May 27, 2008
Day 15: Richmond, VA to Fredericksburg, VA
89.36 miles, 6:34:22 Ride Time, 13.59 Average Speed, 35.2 Maximum Speed
I was riding out this morning just in time to become part of the rush hour traffic. It was much busier riding into downtown Richmond this morning than yesterday. As usual in a big city, I had trouble following the directions on the Adventure Cycling maps. After asking a few people for directions, I finally got out of Richmond.
The Atlantic Coast Route and the TransAmerica Trail merged for a while when I got to Ashland (pop. 6,169). I was last in Ashland on Day 2 of my 2006 trip, and as before, I didn't linger there, although it looked like a nice little town.
I climbed a fairly steep (but short) hill after leaving Ashland, and I remembered that a couple of years ago, I had to use my small chainring to ride up it. This time, I didn't - is it possible I'm actually stronger now? I guess so.
It had been overcast all morning (thought not cool - it was muggy by 8:30), but the sun finally came out after about 30 miles, so I stopped and put on the sunblock. I'm doing that faithfully, yet I'm still getting deeply tanned.
After that, I started a long, frankly dull section. Traffic was light on the county roads, but this part of Virginia is not as pretty as my first two days in the state.
The last ten or fifteen miles I suffered through some pretty horrendous traffic getting into Fredericksburg. I rode uphill on a busy road (it was now rush hour) towards the "motel area", and checked into the first place I saw on the right hand side of the road. This Best Western was the nicest place I've stayed yet on the trip, and the price wasn't really that bad considering how luxurious it was. Ironically, the wireless internet was much less reliable than it had been at the dreadful Pine Tree Motel a few nights ago. Apparently the Best Western spends more money on the big soft towels, fancy toiletries, comfortable bed, and cleaning staff than they do on their wireless routers. Fair enough.
I had dinner at a nearby steakhouse, where the service was much better than usual. Lots of time at those kinds of places, the wait-staff just aren't interested in a person eating by himself. This time, the waiter, a young guy, was attentive, and, once he saw how quickly I drank the first Diet Pepsi, kept them coming regularly. Nice.
Today's ride: 89 miles (143 km)
Total: 1,145 miles (1,843 km)
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