Incompetence, a Ticker Tape Parade, and a Damn Good Hot Dog

Day: 2 (Yorktown, VA to Richmond, VA)
Average Speed: 12.3 MPH
Miles Cycled Today: 82 (20 of which were entirely pointless)
Miles Cycled Total: 82
Mood: Wearily Optimistic

Put away that sunblock! Lose those shades! You're starting your tour off in a downpour! That's right... it hasn't rained in a whole damn month because we've been waiting for you to arrive down here in Yorktown, Virginia.

Susie and her parents, who were gracious enough to host me last night, dropped me off at about 9:30 this morning. It's hard to tell from the picture below (my starting point at Victory Monument), but that rain is really coming down (I'm not just wearing that yellow gear to be stylish):

 

Lucky for me, I'm prepared. Not only is my rain gear ready to go, but see that nifty bag on the back? It even has it's own raincoat craftily built in. It was a huge selling point for me when selecting the bag.

But the rain was more of an omen: here's what happened in just the first 6 miles. 

-I missed my first turn... not a big deal, except Susie and her father had to chase me down in the car and tell me... I pretended like I was just giving the bike a test ride, but I missed it. And they knew. It's more fun to pretend I'm competent.

-My bike computer, which tells me the speed and the distance I've travelled, wasn't working. Uh oh. That's not a luxury item... that's kinda necessary. So that needs to get fixed, and I can't figure it out because common sense eludes me. I assumed I busted the sensor or something while taking off the wheel... but Google found a repair shop just five miles away in the opposite direction. Perfect! 

Except they were closed:

Now at this point, you might be asking yourself why the nifty little raincoat for my bag that I was bragging about before appears to be caught in my spokes and brakes. That's because it is. It must've fallen off at some point due to the excessive speeds I was traveling at.

This item is a goner... and it took me 40 minutes of hacking with my Leatherman knife in order to get it uncaught. 40 minutes. When it was done, it looked like Spongebob had been given a ticker tape parade. The photo doesn't really give due justice to the absolute mess I made.

Back in NY, Hanna Googled another bike shop for me which was only another five miles away (still in the wrong direction) and pretty soon my bike was in full on repair mode:

Fortunately, the technician working on the bike was not that bright. And I say fortunately because it was the easiest repair possible... The magnet which calculates the wheel rotation needed to be nudged up about 1/300 of an inch... which I figured out. I nudged it with my finger after the technician tried everything else. We high-fived and almost hugged, which was awkward, but at least we were both incompetent together... I had to bike ten miles back to the starting point and re-begin. 

Of course, I left the maps I was using to navigate at the bike shop which I didn't realize until after I cycled the ten miles back to Victory Monument (that's to be expected though- I'm like Hansel or Gretel... one of those... probably Hansel... except on Sundays).

And did I mention it was pouring?

Had lunch in Williamsburg at a great place- Hair of the Dog it was called, I think. Damn good hot dog. They even filled up my water bottle!

Oh yeah... and I may have had a beer or two as well. 

The Capital Trail, which is designated solely for bikes, is incredibly maintained and made for a great 35 miles... I was so excited to listen to my iPod since I wasn't concerned about cars... except I left my earbuds in my car. 

Dammit. 

Made it through day one and reached my new host at 8 PM. Exhausted. Sore (the 40 pounds added weight, believe it or not, makes a HUGE difference! Who woulda thought?). Sleepy. But ready for tomorrow. 

P.S.

For about an hour on the ride today, I tried to figure out Virginia's State Motto.

"Virginia is for Lovers"???? 

That hurts my brain. I have so many questions about this. But in the end, I think it's creepy and it makes me want to shower. 

Look at all the others

Doesn't Virginia's stand out as... I dunno... gross?

yuck.