Friday, August 10, 2007

Charlottesville, VA

Hello from Charlottesville!

Last night I stayed at Michael's
place, in Free Union, VA. It was nice to get out of the heat, take a shower, and relax for a bit. I was almost in danger of falling into that trap of letting my body and mind end the trip, but I can't yet. Four more days of riding.

Yesterday I rode up along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which not only had amazing views, but was cooler by about ten degrees than the bottom of the valley. Michael rode up from the bottom of the Valley to meet me up on top (22 miles of climbing for him) then turned around and rode with me back to the bottom. I enjoyed chatting about his trip, some of the days we rode together, and just getting the feeling that I'm really close to being done. On my side, I did about the same amount of climbing in 4 miles that Michael did in 12 miles. The four mile climb gained probably 2000 feet, and took me about 45-50 minutes to climb. That's really slow, but it was so steep. Think the McEwen climb in Berkeley, but 2-3 times longer.

Today I'm headed east! It's not too far to Reedville, probably 200 miles? I'm going from Charlottesville to near Ashland, VA today, then probably Ashland, VA to Tappahannock, VA tomorrow, then Tappahannock, VA to Reedville, VA on Sunday.

Almost there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stephen. It is so good to hear, that You are quite close. # 3 more Day's and You are in familier Terretory. It is nice, that You have been able to meet Your Friend Michael, You had for sure a lot to talk about Your expierience on this quite long Trail! Everyone, is waiting for You here on the other End!! Take care see You soon. Love Jim and Rosel.