We’d been told we could get across this bridge despite the construction. Not so.
Coping with the unexpected is part of bike touring. We’d been told we could get across this bridge despite the construction.
Not so.
Not that someone didn’t feel the need to take a closer look.
The detour added another four or so miles to the day. Total mileage: 77.6.
The first day of this year’s East Coast Greenway ride is full of Civil War sites. We were more fortunate than the Union Army, needing only one day to reach Richmond.
One of the great things about touring by bike is that you see so much that you would miss by car. And this area is full of Civil War sites. We were more fortunate than the Union Army, reaching Richmond in just one day instead of taking several years and countless dead and wounded. But biking more than 70 wet miles means we didn’t have time to really see the sights. Even taking photos tended to be hurried.
Fredericksburg is the site of a couple of Civil War battlefields (referred to on one sign as the first and second battles of Fredericksburg, but the second one is better known as Chancellorsville).
The gray mist over these cannons set the appropriate mood. The first battle was in December 1862, and as we biked past where North and South had fought, I could only think of how cold and wet it must have been. We were dealing with rain, but at least we have waterproof jackets and warm, wicking fabrics.
Chancellorsville is where Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire, and the East Coast Greenway route goes past the spot where he died. Turns out that’s now part of the National Parks Service. Continue reading “Day 1 – Bicycling through the battlefields of Virginia”
Ready to head out on Day 1, fueled by leftover Chinese food.
Give me leftovers over breakfast food any day. Great fuel for a bike ride! (Not that some people at breakfast agreed. Yes, I mean you, Bob.)
Two of us tackled the leftovers from Peter Chang’s (unrelated to PF Chang’s).
Others turned to Alan, our mechanic, for last-minute adjustments.
Ready for day 1 of the East Coast Greenway ride.
You know you’re in the south when you find shrimp and grits on a cafe menu. That for lunch, szechuan Chinese for dinner. But too much rain to tramp around battlefields. Ready for Sunday’s 72-mile day.
Scored some 20% off coupons for REI. Who wants one?
Come Saturday, Oct. 3, I’ll be heading down to Fredericksburg, Va. and the start of the East Coast Greenway’s 2015 Week-a-Year ride.
Come Saturday, Oct. 3, I’ll be heading down to Fredericksburg, Va. and the start of the East Coast Greenway’s 2015 Week-a-Year ride. It’s all part of an effort to ride one week of this 2,900-mile route each year and make it to Key West in 2019. (I missed this first three years — from the Canadian border in Calais, Maine, to Philadelphia, so I have a lot of catching up if I’m going to claim I’ve ridden down the east coast.)
We got more information about the week on Friday, and I am excited that our final group dinner, on the next-to-last day, features Carolina barbecue. We will be eating at The Pit in Durham. This is “eastern Carolina” style barbecue — roasting the whole hog and using a vinegar-based, not tomato-based, sauce — and I suspect I will be getting a barbecue education on this trip. Anything I should know before I start eating?
I’ve already got one other food spot I want to try on the route — the Peter Chang Chinese Restaurant in Fredericksburg. No, it has nothing to do with P.F. Chang’s. It’s been on my list for this ride since I read a New York Times article more than a year ago.
We’ll be staying in downtown Richmond, in Petersburg, South Hill and Clarksville, if anyone has recommendations for those places.
There’s already a bit of advocacy on the calendar — we’ll be having lunch on the Thursday with the mayor of Oxford, North Carolina, a town of about 8,500.
And on the final day, our ride will join with a one-day ride from Durham to Raleigh. I’m excited that a friend who has moved back to Raleigh will be riding, and I’m looking forward to catching up over the 50 miles.
I’ve said it before and I know I’ll say it again, but thank you everyone who has supported the East Coast Greenway through my ride. Creating an off-road trail down the coast and through major cities is an amazing vision that I want to see turned into reality
Today was the East Coast Greenway’s #IceBucketChallenge.
Today was the East Coast Greenway’s #IceBucketChallenge.
It rained for almost the entire ride, sometimes moderately, sometimes hard. My RainLegs worked (thank you, Dede and Janet) and got plenty of interested looks. The new rain jacket got its first test and passed with flying colors. Still, it was cold, especially after a stop. And then going downhill.
Of course it stopped just before we reached Fredericksburg and the end of the adventure. Too bad there wasn’t time to explore the town and the Civil War battlefields in the area before lunch and the bus back to Conshohocken. I’ll be back.
Once again, plenty of hills. We climbed just under 2,000 vertical feet in 30 miles, just 200 less than on a longer Day 6.
Bonus: Signs for Adventure Cycling’s U.S. Bicycle Route 1, part of a developing network of urban, suburban and rural routes, as we neared Fredericksburg.
Odd names for roads on today’s ride: Eskimo Hill Road. Dishpan Lane.
Total mileage for the week: 343.19.
And after seven days of biking, it took us just 3 1/2 hours and no D.C. traffic to zip back up I-95 and I-476 to Conshohocken.
Exploring by bicycle 