Bike Shorts

The Olympic women's marathon is on tv. We are watching here in Appomattox, Virginia. Why is it that most of the women have bikini bottoms but the Algerian has bike shorts? Our marathon is winding down. As has become routine, we lingered in the morning and didn't leave the room in Roanoke until 9:00. What is unusual is that we took an hour and half to get out of the city. The motel was on the far side, so we had to cross town through a maze of streets. After getting lost and having to backtrack, we found the way. It was like going to the hedge maze at the park and finally finding the way through. Once that crisis was over, another reared it's ugly head. After coffee in the morning, getting lost in the city for that long is not good for the bladder. I don't have to remind all of my age, but at this advanced stage of life, when you have to pee, you HAVE TO PEE. Fortunately a restaurant appeared, we pulled over, and found a place in the parking lot for big O. Waddling into the lobby like a penguin, I asked the hostess for directions to the restroom.

Resuming the journey, I looked at the computer and realized that we had ridden 10 miles and were just getting out of town. A sign whizzed by showing that we still had 72 miles to Appomattox. Debate started as to how far our legs would take us. Traffic was still whizzing by as Laura had a minor meltdown. It's understandable, both of our legs are pretty wobbly. We decided that if the hills would let up, we could go the distance, otherwise we would stop short. These were basically rollers, but our momentum is about the same as a big fat dude entering the water in a belly flop. For the next 30 miles we went down the side of a drainage, then crossed the bridge and went up the other side. Each up and down involved shifting through every gear. The Blue Ridge Mountains were in the distance, but north of us so we avoided them. Western Virginia is much like Western Kentucky, rolling hills with big long hills, not the tight, steep hills of Eastern Kentucky, But even so we were pretty beat when we stopped at a convenience store after 60 miles in the heat and sun. Sitting down with our slushies, a local geezer started flirting with me. Barely able to understand him, we talked for awhile. He was a real southerner, saying at one point that he wished the south had won the war. At some point we decided to go the distance, even though once I heard Laura behind me checking out other towns for lodging on the Iphone. Setting off, we soon ran into a local rider out getting his miles. His name was Dale, some day we may see him in Colorado because he likes to climb hills. After about 10 miles and some conversation, he turned around for home. The Dukes of Hazzard car appeared in an intersection revving his engine. Wasn't that car named General Lee? That's what this car had painted on the roof along with the Confederate flag.

Appomattox is a sleepy little town in central Virginia, with it's claim to fame being the location of the surrender of the south in the civil war. On April 8, 1865, General George Armstrong Custer of Indian massacre fame captured and burned the supply train for General Lee's army. It was the last straw in a losing cause, so the next day Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at the Appotomax courthouse. We are going there tomorrow on our way east. The Olympic marathon is about over, with a 38 year old Romanian women out of sight of the rest of the pack. We'll resume our marathon tomorrow.