It’s all downhill from here! (+ bonus Kauffmans)

We had our last big climb of the trip today! We had a long, steep climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway out of Vesuvius to start the day. It was probably the most sustained climb of that steepness of the whole trip. I wouldn’t say it was the hardest climb of the trip though. Early on I was really huffing and puffing, but then I made a conscious effort to even out my breathing, and after that, I felt like a machine. Like I could go for hours. It was wild.

Once we got to the top of that climb, I mistakenly thought we were done climbing for the day (and the trip). I texted my mom at 0800 to say “it’s all downhill from here!” But in reality, we didn’t get to our mountain descent until 1100, and then even after that we had lots of climbing with just endlessly rolling hills. But still. It’s mostly downhill from here to the end of the trip! No more mountains!

My parents met us in Charlottesville. They had planned to meet us in Richmond on Thursday and ride with us to Williamsburg on Friday, except the forecast calls for rain on Friday and they don’t want to bike in it (lucky them). So instead my dad will ride with us some or all of the way to Mineral tomorrow and some or all of the way to Richmond the next day. My mom may ride with us part of the way too.

Highlights

• seeing my parents! And not just because my mom brought lots of food, including a homemade (vegan) Jewish apple cake.
• the climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway made me feel awesome (and also tired)
• the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway was really great
• I’ve really enjoyed being in all these towns across the country during election season and seeing all the campaign signs. There are many towns voting for positions I can’t recall ever seeing on a ballot, like coroner and jailer. It’s still too close to call the race in Hardin County, Kentucky for jailer. Will they stay with Big Josh?

Lowlights

• there was a noticeable decline in the intelligence of the drivers as we approached Charlottesville. At first I couldn’t remember the last time we were around drivers who were so consistently reckless and stupid. Certainly not in Kentucky or in Kansas. And then I remembered Utah. Mike was giving out middle fingers like candy on Halloween.
• I navigated us to the wrong hotel in Charlottesville. The “Hampton Inn” instead of the “Hampton Inn & Suites”. Unfortunately it was on the other side of town and across a couple of hairy roads from where we wanted to be. But the correct hotel was in a much nicer part of town, right near the university.
• while I was waiting at the top of the big climb this morning for Mike, two pickup trucks came up the mountain together and when they saw me they honked a lot, which I initially interpreted to be a show of support, since I had obviously just climbed a mountain. And then the passenger in the second truck threw a plastic bottle at me. Cool.

Julie’s food

• Breakfast: oatmeal, coffee
• First Snack: Clif bar, sour patch kids
• Second Snack: Clif bar, pistachios
• Lunch: peanut butter sandwich
• Third Snack: chips and guac, crackers and hummus, Jewish apple cake
• Dinner: impossible burger and sweet potato fries

Stats

• Total distance: 64.05 miles
• Elevation gain: 5,723 feet
• Weather: cold at times and dry, high of 64 degrees Fahrenheit