Trans Am Part 4

It was a short ride today but since there was rain in the forecast for early afternoon we were gone by about 8:30.  We spent the first few miles exiting the city via a different route than the entry yesterday, and then climbing uphill for a few miles.  View from the top of our climb. Downhill to our turn off the main highway to a windy, fun, continuing descent.  It finally leveled out to our usual country road rollers.  No real big challenges on the second half of the ride.  Kind of nice for a change..... We came into Charlottesville through the University of Virginia area.  I love the vibe of university towns and am always especially interested in those that have good basketball teams.   We're staying in quite a nice hotel - Residence Inn by Marriott.  It's a bit more upscale than we're used to, but apparently WomanTours had a bit of trouble finding one that had availability to house us all.  Oh well - I'm going to enjoy my little suite...

We knew it was going to be a big day.  What we didn't predict were the chilly temperatures and the headwinds adding to our challenge.  A little bit of climbing in the first four miles, and then a gradual uphill for the next fifteen.  Once again we were in a railroad and creek corridor, so the grade was pretty gradual.  And - our first sustained noticeable headwind of the trip.  It wasn't a busy road, but neither was it particularly scenic.   At 18 miles we had our first SAG stop and then "the climb" up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was only four miles, but we gained almost 2000 feet in that distance.  I walked probably close to a mile of it where the grades were well into the double digits.  A few of the women rode the whole thing, and my hat is off to them!  We were in the trees the whole way, which probably helped to cut the wind.  I was happy to be wearing a helmet, though, as nuts (walnuts, acorns, chestnuts, etc.) were fa...

Another beautiful day in the neighbourhood!  I quite liked the Holiday Inn Express that we stayed at last night.  The folks who run it obviously are committed to running a first-class operation.  It was a nice sunny day when we pulled away shortly after 9am.  Within the first mile or so we crossed the Appalachian Trail once again. After 2 miles on a fairly major highway, we turned off onto a secondary road and did a bit of climbing before settling into a valley that paralleled a railroad for about 10 miles.  The advantage of sharing the terrain with the railroad is that the grades are pretty gentle.   And we found a playground at the first SAG stop............. Into the town of Buchanan and across the James River.  Also saw the "swinging bridge" across the river. We climbed for a bit after the James River and rode some pretty good (big/steep) rollers while paralleling Interstate 81.  We then had a nice 14 mile run on Plank Road...... ....... ...