Half way there

Day 13
From Mechanicsville VA
To Emporia VA
Mileage estimated 91
Mileage actual 91
Top speed 32.2 mph
Riding time 6 hrs 24 mins

Yesterday was a wet day and when we got into the hotel last night, all was explained as the Weather Channel informed us that we had received the back end of Hurricane Fay before it finally went away. Fay didn't want to go away too soon and she continued into the small hours and even when we got up this morning the pavements were wet. As we sat down for breakfast it is fair to say that the heavens well and truly opened and rain was bouncing off the floor.

In such conditions, the staff will not let us ride so we were held back for 30 minutes until the shower had passed by. So, about 730am I ventured out and decided to risk not riding with my coat on; to be on the safe side I put it into the van, but, as it turned out, I didn't need it at all.

We were warned at Route Rap that, because of the rains, some roads may be flooded. If this was the case, we should NOT try to cross the water but report it to the staff who would come and look and take a decision on our behalf. I thought this was a little strong, but understood the safety reasons behind it and I understood even more when Shane explained that you don't know what could be at the bottom of the water; leeches, snakes and other nasty biddies and I then agreed entirely with what was said. Luckily, we did not come across any flooded roads today.

Now, at home, when there has been a storm the air tends to clear leaving a fresh day to enjoy. Here, the opposite happens and we had the joys of what my riding friend Johnnie, who is from Alabama and knows all about these things, calls 'up there'. What he means is that the relative humidity is getting 'up there' towards 100% but he estimated that we had an 'even' day i.e. the temperature and the relative humidity were about the same. Today's temperature was about 86 degrees and the humidity was about 86%. Unofficially it was described as HOT. Funnily enough the only time that I felt comfortable today was either when I was standing in the shade or riding the bike. Even better was riding the bike in the shade, but there wasn't much of that. I was literally as wet through as yesterday without any rain falling on me and the whole day was like riding in a plastic bag in a greenhouse with the windows shut, the sun shining and a fan heater blowing. I am reliably informed that it could get worse. That will be interesting.

We rode well together today and covered almost 100 miles at an average speed of just over 14 mph. Admittedly, there weren't too many hills and those that there were didn't cause any concern. (Well one did because half way up it Arlene got a flat tyre that we had to repair for her and we really thanked her when we had to restart and climb the hill without the momentum we had built up previously) That being the case, of course, there were fewer and fewer downhills to run on and this of course means that there is more pedalling to do and that is something the bottom of our feet will have to get used to for the remainder of the trip as the daily altitude climbed reduces.

We soon got moving along and at 11 miles we reached the half way point of the tour; at least, it's the halfway point as the staff think it is from their mileage charts, but so of us will already have done over half that total with our bonus miles. Mike and Debbie did a good job of setting up the half way point on the road and taking pictures for anyone that wanted them taking. The picture shows Johnnie, Connie, Anne and me ready to start on the downhill part of the journey.

Although we had reached the half way point of the whole tour, we had another 80 miles to go today so we didn't hang about too long. The whole route this morning was along the Richmond Battlefields Tour route and although that was made for cars, there were a lot of signs showing what had happened during the Civil war at many locations. Time was against us to keep stopping and starting, but I was left thinking that I should read and learn more about the conflict when I have time.

We went through fields of corn (sweet - what else), soy, tobacco and another small plant that (I was informed later at Route Rap) could have been cotton. Route Rap promised cotton tomorrow and I will be interested to see it as it is a plant I have never seen before.

We crossed the mighty James River near to Hopewell and had the pleasure of going across the drawbridge which, we were warned, was about 100 feet of metal grate. this is normally difficult to ride on as the grate is like a grill with rectangular holes measuring about 4" x 2". This means that you get almost locked into a line of holes on the grill and just carefully follow them. Today, as the road was still wet before the bridge, the cars had wet the metal grate so this made it a lot more hazardous and extreme care had to be taken. We all got across, but it was bad enough for us to advise the staff of the dangers.

Quite disgracefully we had got into the first SAG of the day first of all the whole group. This was a 'never before' occurrence (and had better be a 'never again') but helped by Arlene's flat tyre, we retained our usual position at the rear by the second SAG. In fact, the van was parked at a store which did food so sandwiches were purchased and we dined in the shade of the store awning. Everyone else left before us, but we did end up going past one or two of the other riders before we got to the hotel about 3.45pm.

We were still wet through. The hotel had a pool which seemed to be very inviting until I had got into my shorts and stood on the side; two people were already in the pool and I couldn't see the bottom through the murk, so I decided to give it a miss and spend a longer time in the shower. No duties to do today.

It was a long day but it is testament to our growing fitness levels that we rode as well as we did and got into the hotel at a decent time.

Tomorrow is a bonus day - 58 miles! - and we don't have to start until 8.30am. As Patty would say, 'Yee Haw!'