Day 5: Louisa, VA to Charlottesville, VA (61 miles)

Today we departed the Rebel Motel with a small breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats. We are documenting what we eat because food is such an important part of our trip. Riding our bike 6 hours we burn 3500-4000 calories! So we have to eat at least twice as much as normal. Luckily we are all foodies, but it's hard to stuff our faces so much. We eat whilst riding. We are virtual eating machines. A day hasn't passed where we didn't eat ice cream. We originally planned to eat Snickers dipped in Nutella on this trip, but that hasn't materialized yet, not sure why. We have eaten a gross amount of Andy Capp Hot Fries though.

Our rest stop in Louisa was actually 6 miles out of the way, so we backtracked those 6 miles in the morning back to Mineral, VA. We were up early... on the road by 6:50. Actually, it was pretty damn chilly in the morning. On this day the cars were driving faster than normal past us. This was true for the entire day. On one road, while we were pulled over for a break, a lady slowed down next to us and told us to watch out on this road: "This one's a baddie!" It's true that the cars were driving fast and there was no shoulder, but we're pretty used to this treatment now. No fear. I think we're prepared to ride on virtually any road now. City, rural, even interstate. In fact, the interstate may even be safer. Cars on rural roads drive as fast as on the Interstates, and at least the interstate has a wide shoulder.

The first half of the trip was kind to us. While going up a hill, an enormous bug flew into Aaron's open mouth and into his throat. We could hear him coughing it up from a distance. I took the picture of the bug on my camera's "Cuisine" setting. I (Guillermo) fell when trying to get going after a rest break. These bikes, fully loaded, weigh almost 100 lbs or so. They take some getting used to. The weight shifted unexpectedly and I fell over with my feet clipped in to the pedals. Embarrassing! Not as bad as later in the day though. The second half of the trip was much hillier than the first, and Anna sometimes struggles with the hills. Especially when tired. She actually fell over to the LEFT while going up a hill, while a car was driving behind her. Luckily the car was going very very slowly while waiting for a chance to go around her. Still though, it was scary. That sort of thing is an anomaly though, so don't worry too much. Our legs get stronger every day.

On our way to Charlottesville we passed Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, and the incredibly overshadowed Ash Lawn, home of James Monroe. We didn't go into either of them because we were too focused on getting to Charlottesville. Besides, the hill up to the entrance of Monticello was KILLER, and there was a very windy hill at the entrance to visit the place. We were in no condition to go up that hill (think Lombard St, but worse). Anna and Tony were almost crying from the hills, and we hadn't even hit the hill into Charlottesville proper. That one caught us by surprise. Charlottesville is very VERY hilly, and the entrance hill was the worst of the trip. It makes the Mormon Temple hill in DC near my mom's house look like a mole hill. Our thighs were on FIRE after that one, and Anna had to walk up it, bless her soul. It's good training though, because in 2 days we will be crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge might be the worst hills of the trip - worse than the Rockies! One hill in particular makes the Charlottesville hill look like a speed bump. I want my mommy.

Tony says: "Remember the Titans."

Over a late lunch at an Italian restaurant in the outside Charlottesville mall, a very butch lady walked up to us with a menacing look saying "Are you those bikers who were riding on the road near Monticello earlier today?!?!" She sounded menacing, and could probably take on any of us. We all thought she was a driver who was going to bitch us out for riding on the road. Turns out she was one of the bicyclists who passed by us. She commended us for climbing that hill with loaded bikes, and said she used us for inspiration. "When I was going up that hill, all I thought about was 'At least I'm not carrying all of those bags.'" She's an experienced cyclist who's biked through many states, but never a cross-country trip. She recommended SportsLeg, a pill you take to "increase your lactic acid threshold." Supposed to reduce leg burn on those monstrous hills. I think that recommendation will go the way of Anti-Monkey Butt. That one was recommended to me by an ex-coworker for the inevitable chafing we will experience. It's not that it was a bad recommendation, it's just that it's a powder, and I don't really want the cottage cheese build-up in my nether-regions on a hot sweaty day. We ride commando under those bike shorts you know.



Tonight we stayed at the Budget Inn, next to UVa. It was $70 for a double room. Cheaper and much nicer than the Rebel Motel, which cost $100 out in bumfuck nowhere. Maybe they charge so much there because they know the drug dealers can afford it.

Tomorrow we ride 40 or so miles to Afton, VA. We hope to stay with the Cookie Lady. She's an 85 year old lady named June Curry who has been hosting cyclists at her house for 30 years, since this Trans-America trail opened in 1976. She lives at the top of a monstrous hill, and she puts out ice water and bakes cookies for the bicyclists who make it up. She even lets people stay over her house if they need to. She's a Trans-Am institution and we are excited about meeting her.

Days 1-4: Tales From The Rebel Motel (Yorktown to Louisa, Days 1-4)

We are sitting in Room 107; A dingy room in a dingy motel. The Rebel Motel, in Louisa, Virginia. On the TV: hippos spraying dung. On the bed: planning tomorrow's trip to Charlottesville. On the laptop: finally creating this blog.

We've ridden for the past 3 days, and today we're taking a break to rest our sore thighs. And our sore calves. And our sore buttocks. Tony rubbed BenGay on his. Aaron finally revealed to us today that he decided to pack his laptop, and now we will reveal to you what has happened to us so far on our journey across the US.

DAY 1: Yorktown, VA to Charles City, VA (48 miles)
DAY 2: Charles City, VA to Mechanicsville, VA (38 miles)
DAY 3: Mechanicsville, VA to Mineral, VA (66 miles)
DAY 4: REST DAY in Louisa, VA (6 miles)

Our trip began on Saturday June 14th in Yorktown, VA, one of the corners of the Colonial Triangle - along with Jamestown and Williamsburg - on the Virginia coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Our goal is Astoria, Oregon, 4250 miles away. We planned on waking at 5am, breaking camp and eating breakfast with Anna and Guillermo's mom and Guillermo's girlfriend Tiffany - both of whom drove us down to Yorktown and camped with us to see us off (thanks again!) - and then pedaling off by 7:30 or so. In general we plan on being on the road by 6am to take advantage of the cooler temps, and to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms. Let's just say that hasn't worked out so far. Packing and preparing the bikes has taken much MUCH longer to do than anticipated. We awoke at 6am the first day and were on the road by 10am. It's not a great start, but it's a start.

We planned on dipping our tires in the Atlantic, and upon arriving in Oregon dipping our tires in the Pacific. However, our bikes were so heavy (Anna can barely lift it onto the curb) that we decided to just roll them onto the pier, above the Atlantic, and start from there. Close enough for jazz! We pedaled up the road approximately 0.2 mile and were lost for the first (not last) time on the trip. We decided to make a left to Rte 17, but when we got there we promptly found ourselves staring at the Atlantic again. We turned around.

We followed the Colonial Parkway towards Williamsburg. It's a very pretty road made of exposed aggregate pebbles, giving it a more rustic feel. A wide road with overhanging trees. Perfect for biking. We made so many stops though, that after 3 hours, we had only biked about 1.5. The other hour and a half was spent stopping, drinking water, looking at the map, waiting for the others to catch up, or eating hot goo. Logistically we still had many things to learn.

Lesson 1: always stay 2 or 3 steps ahead on the map. Sounds obvious enough, but we had to learn it.

Lesson 2: inform the others of the next 2 or 3 steps on the map. Some of the more physically prepared of us like to bike ahead without knowing the next turn, and end up waiting on the side of the road for the others to catch up.

Lesson 3: when stopping for, say, a quick picture, tell the others to keep riding and just catch up with them in a minute. Otherwise it precipitates a full-on 20 minute break. That's why our time was spent bicyclying only 50% of the time.

Lesson 4: set a reasonable mileage goal for the day. We hoped to make it to Ashland the first day, 80 miles away. After 45 miles we decided to stop in Charles City. Charles City is not so much a city as it is a gas station and general store. I think this will be a theme of the trip, since we are biking through rural America.

Lesson 5: plan where you will sleep early in the day, or even the night before. At the general store that is Charles City, we were trying to find a place to camp or a room to rent. Luckily, Mary Lou Gillam, who works at the general store, used to run a Bed & Breakfast out of her house and accomodated many cyclists. She offered to let us camp in her big, horsefly-ridden backyard. Sounds good!

At the camp in Charles City, we ate Mac & Cheese with tuna and showered using Mary Lou's garden hose. Mary Lou came out to greet us while Aaron was showering and caught an eyeful of Aaron (she told us later we could come back any time we wanted). Tiffany met us that evening to camp with us one last time, so we had company again which was nice. Then, we noticed the sky turn grey so we set up our tents as quickly as possible. Just in time too!





In the morning we packed up and said goodbye. Anna and Aaron woke up at 5am and were done packing by 9:45. They decided they were carrying too much weight so they looked through their stuff for things they could send back with Tiffany. It involved unpacking each individual item, rating it from 1-10 on the value scale, then packing it up again. They gave her two mini-notebooks to send home.

We rode and rode, stopping at a gas station to fill up. We had Hot Fries, Slushies, and Snickers. That was enough to get us near Mechanicsville, but we lost steam at that point. We had biked only 35 or so miles but the Mac & Cheese with tuna from the night before proved to be insufficient sustenance. Biking for hours a day requires many MANY calories. So, we stopped in Mechanicsville, which is not even as far as Ashland (our original Day 1 goal), ate hot wings and chicken burgers and booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express. At the Wal-Mart, Tony suggested we buy a gallon of neopolitan ice cream. "We can eat as much as we want, and then throw away the rest!" And we did.

Long bike ride make Anna hungy.

Our Firestation Camp.

Unpacking and repacking every item.

Monday morning we got an earlier start. Our goal was to make it to Mineral, VA, about 60 miles away. For the first time on the trip, we achieved our goal! We passed through Bumpass, VA along the way (rhymes with "compass").
We stayed the night at the Mineral Volunteer Fire Department. They are used to cyclists coming through, and they let us camp outside and use their amenities. Very nice people. They have a journal for bicyclists to write entries, and Guillermo and Tony took the liberty of describing the trip from Mechanicsville to Mineral in their over-dramatic fashion:


















After this exhausting day, we decided to take a rest day on day 4. The nearest motel was in Louisa, VA, 6 miles away. That is where we are now. Funny, our first day without a shower is today, on a rest day in a motel. Not because we're too tired or anything. The motel is just that dingy. The bathroom lights and the vacancy sign both flicker, and a sketchy Oldsmobile circles the parking lot. We can live without a shower for a day...