Day 27 - As Short as James Madison
At the end of the day today I found myself in Harrisonburg, VA, home to James Madison University. And it was a very short ride. Only 25 miles from Staunton to Harrisonburg. It was very pleasant, but I was going in and out of the rain. I actually put my rain coat on for a little while. But because the rain was kinda in and out, I decided to leave it off. And it was COLD! Although that's relative. It was cold going downhill. It was warm going uphill. And being the Shenandoah Valley it was both uphill and downhill. Tomorrow, it's expected to reach a high of 59 degrees. It looks like it will be pleasant for the rest of my rides into Gettysburg, but I'm hearing it may get hot after that.
I had to take the bike to a bike store. The guys at Bluestone Bike & Run were very helpful. They changed my chain and got my gears working again! I'm looking forward to how they're going to work over the next several days. Riding from the store back to the hotel gave me good insight to how my gears will work again. And they were very compliant.
I made it to a couple of breweries here in Harrisonburg. I was told to check out 3 Notch'd which I did. And a couple of doors down was Friendly Fermenter. Both were great. Then to the Capital Ale House for dinner and walked back to the Hotel Madison for nightcaps and sleep! I had to cut my brewery tour short, but that's the way it goes for an old guy like me!
I have to say I'm very happy riding up the Shenandoah Valley. The towns and people are great! I knew there was history here, but I didn't know how rich the history is. Nor did I understand the cool towns that are here. Staunton was great. Harrisonburg is also a great town. Maybe because both are college towns. Regardless, it's very cool. Probably if I wasn't on a bike and having to stop every 50 miles or less, I wouldn't get the chance to see these towns. I would just pass them by as I did a couple of years ago when I drove from FL to ME.
Google is doing a good job of keeping me off the main roads - mainly US Route 11, but I'm wondering what history markers I'm missing as a result! It's clear that US 11 was the main N-S road, path, throughway, whatever you want to call it, during the 1800's and before. While it has more traffic, I wonder if I should stay on it to see what happened!