To Virginia Beach, VA

May 5, 2024 to May 6, 2024

On Currituck Sound for our last North Carolina sunrise

Sunday

This morning we have a short ride to the Currituck ferry - our sixth one - which will take us to Knott's Island for a few final miles in North Carolina. Today's ride will get us to Virginia Beach on the Chesapeake Bay where we'll get a ride the day after tomorrow to DelMarVa - a toponym for the peninsula that includes parts of the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

On the ferry we meet John and Elijah who are out for a 70 mile day ride - a fast one from the looks of things. They appear to be in race training mode on their carbon fiber ponies. Both have ridden kermesse races in Belgium. Something like a criterium, a kermesse is a circuit race but longer, with loops of 5 to 10K and a typical total length around 120 K. I ask what their typical cruising speed is and John says around 24 mph, about double my pace on a good day.

These guys will be specks down the road shortly after we ride off the ferry.

Knott's Island is a marshy community of small farms and homes. Hardly any cars are out this morning and I am zenned out riding the wavy roads and watching for herons by the wetlands. While we loved the beaches at the national seashore, there's sameness to the scene on the barrier islands as you ride straight north day after day. Here there's a new movie around every curve. It's a welcome change of pace.

Across the state line we are immediately in Virginia Beach, which extends almost 25 miles north to Cape Henry on the Chesapeake Bay. The scene gradually morphs from farms to suburbs with nice bike trails and lots of choices for lunch.

We've been hitting the seafood hard lately and I'm ready for a change. I get my first burger in weeks at the Red Robin, all fancied up with bacon, tomatoes and avocado. From there we pedal on to the boardwalk to find a huge kite festival happening on this warm Sunday afternoon.

When you hear the pickleball paddles popping you know you're in the burbs.

Such a fun collection of kites! This calls for a video short....

An icon of Virginia Beach, King Neptune stands 32 feet tall. He presides over the annual Neptune festival in September- a party with sandsculpting, a parade, a regatta, art, music and a footrace among other diversions.

Considering that we're in the busy tourist zone I'm impressed by all the bike lanes and low-traffic side roads we ride on the way up to our homestay near Cape Henry. The whole ride today has been enjoyable, but the bike lanes near the end through First Landing State Park are next level.

Top tier bike route through the state park. Note the rumble strip corraled in its own lane between the road and the wide bike lane.

The last stretch of the ride is on this shady path through the state park that continues on to our host's place.

John Spencer is our WarmShowers host for the next two nights. A transplant from Syracuse NY, he moved here after retirement to be near his two daughters. One has moved on to Boston for a dream job but his daughter Cara is still here.

John has a regular gig caring for his two-year-old granddaughter Spencer several days a week. I appreciate what a joy this is from the time I spent with my new grandson before we started wandering off on the bike for months at a time. John's condo is all set up to keep a toddler busy. Looking around I take in the tiny basketball hoop, mini-kitchen, bike seat and adorable photos of Spencer everywere.

We get acquainted and swap touring stories over the big spaghetti dinner John has cooked up for us. He has cycled all over the U.S. and is doing his first European bike tour this summer, including some days at the Tour de France.

As we head to the warm dry bed for the night it's starting to rain. I'm so grateful not to be camping tonight.

Monday
I get a little writing done early before breakfast with the guys. Then I'm off on the bike with a full agenda, starting with a date with Eric at Freewheelin' Bike Shop to replace my shift cables. After the shifter failed a week ago, I rode with one speed for a couple days until Barry futzed with it enough to get 7 of the 14 gears working. It's rough though, clearly needs work. Kelly clued me in about the need to grease the little black box that the cable goes into so we add that to the list of things to do on the bike.

Eric is a one-man show at Freewheelin Bikes. I think this is his first time replacing cables on a bike with a Rohloff hub, but he's done his homework.

The bike shop is a few blocks from the beach so that's my next stop for a nice long walk in the waves. Afterwards I walk to a shopping center 3 miles west and knock off some more errands until the bike is ready. I don't walk this far very often and my legs are feeling the 8 miles I've covered by the time I get back to the shop.

A quieter day at the beach. The water is still fairly warm this far north.

Passing by some nice homes on Great Neck Bay

Jets from the Oceana Naval base regularly roar over the road. Maybe the military folks can tell us - is this a Hornet?

When I pick up the bike at the shop I have 14 gears again and the shifting is smooth. It's great to get it working again before we have to climb some hills in the next few weeks.

On the ride back to John's I make a stop at First Landing State Park. Before they built the settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the English colonists of the Virginia Company landed here.

The spot where the three ships of the Virginia Company dropped anchor before continuing up the river to found Jamestown

Back at John's place, Mike is cooking up a feast of scallops with mushrooms over pasta with Alfredo sauce. He's been to the liquor store too and the serious drinking has begun. John's a wonderful host and a lot of fun. I hope we have the chance to get together with him again sometime, ideally on a bike tour.

Pretty fun evening with these three and a bottle of Mescal.

Map of our ride on Sunday. On Monday I added 18 miles, retracing the part back to the boardwalk.

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Today's ride: 76 miles (122 km)
Total: 1,723 miles (2,773 km)

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Rachael AndersonGreat post! I love the video of the kites! Glad to hear you got your gears fixed.
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7 months ago

Janice BranhamTo Rachael AndersonMe too Rachel. Its nice to know I could get by without all the gears, but so much easier with them
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7 months ago