Day 77 – Fairfax, VA to Fredericksburg, VA

Day 77 - Fairfax, VA to Fredericksburg, VA, Oct. 4th, 2015

Fairfax

Fredericksburg,

107

66,487

6825,2

4240,98

19

18,74

605

605

Good to be on the road again after three days of being pampered by my wonderful friends in Fairfax. First stop on my tour to the historic towns of Virginia: Fredericksburg .... The route there was not particularly nice because there was no alternative but to take the "less travelled" highway as opposed to the Interstate - see image below. Knowing about the battles in and around that city is one thing but seeing those places and landmarks plus watching a 20-minute documentary in the visitor's center is another. The town keeps its national heritage alive and even marks Confederate trenches and cannon sites in their originial places. My first impression of my warmshowers hosts for tonight was a garage full of bicycles including two tandems! Bruce  is active with the boyscouts and he regularly takes groups of boys on cycling tours. In summer 2014 a group of 10 boys between 15 and 18 plus 4 adults, rode from San Francisco, Stinson Beach, to Virginia Beach, VA in 64 days, accompanied by two vehicles. Among other things Bruce was so overwhelmed by the hospitality the whole group encountered with warmshowers hosts that he decided to give some of that back to the cycling community. So he and his wife hosted 68!! cyclists in 18 months. Wow, that's impressive. Fredericksburg is situated at a crossroad of cycling routes ... The concept underlying this tour is interesting: the boys (all scouts) have to show a lot of dedication in the phase of preparation, they have to find their own funding through work (washing cars etc), they have to develop enough stamina on a bike to do not only 100 miles, but 200 miles in 24 hours, and they sign all those rules including the rule that they cannot back out at the last moment. Bruce sees all this as a wonderful way to develop the young people's personality - and I agree. The sense of achievement after the trip must be very rewarding indeed. Finally, Bruce gave me the information about a recently opened cycling path from Richmond to Williamsburg, the Virginia Capital Trail,  which I will take ....