Misdirection

So, apparently I am competing for the most neglected blog.  I think I am just the man to do this.

Yesterday we passed from Glendale to Mineral, VA.  Thankfully the state of VA is pretty good at marking it's bike routes - maybe not perfect, but good nonetheless.  As we left Glendale, one large peloton (yes, I learned a word) left early, I left solo a little later, and then a peloton left after me.  It was a great day to solo ride with a thin fog settled over the VA countryside.  We wove through the battlefields outside of Richmond, the 7 days battle I think.  It's a little hard to read interpretive signs on a bike, well, and stay upright that is.

So I was pedaling at a reasonable pace, enjoying a solo tour of the countryside and unbeknowst to me, I passed the first water station and kept on trucking.  I arrived in Ashland, VA (very cute town by the way) and I found one of the support vehicles but no one in it and no other cyclists.  I stayed around for about 20 minutes, waiting for someone to show since I was 40 miles in to an 82 mile ride, and I was fresh out of water.  The second support vehicle pulled in a few seconds later, and I was informed that I was ahead of everyone!  What!?!?

Apparently, the other groups got a little lost (read very lost).   They ended up on the interstate!  For any of you that have never cycled long distance, the interstate is the scariest idea ever.  Everyone made it out ok thankfully.

I miraculously did not get lost the entire day, which is funnier when you hear about the next day...

So, I pulled up a little lame on the first day, which put me at a severe disadvantage for the day.  That is a long way of describing that I was alone on my way into Charlottesville - the most confusingly signed city I have ever been to, and I have been to cities where the signs were in another language, one I didn't speak.  I now have a much greater knowledge of Charlottesville than I ever will need probably.

Now we are absorbing the hospitality of The King family in Charlottesville, preparing for an epic climb up Afton Mountain.  Let's hope that my knee holds out.