Virginia is beautiful!!

Today's ride was gorgeous! We rode along the Blue Ridge Turnpike or 'Skyline Drive' - thankfully this meant not a ton of climbing, but still amazing views. That being said, there were still some good descents and some rough ascents, but we rocked them. My group for the day consisted of Julia, Meagan, and Bryn and we flew through our ride and had a ton of fun. This whole group is amazing and I'm so lucky to be able to ride with them!

The ride started off pretty rough... Eduardo hit a hole less than 2 blocks from our host and got a flat, and we started climbing almost immediately. Bryn and I slowly climbed and then flew down the descents together. We have a very similar riding style, so it was fun to ride together. Due to some van issues (power steering), our van wasn't able to keep up with us and the boys scouted out a lunch spot. They sweet talked a nice lady into letting us use her driveway/yard. It was perfect as there was a lot of shade. We then got a surprise visit from the sheriff. We were a little nervous when he pulled up behind the trailer, but it turned out he was just checking to make sure we weren't making shenanigans at the house. He was really nice :)

The guys also gave Daniel's pedals another shot, but actually ended up stripping the pedal and made his bike unridable. He had to ride in the van the rest of the day, but he had some fun chalking inspirational quotes and sayings from the trip. For me he wrote, "Like 50 first dates?" as that had become a joke on the trip. At one of the hills, I chalked "Ice Ice Baby" to try to help people cool down. As soon as I chalked it, Julia exclaimed "I was going to put the same thing!" Great minds....

After lunch, we hit some good hills, but then it flattened out and it was pretty easy. We rode through a valley with the Blue Ridge all around us and it was absolutely beautiful. We had a second lunch at a convenience store and shared some ice cream, which definitely hit the spot. When we got in to the host, we were all surprised by how easy the ride was since we had been warned by several people that it would be a really hilly day. Our showers were located at a law office in the smallest shower stall ever. But we were all grateful to have a real shower and not have to use a hose :)

We played some Bananagrams while waiting for dinner. A storm also blew in, so I had to go outside and play in the wind and rain. Thankfully Bishnu is as crazy as I am and joined me! Our pizza was later than planned, so people were starting to get delirious from hunger. Thankfully it showed up soon and we all pigged out one some AMAZING pizza. It was seriously some of the best pizza I've ever had. Washington, VA may be small, but they have some yummy food! Town Hall meeting commenced during dinner and people went through and shared their Rosebuds - rose (high), thorn (low), and bud (what they are looking forward to). Many people's high was the ride through the Blue Ridge as it was so pretty and most people were looking forward to the century into DC. I think the low was mainly the heat, but I'm not sure.

Tomorrow we have a century (100 miles) ride into DC and I think most people are as excited as they are nervous. Early bedtime tonight and 4am wake up tomorrow to try to beat the heat!

Riding group for the day!

Pretty view in the morning

Sheriff at lunch and working on Daniel's Bike

Julia and I after conquering a hill

Amazing view :)

Relaxing while waiting for food!