May 07, 2009: Day 6

Kitty and George at VMI (Virginia Military Institute), Lexington,VA.

We had a great day today.... lots of firsts.... such as: George got to change the lenses from clear to darker for his sunglasses; he got rained, actually poured, on; I got to get out for a short hike; we enjoyed getting out in the evening for site seeing as it was not raining in the afternoon today. It was a very tough climbing day, including the Blue Ridge Parkway..... but George loved it. He has found his inner athlete and loves climbing (he is starting to look like a crazy guy on the bike). So, we have a trail name (normally, its a tradition for AT but we can have our own tradition) for him... Mountain Goat. So far he has a new record of not needing to stop for a break or walk any of the uphills but needed to take two breaks on one of the downhills, as his hands were hurting from pressing the breaks too hard. Not to mention, he has bruises from the rain pelting on his face. I guess that means, he was going (at least downhill) very fast.

We went from Afton, VA to Lexington, VA

Stats for today.... 62 miles, start time 7:00 and ending time 2:00.

bike speed ranged from 5.5 mph to 37.5 mph on the parkway.

May 06, 2009 Day 5

Picture of me at in the cookie ladies bike house.Today was a short day, actually it was supposed to be a rest day. We hit the Blue Ridge Mountains in the morning. George miscalcualted (I am sure not the first or last time) the climbing. We knew there was going to be some big hills but it turned out that it was most climbing over the milleage (3,500 feet over 27 miles) in the whole trip but George thought that it wasn't too bad...... go George.... Driving around, I thought there were some hills my car was struggling to make it up, but then again I think that my car may actually be older than George.....

On the top of one of the climbs we stopped at the "Cookie Lady" house. She had been helping out transamerica bikers since 1974. She was featured with on the road with Charles Kuralt in 1993. She got her name by baking fresh cookies for bikers everyday during season, she also has a little house for bikers, it's filled with bike stuff from transamerican riders over the years. She will also put you up, if you need a place to sleep. We didn't stay because it has no heat and it was cold and musty smelling, not good for allergies. Her name is June, she seemed to talking to us (may be to everyone), it seemed like she told us her whole medical history. She is 93 now, thus it took her a long, long, long time.

We went from Charlottesville, VA to Afton, VA

Todays stats......27 miles, 7:15-10:45 a.m (counting cookie lady time)

Kitty Day 1-4

Kitty is spending most of her time driving and supporting the ride. She does spend some time researching her injury to discover some method (this could be a remedy from an alien) to speed her recovery as she is going crazy not riding. I don't think she would want to start in the mountains though. Once she is ready, she will do a couple of little rides first, just to make sure all is working. I'm guessing she will never go down an Indian slide again.

May 05, 2009, Day 4

Better riding day today, no getting lost at all but still a gloomy day, but George managed to stay dry.... yeah.... More climbing with very pretty views most of the day, 'till close to the city. George is finally feeling his quads a little but looking forward to riding tomorrow. Its suppose to be more hilly but shorter ride. The main thing George is hoping for is to be able to change the lenses from clear to colored on his so called Sunglasses and not to have to wear winter gear. It was a much colder ride of temps in the low 50's the entire time. We did make a run to the LBS (local bike store) here to get George an Odometer, taking advantage of the fact that we still have a car.

Traveled from Mineral, VA to Charlottesville, VA

Miles for today: 57

May 04, 2009: Day 3

Rough, rough day today.... for a few reasons. Getting lost, dangerous traffic patterns, very unfriendly people, and the gloomy weather, now for three days in a row. Seems like that since we are not riding together is really catching up to us as George is left out with half of the navigation stuff. I was suppose to have the GPS and am the only one with a bike with an odometer. Since I am driving around, I am keeping the GPS, so George is left with just maps and trying to read signs on the roads (which are not always the best), thus he is having a hard time with navigating. We are hoping that we learned a few things today to avoid this as it can be very frustrating to be lost on a bike, especially when in a very trafficy road. On top of that, I guess the trail magic was lost today, as no one was willing to help him with direction, and he was even wearing matching clothing. Out in the country, George was at a stop sign with his map and bike and he approached a woman, who clearly, had to stop at a Stop sign but one look at him, she hit the accelerator and was gone... is just one of a few examples of the kind of folks he was dealing with today. SAG vehicle came in handy as I came and helped with my GPS to find the correct way. After the second time, I pretty much stayed with him, following him around in my car. He must have felt like a celebrity or a world class athlete. As far as the route, some Hills started today. George did well climbing them and the views were beautiful of the horse farms and meadows with rolling hills (reminded us of our beautiful state of NC). It has been clowdy and has been threatening to rain on him all three days of riding, but so far George has managed to stay dry. Today, was not only very gloomy but cold too. We are hoping for some sunshine soon as this weather is getting a bit depressing.

Rode from Mechanicsville, VA to Mineral (via Ashland), VA.

Total Miles: 58

May 03, 2009: Day 2

Day 2 started with early breakfast of Banana, muffin, and cereal etc while George got ready for the ride with better matching clothes today. I dropped him off at the ending point of yesterday's ride. His goal was to get out as early as possible due to the forecast for today (and several days ahead) of thunderstorms and rain. We figure that it will rain more in the afternoon. Another beautiful (relatively flat) ride but curvy narrow roads to be shared with two way traffic. George reports that most of the cars were very nice about giving him room (better than in our neighborhood in NC). Only one car passed him very closely, which is not bad for a 53 mile ride. He also had some trail magic as the park ranger at Richmond Battlefield let George go through a closed road to save him some time. He just had to walk across a bridge which was closed due to being in danger of collapsing. But the park ranger was very nice about getting another officer to meet George on the other side of the closed road to make sure that he was alright. George enjoyed the battlefield and took his time reading all the history. Bike riding and civil war battlefield, a guy (well, at least George) can't ask for more. His ride ended while he was still pretty much dry, it started pouring about a minute before he was done.... yeah....

Traveled from Charles City, VA to Mechanicsville, VA

Total Miles: 53

May 02, 2009: Day 1

George hit the road today..... alone. He started a day earlier. The plan was to start Sunday morning but since we had the time, he decided to start with a short ride of 28 miles. Starting point of the Bike Tour is at Victory Memorial in Yorktown, VA. As soon as we arrived at Victory Memorial (actually, as soon as we left the house to drive to VA, George was really hyped up. He almost forgot to wear a shirt when leaving the house), after about 3.5 hour drive, he changed into his very mismatched biking clothes and was ready to go. He did stop to pose for a shot or two and then off he went. Day one... and he is already breaking some rules. He had to go through a tunnel (as part of his route), where it clearly (more than one large sign) stated NO Bikes or Pedestrians allowed in the tunnel. It was a beautiful ride through Colonial Parkway from Yorktown to Williamsburg and towards Charles City. Funny that the Bike tour ride one started with a drop of rain on us and then it stopped. No more rain for the rest of the ride.... is this a sign for things to come? I came and picked him and we stayed in Williamsburg, about 15 miles away from where he ended the ride. Nice advantage to have, when there is a SAG car.
Rode from Yorktown, VA to Williamsburg (close to Charles City), VA.
Total Miles: 28