Stepping out of my Comfort Zone

Today I found myself with an appointment in the Lake Anna area so I decided to take my bike and do a ride. I am not usually one to ride a route unseen as I have had a few terrible experiences with mucho traffic, huge trucks buzzing me or roads not being where the map says they are. But I thought what the hell, how bad can it be in that area. I mapped out a route the night before looking for a comfortable ride of about 32 miles with only a few turns.


I was rewarded with a beautiful day, quiet country roads traversing 4 counties, Louisa, Spotsylvania, Caroline and Hanover. It was such a great ride the roads were empty, and really mean that. On some roads maybe one car passed me.

I hit one snag when one of my turns was not really a road but crushed stone with major potholes. Rather than risk a flat I made a quick detour which added 3 more miles but I didn't mind.

The route is what I would call rolling, with a good mix of short steep climbs, rollers and false flats. Good climbers would probably laugh and say it was flat. See for yourself.