June 3 Crossing America

Day 3; Mineral, VA – White Hall, VA Distance covered 88 miles.
Up at 5:30 packed and ready to roll by 7:05 today was a series of easy rolling hills on narrow back country roads, not to worry as motor vehicle traffic is light.  We arrived in Charlottesville, VA about 12:45.  Four of the girls and I went to a local soup and sandwich shop.  I had Maryland Chowder which was pretty good and a blackened fish taco.  The “Blackened” seasoning was extremely spicy and I was unable to eat it.  Sucks as I was hungry but no time to reorder as we are expected to be at the Paul Miller MS Clinic on the Virginia Tech campus.

David member of our group and an MS victim with puppy at Miller Clinic at Virginia Tech Charlottesville

The Miller Clinic a state of the art facility specializing in research and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis victims and the benefactor of the Bike the US for MS proceeds.  I made a deal with Don Fraser the head of our group to allow the funds I raise over $2,000.00 to be given to the Mid America chapter of the MS Society.   Both the Clinic and the MS Society are leading the way for a cure.

After finishing at the clinic about 10 of us went to a local bike shop.  My S-Works is in desperate need of having  the shifters adjusted properly.  Tomorrow we are going to be riding some of the toughest hills (eastern mountains) and I want to be able to use all my gears to get up and over them.   What a disappointment, after riding 5 miles in the wrong direction to the bike shop I left there with my bike shifting worse.  Why is it so difficult to find a bike mechanic who knows how to adjust the shifting on a bicycle?  Pepper our crew leader by his self-admission is only capable of keeping a bike running but not fine tuning.   At least, I was able to use all my gears with his adjustments.  Tomorrow I’ll ride Spirit as I had it fine-tuned and refitted while in Crystal Lake.  OK, why do I have two bikes on this adventure, you are asking?  Spirit is built to carry a load and climb steep mountains but it is slow.  Considering   I’m the slowest rider of the group, I need my S-Works to get me down the road a little faster.  Spirit will be needed primarily for hard hill climbing days and on Stage 2 and 3 of my adventure when I will be carrying all my gear.

It’s hard to believe how slow I ride compared to everyone else on this crew.  It’s the hill thing and lack of food.  The last 18 miles to White Hall was all up and down and most of it on two-lane with rush hour traffic.  Finally made it to White Hall and was blessed with a great meal complements of one of the riders, Shannon’s parents.   Fresh salad, fried chicken, grilled chicken, Lasagna, ice cream and BEER!  Ate until I thought I was going to burst.  About ¼ mile from where we ate was Shannon’s younger sister’s home.  When I arrived there her sister and significant other were bringing chairs out from the house to sit in around a campfire.  To my delight one of the chairs was a nice recliner which I latched onto immediately.  Shannon’s sister looked at me and said I know what’s missing from this picture, you need a beer.  Bless the little gal’s sole she brought me an ice cold one right out.  Ah, life is good.

If the great dinner, recliner and beer weren’t enough, Shannon’s family did our laundry.  But wait  that’s not all (Sounds like a commercial) since I’m one of the senior members of the crew I was offered a shower and a BED to sleep in, if I wanted.   Are you kidding!  I leaped at this latest offer.  I would be staying at Shannon’s folks, Molly and Joe Jones, which was a couple miles away.  Yep, the Jone’s even drove us to their home.  What a place!  The Jones live seven tenths of a mile off a blacktop on the top of a hill in the middle of the wilderness.   Mr. Jones’ built the place himself, it was huge rustic and was paradise to me.  I planned on writing this blog that night but after riding all day, a great meal, a couple beers, hot shower and soft bed was too much.  I must have fallen off to sleep soon as my head touched the pillow and didn’t awake until someone knocked on the bedroom door announcing it was time to get up.  Yep, life can be pretty good at times.

Life is Good!

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