Day 2- Culpepper to WInchester VA

Sitting in my hotel bed in Winchester, drinking a beer, eating twizzlers, listening to music and blogging. A great recovery from today's ride- and yes, beer and twizzlers are a common recovery combo on the Anchor House ride (you'd be surprised what we eat during the week that we would never dream of eating in our "normal" life).

Today was a perfect cycling day to put in 82 miles. It was in the mid-80's, with cloud cover all day, and we had a wind from the south at our backs. The only negative was the humidity, but overall a great day for Virginia in mid July (especially compared to last week 100 F temps). We started out early, at 6:45AM, and made it to Winchester by 3:30PM (with a great lunch stop at the Apple House in Front Royal).

The route was near perfect today. We proceeded north out of Culpepper, with beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to our West. At Front Royal , we crossed over the Blue Ridge (at near their lowest elevation), and then had the Appalachian Mountains on our east as we proceeded north. We crossed the Shenandoah River at Morgan's Ford and further down the road, enjoyed a fantastic series of"rollers"- quick steep downhills followed by short and steep uphills- on a lovely country road with large horse farms.

There is always plenty of fun at the SAG stops. My friends, Joan and Peter, are clearly wanted for raising money for Anchor House kids.

View of Ken and his room mate Jack, about 20 miles from ride's end. Tomorrow we ride into Maryland, as we ride through Antietam and finish up in Frederick for the night (20 miles from where my son Adam was born).