Lynchburg, VA

8.11.2010

Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m savoring the rides more now that the trip is winding down, but for the past few days the riding has been really nice. I was sweeping (last man in) today, with Zach Wilcox. Zach is a true southern gentleman. We talked for a little bit about deer and duck hunting, as well as the sex appeal that comes with having a southern accent. The conversation seemed very fitting as we rode through Virginia tobacco fields. The road was pretty hilly in the beginning and Zach was having problems with the Tendonitis in his knee. He made it to mile 45 before the pain became too much and he had to rack up.

Steve brought me up to the next crew stop, and I was able to meet up with the last pace line and continue riding. I made it about 5 miles with the new group before I blew a spoke in my back wheel. We stopped to check it out, and Hurvey described it as “A big pringle”. I couldn’t ride any further on it, and had to rack up my bike to lodging. It’s at the bike shop getting fixed right now. I ended up doing about 50 miles on the day, out of a possible 70. That means I’ve got some extra pushups to do tonight.

When we got to lodging I did an interview for ABC News on channel 13. Hopefully it will be on the internet and I’ll be able to find it later, because we don’t have a TV where we’re staying tonight at the local High School. It would be a cool thing to have to remember the day, in addition to the pictures I took of the scenic ride.

Our friendship visit was at the Lynchburg ARC organization. We had a huge pasta dinner and some dancing later on. I was sitting at a table with two 4 year old twin boys, who spent most of dinner pretending they were robots. It was one of the few chances I’ve had to interact with kids on the trip, so I had a lot of fun. Avery ran on alternating current, and had to be plugged into the wall every once in a while. Averit had batteries that ran for maybe 5 minutes at a time and needed to be changed regularly. When we got out on the dance floor, I got to dance with a girl named Tammy who was in a wheelchair and a girl named Sarah who had been coming to the ARC for 2 years. Tammy was the conductor of our “Soul Train” conga line for a little while, and Sarah explained to me that this was her second favorite dance so far. Her favorite was one time last year where the news crews came to cover the dance. I’d say we are doing pretty well when stacked up against that one.