Bike Tour | PA to VA | Part 2
Thursday morning I packed up an rolled out of DC to the Mt. Vernon trail, which passed right by the Regan airport and followed the Potomac down to Mt. Vernon. It was nice ride through mostly wooded areas, a breath of fresh air, after doing the Baltimore to DC stretch. Once I was reached the end the trail however, the ride was not as pleasant, with many miles following route 1 which led me to Fredericksburg, VA, a civil war town filled with historic sites and colonial homes and shops. I talked to my Gran on the phone, and she generously offer to pay for a hotel for the night, and a nice diner. I took her up on it and it was a great night. I walked around and checked out the sites a bit, had a plate full of pasta and a couple October fest beers, then spent the night in a supposedly haunted bed and breakfast. Unfortunately, I didn't see any ghosts, but I did get to sleep in a very comfy bed and have some apple turnovers, fruit and yogurt for breakfast.
The local bike shop hooked me up with some que sheets that guided me on a very scenic and backcountry route from Fredsburg to Richmond, which I completed on Friday. It was one of the nicest stretched of the trip, despite the knee pain, which by this point turned into a half inch of swelling. There was no quitting at this point though. The final stretch was pretty epic, I zipped by lots of roadkill, which I kind of wanted to stop and photograph, but only ended up shooting one dead snake. I came upon an abandoned church on the side of a back country road. It was pretty creepy looking, but I decide to go inside and take some photos. The place was filled with all kinda of old stuff and seemed like it was about to cave in. It may have been on fire at one point, there was walls missing and floors falling though, probably the reason why it was abandoned in the first place. After a few granola bars and some more trail mix, and after loosing my lens hood, I hit the road and pedaled to Ashland, VA. Here I stopped by this southern lunch spot and got really good veggie sandwich, some pasta and fruit salad, and a cookie.
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE TO PART 3
The local bike shop hooked me up with some que sheets that guided me on a very scenic and backcountry route from Fredsburg to Richmond, which I completed on Friday. It was one of the nicest stretched of the trip, despite the knee pain, which by this point turned into a half inch of swelling. There was no quitting at this point though. The final stretch was pretty epic, I zipped by lots of roadkill, which I kind of wanted to stop and photograph, but only ended up shooting one dead snake. I came upon an abandoned church on the side of a back country road. It was pretty creepy looking, but I decide to go inside and take some photos. The place was filled with all kinda of old stuff and seemed like it was about to cave in. It may have been on fire at one point, there was walls missing and floors falling though, probably the reason why it was abandoned in the first place. After a few granola bars and some more trail mix, and after loosing my lens hood, I hit the road and pedaled to Ashland, VA. Here I stopped by this southern lunch spot and got really good veggie sandwich, some pasta and fruit salad, and a cookie.
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE TO PART 3
posted by Brian Barnhart at
11:56 AM
