Lake Anna Ride - Kinetic

     We had the car loaded early today.  I was fortunate enough to have a day to go with M to Lake Anna and ride the Kinetic Half course (or 41 miles of it anyway).  Part of the course doubles over itself so we just did it once.  We had to keep it short so we would be back for kids after school and so Scooby wouldn't go crazy.

     I was thinking the fog would be burned off by the time we got up there as it takes just shy of 1.5 hrs to get there, but nothing doing.  We headed out as the fog was lifting though, but it was frigid.  Within a few miles the fog was freezing on my gloves and M couldn't feel her fingers or toes.  We ride on.

     The scenery was nice but not as nice as the roads around Charlottesville.  It was much flatter, which made for quicker riding.  

     You always see places like this in central Virginia if you take the time to travel the back roads.  One of the best things about biking is getting to see places and areas that most people never see.  Tons of farms, stables, and huge fields were on the landscape today.  No wildlife to speak of, but a fair amount of roadkill (no pics though, maybe next time).

     As M pulls away from me on the straightaway, here is a great look at the Virginia landscape around Lake Anna.  I must say I am usually very prepared for rides on roads I have never ridden, but today was not one of those days.  I took care to print off the ride the other day, but managed to leave it in the car.  No worries, I can usually remember the roads once I look at them on the map, this is where I got into trouble.  I managed to add a total of 6 miles to this ride with 1 wrong turn and 1 missed turn, but we made it back unscathed.

     Here is a great view of the beach/lake from up on the road.  If you are one of the many people who are participating in the Kinetic Sprint or Kinetic Half this is where you will swim.  It's a great venue.

     As I rode today there was one thing that kept entering my mind.  Many of the houses are small, old, and by the commoners standards, run down.  I went on 2 mission trips a few years ago into the mountains of Appalachia and the biggest things I learned from these 2 trips was to never judge a person for their present situation.  As a Christian you accept a person for who they are in the present.  You accept them as they are, not for what they have done in the past.  We are not given the luxury to judge, that will be left to someone else much bigger.  This has been, and continues to be, a very tough lesson to keep in mind.
Later