Day 4 – Leap of Faith

Charlottesville, VA – Rest Day

Today was a much-needed rest day in Charlottesville.  Slept in a bit then made my way to downtown in search of some Wi-Fi to get caught up on some things.

I really like this town.  With the University of Virginia here it seems like a pretty young / active city, fairly biker friendly, and right on the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I made the short ride downtown.  To my surprise they had free public Wi-Fi on the ped mall there.  It was a beautiful day and everyone was sitting out on patios eating, drinking coffee, or plugging away on a laptop.  Found a nice spot and did so myself.

At around 2 PM I got a text from Will saying that he and his girlfriend, Annie, were going to go swimming at a nearby quarry asking if I wanted to join them.  Of course I said yes!  It was an old soap stone quarry about 45 mins outside of town.  There were quite a few college kids there when we got there and Will mentioned that word must have gotten out about the place because it had never been that busy the previous times he’d been there.

We had a couple of beers, soaked in the sunlight, and watched people jump from the ledge into the water.  Eventually all three of us made the 20 – 30 foot plunge from the top ledge.

After awhile we decided to up the ante and check out the other two adjacent quarries with slightly higher jumps.  The highest one was probably around 40 or 45 feet and we watch a guy do it right as we got there.  Will decided to do it and after watching him I worked up the courage and went for it as well.  Then to my surprise Annie jumped in right after us!  By this time we were the only ones left at the quarry and things had quieted down quite a bit.  It was really peaceful and serene without all the rowdy college kids.

After driving back to Charlottesville we made lasagna for dinner and just kind of hung out and chatted.  Tomorrow we’re going to wake up for a sunrise hike on Humpback Mountain just outside of town.  After that the plan is to ride 30 miles to Afton where I’ll start my climb over the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I’m not sure I’m ready for ~2200 ft of elevation gain over about 20 miles that await me after Afton, but I suppose I’ll just have to take the leap of faith and go for it!