immediately went to Monticello and took a very informative guided tour, spent some time roaming the grounds ourselves, and then listened to an actor portraying Thomas Jefferson for about 30 minutes. The house, the grounds, and the views were splendid.
After a quick dinner, we meandered around the downtown mall and caught a concert by a group called We are Star Children—kind of a cross between Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band, The Blues Brothers, and Chicago. I thought they were quite good.
Now we’re waiting out the weather again. I really want to head to Fredericksburg, VA tomorrow and then Bethesda on Sunday so I can get this riding done on the weekends when the traffic will be lighter, but it looks like rain is in the forecast for a good chunk of the day on Saturday. We’ll see what happens.
I’ll blog tomorrow if I ride.
What I’m Grateful for Today?
I saw someone I knew today!!!! (who wasn’t Tish).
We had lunch with a fellow Green Streeter and her husband (Caroline and Kyle). It was the first time I saw someone I knew since San Diego. I still seemed to be able to converse with other people. It was nice to catch up on the comings and goings at Green Street, and it’s great things are going so well there. I slipped back into “that” mode for an hour or so which was fun, but I’m also grateful that I’m back in ride and retirement mode.
If you’ve read any of this blog, you know how this trip has so reinforced the importance of the relationships in my life. It will be great to spend time live with so many folks who mean so much to me in VA, MD, DC, PA, NJ, and NY.
One other item here. I moved to San Diego 36 years ago today. If you told me I’d be doing this back then I would have tried to sell you a bridge in London.