Capital Trail 4/9/24

The Tuesday Group had a lovely ride on the Capital Trail today.  Temperatures were in the 70s with no humidity and a light breeze.  It was a perfect Spring day to spend time cycling with friends! Riding today were Bruce D, Bruce M, Lance, Ellis, Marti, Ron, Sue, Jody, Allen, Catherine, Ed, Kevin and me, Phyllis.  We all rendezvoused at Chickahominy Riverfront Park a little later than usual due to delays at the HRBT.  But we all made it!  We caught up a little bit with one another, did our safety talk and headed out on the Capital Trail.  We headed east this time to ride ~6 miles to our first stop at Jamestown Settlement Visitor Center.  The trail was not very busy this morning and there was relatively little traffic for our road crossings.  We enjoyed the mild Spring day viewing the blooming redbuds, dogwoods and some lingering forsythia.  There were even some azaleas starting to bloom.  We maintained a comfortable pace soon arriving at the Visitor Center. After a short break most headed out to do the Jamestown Island loop.  We rode into the National Park across the causeway to Jamestown Island.  Osprey greeted us with loud screeches above.  Everyone did the 5 mile loop.  It was closed to cars due to turtle activity so that made for a really good ride.  We stopped at Black Point where we saw a bald eagle perched in a tree.  We met another cyclist who said he would soon be celebrating his 86th birthday!  He told us about the barn swallows returning to Jamestown Island this time of year-they nest under one of the wooden bridges.  We took a short break at the bridge and watched the swallows weaving back and forth across the stream.  They were fun to watch!  We then continued on to finish the loop.  (I don't think we saw any turtles crossing the road!) We headed back across the causeway and on to the Visitor Center.  We took another short break there and then returned to the Capital Trail, this time heading west back to Chickahominy Park.  Our return pace was perhaps a little slower-except for Bruce who, with a touch of a button, was able to put on a burst of speed from his e-bike.  We were all a little jealous! Arriving back at the park, most of us gathered at the picnic tables to eat our lunches.  Then it was on to Brusters for our traditional end of ride ice cream!  

Total mileage: 22 miles   Total fun: Unmeasurable!

Phyllis

And thanks to Jody for being our photographer today!