{"id":18838,"date":"2015-08-31T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=18838"},"modified":"2015-09-01T07:48:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T11:48:00","slug":"day-51-sunday-august-30-stafford-to-richmond-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=18838","title":{"rendered":"Day 51. Sunday, August 30 – Stafford to Richmond, Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"

An overcast early Sunday morning start\"DSCN8184\"<\/a> to avoid as much of the traffic as possible. \u00a0Hills began with the first pedal push\"DSCN8195\"<\/a> and did not quit,\"DSCN8193\"<\/a> so photos were at a minimum. \"DSCN8189\"<\/a>\u00a0We began to curse the Mattaponi River, as we dropped \"DSCN8190\"<\/a>to met the Ni Creek, then the Po Creek and finally, the Matta creek; having to\u00a0climb up from each creek bed. \"DSCN8204\"<\/a>\u00a0Thankfully, traffic was sparse\"DSCN8185\"<\/a> as we crept along the treelined road. \u00a0Pedaling through\u00a0Fredericksburg,\u00a0\"DSCN8205\"<\/a>the trees had dropped away and we noticed there was a slight in your face<\/em> breeze beginning to rustle the flags; that would not<\/em> be helpful. \u00a0We had pushed hard up and down the relentless long hills, reaching the south edge of Fredericksburg by 8:45.<\/p>\n

Our next goal was to reach Ashland by noon, but the hills were non-stop. \u00a0The silver lining being the\u00a0fast fly-downs and the mostly overcast sky.\"DSCN8209\"<\/a> \u00a0A carrot of a Hardee’s ice tea, kept us pushing up each hill. \u00a0Reaching the edge of town, made a quick detour for a photo of my childhood home,\"DSCN8213\"<\/a> then some iced cold tea. \u00a0Never in a million years, would we have expected to see this sign. \"DSCN8214\"<\/a>\u00a0Defeated after pedaling 52 miles in five hours, and dripping in the humidity, we limped to the next place a quarter of a mile away and chilled. \u00a0It was a nice, long refreshing break and just what we needed to continue. \u00a0By the time we left the air conditioning, the sun made a brief visit and\u00a0the temperatures that had held below 80\u00b0, soared into the 90’s. \u00a0The traffic had also\u00a0gotten crazy, the wind was now serious,\"DSCN8216\"<\/a> but\u00a0so close to seeing family, we were not discouraged.<\/p>\n

We’d spent just over six and a half hours on the bike, cranking out 71 miles, but all was forgotten when we reached my father’s home for a mini-family reunion. \"IMG_1569\"<\/a>\u00a0Meet my cousin Bobby, his wife Kim, my father and you should know the other two characters. \u00a0It was a wonderful evening.<\/p>\n\n\t\t