Day 9: Charlottesville, VA to Rockfish Gap, VA
May 25, 2011

We hung a right at Charlottesville and started heading westward… Today was a quasi-break day. We kept the mileage and speed down in an effort to make some progress but generally rest our legs and knees. From Charlottesville things quickly became pretty rural, with beautiful (though daunting) views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. We took a mid-morning break at Wyant’s General Store in White Hall to refill on water, eat a grease-bomb grilled cheese sandwich (guess who) and sign the proprietor’s bike guest book. It is COUNTRY out here. Another exciting development was the presence of Transamerica bike ride road signs all over the place, which made navigating a lot easier. We had a late lunch in Afton where we went on a fruitless search for the infamous cookie lady who feeds/hosts bicyclists. She wasn’t home but fortunately, we had our own cookies (thank goodness!). We rode up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and decided to stop for the night in a really creepy motel. We spent the afternoon catching up on emails, resting our legs, and….dum, dum, dum (suspense)… eating! Oh, and also enjoying an amazing view of the valley below.

  • Starting point: Charlottesville, VA
  • Ending point: Rockfish Gap, VA
  • Slept: motel
  • Miles: 32.91
  • Average speed: 7.2
  • Notes: slow and short on purpose, to preserve our knees and legs