In September of 2004, I had an unexpected opportunity to cycle for a few days in rural Central Virgina. (My wife was working for a few weeks in the small town of Madison, and I flew back to visit her, taking my bike along for all of the many hours while she would be working.)

I had very little time to plan any routes before I left…perhaps one evening googling the area. I got a little help from folks in a local bike shop, who pointed me to some routes posted on-line. And then I just winged it, making it up as I went along. I ended up with four days of good riding: stages of 74, 90, 71, and 75 miles, with total gain of around 27,000′. I loved it…had a ball. And I was tickled to have the opportunity to explore a region that I probably would never have visited in this lifetime, except for my wife’s work assignment taking us there.

I wrote up my impressions of the region and its cycling environment in this column at my BikeCal.com site.