To Lexington, VA
Today was the longest, and by far the hilliest day yet, and the riding was the most beautiful I have EVER done. We started bright and early with a 5AM wake-up call, but weren't leaving the house until our usual 7:30 because there was a lot of cleaning and packing up to be done, since we had been there for three days. We headed out some beautiful, rolling country roads on over to a mountain, up that mountain and onto the very hilly and VERY beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. We started the day at 750ft above sea level, undulated and climbed to 2500, kept climbing to 3300, then back to 2200, up to 3200, back down...and again and again haha. I was in awe of the scenery all day, loved climbed and jumping in the river here in Lexington was the most refreshing thing ever.
I have a record number, 54!!, pictures today! Some of the them are a few days old, and those will be first, enjoy!
Dinner at the Barracks, was delicious (and of course picture worthy), props to Emma and Emily!
Our route meeting at the Barracks, where I handed off the discostick
Derrick at McDonalds near the end of a hard day to Waverly
Jesse was still energetic somehow though haha
Joe was done for...
Sleeping that night was really tight, luckily I had a wall space but I ended up setting up a tent anyway!
We sorta-finished painting the trailer that night, thanks to lots of hard work! The bikes on the top are my handiwork
The back side looking good as well
The map looks legit
My lunch the following morning before heading to Charlottesville, I think the cheerios made the PBJ more of a breakfast food haha
It was Raleigh's Birthday!!
The route meeting that morning!
At lunch, the trailer looking even more legit
Sarah and Christina in C'ville, we checked out the shops downtown when we got there
I got a delicious Bodo's bagel, which we also had the pleasure of eating for lunch both build days and for both breakfasts they donated the day olds!
The L7 had been reserved for Lauren's graduation haha
Our sleeping situation was slightly cramped, with Mark Emma and I on one bed, but it sure beats the thermarest
I picked up some bottled cheerwine as well!!
Today!!
Kristen was relaxing before our long ride
Everyone getting their bikes ready at the crack of dawn
My sandal tans are pretty awesome already
The roads at the beginning of the way were really nice
Everyone was enjoying these first few rollers!
Especially Emma!
As we got further in, we could start to see some mountains
Sarah was crushin it early
The roads were really nice
Yay!
The bikes...couldn't do it without 'em
After that we ate some clif shots in preparation for the big climb, which I hit hard from the bottom and was by myself at the top off. Mark wasn't far behind, and neither were Emma or Zach so we rode back to them and kept on going. The climb had been hyped up for the past few days and people were freaking out a little, but it was probably comparable to Harding, just maybe a little steeper. The down side of going on up so quick was that I missed the Cookie Lady though...dissappointing.
Perhaps the best moment of the trip was reaching that very first scenic overlook:
The view was UNREAL, this picture really does no justice at all
It was epic
Gun show on top of the mountain!
As we kept on going, there were more scenic overlooks with truly breathtaking views
Emma had to hold back the tears it was so beautiful haha
All of our names on the road!!
Lunch was early at 30 miles, a pleasant suprise, and I made a organic pb (super runny), regular crunchy peanut butter as the glue, swedish fish, jelly, goldfish, pretzel sandwhich haha, it was yummy
Happy campers at lunch 
Jolly Jesse!
Time for Joe's nap haha
Mark had to pee like every five miles, we think it's a problem lol
The views were just unreal the whole way...I don't even know how to describe biking through them
Zach was excited!
I look like a giant haha
We kept going up and down these massive climbs, and my endorphins were going crazy, we were all pretty high on life biking through the mountains.
The water stop at mile 70 was an awesome suprise, right as we were running low on supplies I ate a delicious clif bar
We got off the parkway on US-60, taking a 6 mile descent into the beautiful little town of Lexington, VA. The descent was so steep that I was going over 50MPH (the only one in our group to hit it, thanks to the aerobars and full-size cranks!) for like a whole mile, absolutely cruising through the turns at 45.
After it leveled out, we were still hot and saw a very inviting river, and since we were the first group decided to take a swim!
Swimmin river!
Emma going swimming!
Mark is rockin the tan lines
Zach hiked his bike across the hard way haha
Jesse caught up as well
The swim was super refreshing!
Jesse was out cold once we got here haha
I got to spread everything out which is nice
And now I'm going to pack back up for a 5:30AM wake up call! Hope you enjoyed reading and the pictures!!
-
Kelly
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