Day 2 - Glendale, VA to Mineral, VA - 82 mi

I plan to write about 60 blog entries – it is interesting to think about how to start each entry. Should I begin with a quote, a common first sentence, or just jump right into the day’s events?

Any who, last night provided me some nervous excitement as I made a bad judgement about where to cook my dinner. After boiling water and cooking some lentils I went ahead and attempted to drain the extra boiling water ON MY FOOT! Needless to say I burned the top of my foot about the size of a nickel and had a large blister this morning.

I was afraid that today's ride would be extremely painful as I rubbed off the skin of a popped blister, but I wrapped it well with gauze and tape. I was extremely happy with the ride as my foot didn't hurt at all and I didn't even pop the blister!! Luckily most of my pedaling motion involves a downward stroke and my wrap job was A+ material.

I rolled out of the church this morning around 7 am and was rolling along well - enjoying the lower temperatures. The group I was riding with got off of the mapped path for a 5 mile detour early on, but no worries as we corrected ourselves and headed on for the long haul. Our trip today topped out at 87 miles (5 mi detour)!! By far my longest ride ever. Speaking of riding, the picture below is a typical snapshot of what I look at all day:


The ride today was super beautiful and actually really fun even though it was so long. The longest stretch we rode between support vehicle rest stops was about 30 miles. Over the length of that I definitely drank 3 entire water bottles - I was wondering how many gallons of water I drank today, let alone how many I will drink over the coarse of the summer.

We arrived in Mineral, VA and have setup shop at the local fire station. Many different community places such as fire stations, churches, etc. allow TransAmerican bikers to crash in their grassy areas and use their facilities. Today's prize = a shower! Here are a few pics from our dinner and camping setup:



Some minor knee annoyances that I had prior to the trip seem to have gone away after I raised my bike seat a little bit to relieve some pressure on my knee. On a different note, I will definitely have to use a bit more chamois butter to offset some discomfort I had today.

All in all, a good day, really beautiful terrain, and a fun bike ride. I still need to try to take some more pictures throughout the day (not necessarily for the blog, but for myself).