Mineral to Mechanicsville

Miles Today: 63.22
Average Speed: 11.7mph

Total Miles: 3,704.79

The morning brought us sun again and, as always, a dewy tent. We had decided on a quick breakfast, and walked to the gas station for coffee while waiting for the sun to burn off some dew from the tent.
When we got back, a baptist church was setting up for a revival! We enjoyed the music being pumped from the speakers–some good ol’ gospel.

Leaving Mineral, we enjoyed the rolling hills, and kept our fingers crossed that the tree-lined road would stay shady. It was already getting pretty warm and by 10am, we were sweaty and hot.
Stopping for an icy cold drink, we realized that we were close to Lake Anna when a man came into the store asking for directions. We rode past a church group offering to wash our bikes and sell us muffins. We had no cash, and our dirty bikes were beyond the cleaning prowess of a church group.
The lake had little fingers that went under the road, so we got to see it a few times.


We passed through the town of Bumpass, and Evan and I enjoyed the obligatory giggles. Then, more open road.


We got really excited to see a double bike route sign–after turning onto a new highway, we found that we were on Atlantic Coast Route, alternatively known as US Bike Route 1. Cool!


It was a gorgeous day–tons of white, fluffy clouds, and the heat didn’t slam us as hard as we thought it would in midday.


We passed through Ashland, home of another old-wealth college, and rode on one side of the railroad, while oncoming traffic drove on the other.


Then, we saw our favorite treat: a giant bike lane! It was almost as though they had given up an entire lane of traffic just for us.


Eventually, the bike lane disappeared, but we did retain some shoulder to ride on, relatively free of sand.


We had called ahead to a bike shop because, not knowing where to sleep, we figured they might help us. The owner, Mark, informed us that there was a grassy patch out back, and we were welcome to camp there. The shop closed at 4, and as we got closer and closer to that time, and closer and closer to the big city of Richmond, both our ride and the roads got more hectic.
We found ourselves stressing when we realized that the bike shop was on the other side of a fairly large town, and called the bike shop to see if they might wait two minutes after closing so we could meet them and thank them.
As we booked it across town, two boys on mountain bikes appeared on the street behind us. We crossed a busy road together, at which point they asked where we were headed. Once we told them, they said, “Follow us! We know a safer and quicker way.”


Our heroes for the afternoon. Thanks, Mitch and Josh!
We pulled up at about 4:02, to find a locked door. Mitch and Josh headed off to Dairy Queen, where they were originally intending to go, and we knocked on the door, peeked in the window, and called the shop.
Then we saw someone walking to the door! Randy was still inside!


I was able to get a sticker from the shop to stick on my bike frame, and Randy showed us to the back of the shop, where a small orchard and a big garden awaited us! There was a hose for water, a dumpster, grass, and as far as we could tell, no floodlights to illuminate our tent at night.
We ended up pitching our tent under two apple trees, excited to have our own little fairy forest.


Randy informed us that the landlord probably wouldn’t mind if we had a few carrots or peas from the garden, so I tried a (very sour) apple, a yellow carrot, an orange carrot, and some sugar snap peas. Amazing! What a lucky day.