But only at the end. I woke up at 6AM and drove through the rain to get to the start of the the ride in Middleburg VA. A picturesque town replete with antique shops, in the middle of VA hunt country. Temperatures were in the mid-40s, projected to hit 50. I was wearing my yellow rain jacket, and was very glad I was.
The ride was very pretty, country tree-lined roads, horse farms, large estates and fields of cows. These amazing low stone walls demarcate property lines, and line the roads all over (check out the last photo). I was riding with Carrie, who had hit her head the night before, was nursing a slight concussion and insisted on riding. I kept a wary eye on her the first few miles (sorry for the doubts Carrie!) but she did just fine. We were also riding with friend and alum Karen, of Rob and Karen fame, who was suffering terribly from allergies, and could barely speak - which was tough on her!
It was all going well, and I thought we might miss most of the rain, but around mile 30, I started to feel drops. Then the headwind kicked up, and the rain really started. Either one is kind of crappy, but the two together are cold and miserable. We pulled into the second rest stop at mile 37 and it got colder and colder, finally we just got back on and rode to warm up. And warm up we did. Mile 37 is the turn onto Snickersville road, it's not a favorite of the team, and I think I missed the ride that featured it last year. It's got rolling hills. Lots of rolling hills. Steep rolling hills. For about 6 miles the hills roll and roll. On the plus side, the rain eased off as did the wind.
I'm not sure what the deal is with Chilly Bleak road. Likely not named by a glass half full kind of landowner.
But it was a beautiful ride with good friends, and except for a few chilly bleak miles near the end, it was nowhere as bad as I feared it might be waking up at 6. Once I had changed into dry clothes and had some food, it seemed like a pretty good day to ride.
Thanks to everyone who has donated, if you haven't yet I'm only 40% of the way to my goal... maybe now is your moment? :)
GO TEAM!
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