Phase 5, Day 8. Appomattox - Petersburg, VA

114 miles. Spent all day outrunning Harvey but lost in the end.

Tobacco drying. Lots of tobacco today. 

High Bridge rail trail. Good lay of the land from on high. 

Fort Lee, VA. 

Covered a lot of ground today and it was nice to leave the climbing behind. It's never really flat, unless on a river flood plain, but it was pretty easy going and net downhill all day. 

What's left of the hurricane is charging past about 500 miles behind me but bands of associated weather threatened to catch me today so I left Appomattox as early as possible. Granny Bee's opened at 6am, 6:09 actually, and shoveled down a greasy meal for energy to start riding. 

Was feeling pretty good about myself with the early start.  So good in fact that I missed the first critical turn and had to re-nav back to course adding 5 miles to an already long day ahead.  So much for leaving early. 

The scenery was OK but mundane from what I've seen the past few days. Hills have flattened out and mostly covered with pine trees now. The roads are still quiet and in nice shape but the epic scenery is gone. 

Highlight of the day was 30 miles riding on High Bridge Trail, a rails to trails route. High Bridge is enormous at half a mile long and hundreds of feet above the Appomattox River. This bridge played a pivotal role at end of the Civil War and was burned by Confederate soldiers in an attempt to stop the advancing enemy. Bridge was restored and used for another 100+ years but now the only thing crossing High Bridge is a lonely cyclist. 

The weather approached from the west and I was headed away from it so it became a race. I packed food last night so I could eat on the fly. All day felt  like one of those Tour riders who breaks away from the peloton on his own, and pedals like mad for hours, to know they will all catch him eventually. I was trying to outrun the storm and it worked great until about mile 95. Had to bust out the rain jacket for the first time since leaving Kansas City. 

This was no regular rain. Suddenly roads flooded, I'm getting splashed by passing cars and I was glad there were only 15 miles to go. 15 miles usually takes 1.hour. Today, 2 hours. 

I've learned a few things during this adventure. For example, for every 3 or 4 ideal riding days there is 1 day that brings a challenge of some sort. Today was that day. I've also learned that one can ride a bike in 1 week the same distance a jet can cover in 1 hour. When you spend hours a day riding your bike you think about these things. 

Tomorrow is my last day crossing the country. It's about 60 miles to Yorktown, VA on the Chesapeake Bay. Of course I'm excited to end the adventure but this journey has been such a focus for me for 5 years I'm not sure how it will feel to reach the end. I will see tomorrow.