Day 7: Things are looking up (and up and up) C'ville to Cookie Lady

May 19, 2023

Heart

Comment

Apologies for not uploading for a few days. I wrote the following couple days as they happened but didn't post because I was a bit too tired and a busy bee. Anyway here's the posts as I wrote them:

A bit of a shorter day in km but plenty of climbing. We finally felt well rested enough to be up and packed by 6:30, so staying in the hotel last night was well worth it. The roads today had plenty of climbing but for the most part were pretty low traffic. As we gain elevation and get further from the coast it's finally getting a little more bearable in the heat. Also got to test out my new padded bike gloves from the bike shop after losing one way back in Williamsburg on day 2, these ones are much better than my old pair so I'm happy I bought them. 7:30 to 8 there was a bit of a rush of commuters and another from 8:30 to 9 so we pulled over for some longer breaks around those.

Our our first real sighting of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. We'd be half way up them by 1pm

Waiting for 15 minutes while traffic eases again and the navigator consulting her map

We stopped in Cruset for some second breakfast, I grabbed a big breakfast burrito and Natalie a country ham and cheese sandwich. Burrito was great, country ham is way too salty though.

We went over to the post office and mailed some of our gear to the end of the trail before getting into the big hills. I sent home a pair of running shoes, some socks, headphones and a big rain jacket because I've already got lighter alternatives to all of them. Mostly I'm not worried about the weight but it freed up a lot of space in my panniers.

My stomach churned that burrito for a while as we climbed out of Cruset and into the Blue Ridge Mountains. We took it easy and pretty quickly we were in our stop for the day of Afton, at June Curry, the famous Cookie Lady's house.

From 1976 until 2012 when she passed, June kept every piece of memorabilia sent to her by cyclists who passed through Afton on the TransAm

After taking in the house and resting for a bit we finally had some time for doing touristy sightseeing for once. We biked without our panniers down to the Blue Ridge Tunnel which was very close by and rode through it. This was the old railway that crosses through the Blue Ridge Mountains just under Rockfish Gap. It's nearly a mile long and no lights inside so we were biking in pitch darkness with occasional other people walking past with headlamps or torches. It was such a cool experience to bike in the cold tunnel for so long. At the end we turned around and biked back through to find it was slightly downhill all the way. We managed to get back to the starting side without any significant injuries.

Getting ready to bike through the tunnel. It was a warm day but it's pretty cold in there so we put on our jackets

We have the energy to keep going today (just) but there's not any stops for a few hours on route so we'll regain our energy and get back to the big days tomorrow. It's a going to be a lot of climbing along the Blue Ridge Parkway but I think we'll get along it in a day.

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 427 km (265 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0