Day 14: Charlottesville VA to Zion Crossroads VA

Saturday was a day off in Charlottesville.  It was a good day to not be on the bikes.  Cold and rainy - yuk!  Nice hotel and a great breakfast to start the day.  Five of us hailed an Uber and went off to Monticello - the home of Thomas Jefferson.  We did a guided tour of the house, followed by a 20-minute outdoor session with someone playing the part of TJ.  We looked around a bit of the property, but the weather really was miserable and "dampened" our enthusiasm to explore extensively.  The house itself was, I thought, fairly modest but apparently quite avant-garde for the time.  He had spent some years in France and brought back much in the way of French influences.  Also - you can see the similarities in the architecture of his home and the University of Virginia which he founded after his presidency.  The grounds are extensive - he inherited several thousand acres from his father and then added to it over his lifetime.  On a beautiful day, especially in the fall with the leaves changing colour, I can only imagine how spectacular it would be to walk around.  Each trip to a different part of the US I learn more about the history of this country.  I guess Mr. Jefferson was quite a complex character - so many positive qualities and accomplishments, but a difficult record with owning slaves and fathering children with one of them.  Nothing is simple.  I have a few more books on my "to read" list.  Worth the trip out there..............

Out for lunch and then a quiet afternoon for me.  Cocktail hour in Joyce's room and then some leftovers for dinner.  Weather is dicey for tomorrow; not sure yet whether I want to ride.  

Well, as promised, Sunday started out pretty wet.  And the forecast was for it to stay that way all day.  We had a short ride planned and Cy had already determined that our destination hotel would not have our rooms available before 3.  So - Sue and Cy put their heads together and came up with a plan that I thought worked pretty well.  

We hung out at our nice comfy hotel in Charlottesville until 11:30.  Then - loaded up the luggage and bikes.  Turns out the van was at capacity, and Dyanna joined Stella in the SAG vehicle.  Five of us plus Chef Sue chose to ride our bikes today.  

I see some folks have dubbed us the Fearless Five.  I'm calling us the Foolish Five.  In any case - it was probably close to noon when we pulled out.  The van-dwellers went out for lunch in Cville and then drove on the interstate to Zion Crossroads.  Turns out they arrived only about 5 minutes before us.  

The five of us stayed within sight of each other, for safety reasons.  The two e-bikes and Minnesota Sue pulled away a bit at times, but they waited for Gail (aka Texas Sue) and I at all the corners.  Chef Sue left a bit later but is a strong rider, so came in shortly after we did.  No big climbs today; just rollers.  Traffic was a bit heavy getting out of town, but thinned out as we went.  This is the only place I stopped to take a photo.

I'm sure it would have been a really pretty ride on a nice day, but I was mostly just looking at the group in front and paying attention to traffic, puddles, etc.  Also - my rear hub starting sounding like a popcorn machine after about 10 miles, so I was just hoping it didn't become a bigger mechanical issue.

My Garmin wasn't recording proper grades or elevation due to the heavy cloud cover - not that I could actually read it anyway through the rain drops on its surface.  Then at about 15 miles my RWGPS stopped talking to me, although it was still recording the ride.  Good thing I was following people who seemed to still have functioning devices, and I still have the paper cue sheets on my handlebars as well.  

SAG stop at about 20 miles.  I was reluctant to take off my gloves and GoreTex lobster claws to have some food, so Dyanna kindly hand-fed me.  What a great group! 

The Wet Wonders arrive at our hotel..........

.......... and Cy makes sure we get our rooms first.  But - before I can check in - my rental bike's rear hub is acting up again with no option to get it repaired, so Chef Sue has offered to let me ride her bike (also a WT bike).  So - we swapped seat, pedals, and other various pieces.  Gotta say the hot shower sure felt good once I got there.  Some of the women had to wait another hour or so to get into their rooms.  Pizza and salad for dinner.  

Forecast is better for tomorrow.  Here's hoping............

Stats for the day:

Distance:  32.92 miles / 52.97 km

Elevation (RWGPS):  676m up, 663m down

Weather:  Rain all day and temperature was about 10C for the duration of the ride.  The rain was reasonably light, though, so just an inconvenience.  The hardest part is convincing yourself to head out in the rain.  Once you're out there it's fine.  Wind from the north, so a tailwind to start the ride and a headwind to finish.