Capital Trail/Jamestown Island 3-29-11

Capital Trail/Jamestown Island Bike Ride 3/29/11

by Phyllis

The outside thermometer showed 31 degrees as I prepared for my Tuesday Group adventure this day. But the sun was shining and the gang was waiting at Jamestown Settlement for a great day of biking. Gathering for the ride today were: Bob H, Bob M, Bob S, Sandra, Sandy, Jean, Don, Carl, Bill B, Bruce D, Bruce J, Margaret J, Ellis, Marti, Brian, Jane O, Lou, Natalie, Ed F, Mark, Dottie and Phyllis. Introductions were made welcoming new friends Lou and Natalie, Bill blew his seashore shofar, the group photo was taken and the crowd mounted up and headed down the Capital Trail. We saw a bald eagle right away, just about the same time Jean had a wardrobe malfunction and Don realized he had no air in his tire. Brian was quite the salesman, convincing Don to return to the parking lot to use his power pump to inflate the tire-though nearly every biker in the group had an air pump with them. (Brian used to sell waterfront lots in Arizona.) The group spread out a little and everyone found their own pace. Some of us stopped to chat with an elderly greyhound named “Maggs” who was out for a stroll with his human. Maggs had once been a racing dog but seemed quite happy in his retirement. We chatted about the rising cost of dog food for canines on fixed incomes, milkbone futures and their effect on skyrocketing healthcare costs, the longterm outlook for social security for strays and the current medicare prescription drug plans for heartworm prevention and parasite control. Fortunately, Maggs had a nice pension from his track days and was able to make ends meet. The day was beginning to warm as we continued on our way. The four riders making up the tail end of the group arrived at Chickahominy Riverfront Park to no welcome at all. Where were the other 18 riders? They were nowhere to be seen. Could they have taken a wrong turn? Kidnapped? Abducted or vaporized by aliens? We considered splitting up to look for them but opted instead to eat some snacks. To our relief, the rest of the group eventually caught up with us so we had to share our snacks. We had a nice break at the park watching the osprey and eating our snacks. Pretty soon, all the snacks were gone so we decided to ride back. Everybody took time to ride up (and some all the way across) the Chickahominy bridge. The sound of lunch was calling and the pace back was pretty fast but we still took time to pause on one of the wooden bridges to watch some deer in the woods.

Back at Jamestown Settlement we found a private room in the cafe to eat lunch. Bruce and Margaret had baked cakes to celebrate Jane’s birthday. We all sang a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” and Jane ate 2 pieces of cake! She also got a pelican for her birthday.

After lunch, some headed home while the rest of us continued the ride around Jamestown Island. More osprey were spied as well as an eagle’s nest. We finished our ride back at the Settlement topping out at 25 (or 26 miles). No ice cream this time as we were pretty stuffed with birthday cake. We said our goodbyes and departed to the sonorous sounds of Bill blowing heartfelt farewells on his conch shell. When I got home, it was 61 degrees.

Another great day for the Tuesday Group!

View Bill Billing's photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/b.billings/110329TuesdayCapitalBike?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTzt-CK_62XqgE&feat=email#

View Phyllis' photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/crashneumann/CapitalTrailJamestownBikeRide3292011?authkey=Gv1sRgCP2b1P-n6rbbiAE&feat=directlink