Thursday 19 April - The ride starts in earnest

The first section of our route

Williamsburg - Mechanicsville

76 miles
11.9 mph average speed
6 hours and 20 minutes in the saddle
26 mph max speed

This is where we cycled from (bottom map) and this is where we cycled to (top map)

Today we started the real ride. Although it was a long ride in mileage the landscape is flat and made for very easy cycling. The views across the James River from the Colonial Parkway was beautiful, and there is also very little traffic. Just before we arrived in Jamestown we met our first fellow TransAm'ers, two dutch men who are camping and cycling on what looked like mountain bikes that had racks on. Their bikes were heavily loaded with camping equipment, each of them had 5 panniers! We think we have made the right decision to travel light and stay in hotels along the way.

Today we have been cycling through the history of the civil war. We have seen numerous fields with signs commemorating battles. One field was lined with canons. It is strange to think about the hundreds of men who gave their lives in the civil war and whose lives were lost in the fields that we cycled past.

We arrived late in Mechanicsville and had the joy of dodging the rush traffic on the US360. A bit hairy, but we arrived safely at the Hampton Inn.

The weather has been cool and overcast.

All photo credits for this and the previous post go to Kristy. We have yet to upload any of our photos, but we will as soon as we can find an Internet cafe where we are allowed to upload.