Day 5 of biking PA to NC
Ashland/Richmond to Emporia, VA - 87 miles - 2501 ft of elevation gain
MyWIndSock report… red is a headwind. Definitely a wind from the south!
I’d like to know who in the south turned on the fan and pointed it north? I get wind reports from MyWindSock which gives me information on the wind direction and speed for my cycling route. Today, the wind was in my face for 93% of my ride. To compare, yesterday, it was in my face for 71% of the ride. There were times today when I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere and could barely get my speed above 10mph. I guess I should be biking north to get the wind to push me forward instead of backwards.
After a grab-n-go breakfast at the hotel, I gathered my stuff and started loading the car. In between loads it started to drip. I put on my bright yellow cycling jacket to be extra visible in the low-light conditions. I left the hotel around 7:36am and it remained cloudy until I got below Richmond. Although, it a little difficult to tell if it was actually cloudy or my glasses were fogging up from my heat generation. I should never underestimate my ability to sweat, even when it’s 50 degrees outside. It was good I was wearing the yellow jacket though, or maybe it didn’t really help, because a car ran a stop sign (on purpose) and nearly clipped me. I saw him coming from my right and slowed up because it didn’t look like he was stopping, and indeed, he was not. I guess he looked through the yellow jacket to the two lanes of southbound traffic he was crossing. I yelled “HEY, HEY, HEY!” but it made no difference because he was going regardless and didn’t seemed phased by my sudden presence at his driver’s side window. I’m hoping it gives him pause for future crossings at that intersection, but I’m guessing this was a normal pattern for him. At least my timing was better than with the spit hurling person the other day!
I lost the yellow jacket at the first rest stop and realized I was creating a sauna inside. The temps were now in the 60s, but the air had a slight chill, so I kept my arm and leg warmers on. By the last stop, I lost the legs and arms as the temps were nearing 70. It was really a nice day and the clouds had parted to give the sun full reign of the sky.
Here are a few things that ran through my head during the 87 mile ride:
Why are there so many people that can’t keep trash in their car and feel the need to disperse it along the side of the road?
A headwind and oil & chipped roads are a lousy combination
Biking is faster than a horse drawn carriage. I wish more drivers would remember that when they get impatient and fly around me within feet, I mean they could be still using a horse and carriage to get around town.
Squirrels are really loud and certainly make noise like they are large animals
Who’s idea was this ride? Oh right, mine!
What do these people do for a living way out here?
Cotton picking by hand was an arduous task, how much of the cotton was bloodstained?
I never expected so many bogs and wetland areas in VA.
Let’s practice riding with “no hands”
It was another beautiful day! I managed to miss the rain, it started after 5:30pm. There is a saying that goes “If you want to go faster - go alone, if you want to go farther - go together,” well, today I think faster would have been aided by another person’s presence to help take turns blocking the headwind. Another person would also have helped keep the conversation going, I ran out of questions to ask myself fairly early in the ride 😉. Tomorrow is going to be my longest ride this year, so let’s hope the wind cooperates and the conversation is better than it was today (I might just have to listen to the PSU football game in one ear if I can get access).
