Day 17 + 18: Roanoke Rapids, NC – Petersburg, VA – Richmond, VA (22.-23.5.2024)

Good morning
from Roanoke Rapids. Unfortunately we weren’t able to solve the problem with the broken spoke yesterday, so I didn’t sleep well. I wrote to a few shops yesterday, but with no real result. But first thing in the morning, a workshop from Littelton, NC (Lake Gaston Outfitters) wrote that they would send a mechanic to bring me a spoke and install it right away. Around midday he came, Gary, a very nice and lovable person in his 60s who even spoke a bit of German. The work was done in a few minutes and we were able to start today’s stage again very soon. This was quite strenuous due to the high temperature despite a slight tailwind and we drove through the towns along the route such as Weldon with its rustic schnapps distillery, Emporia and Jarrat relatively quickly. Shortly before Petersburg there was a brief confusion – we took the wrong exit and were suddenly on the motorway. But it was quickly corrected and we arrived at our destination unscathed after 95km.

The next day, the last day together for the time being, we headed towards Richmond and it was a short tour of just under 60km. The roads were getting worse and worse and you had to be careful not to disappear into a pothole. Richmond was also very hilly, so the heart rate was correspondingly high. After crossing the James River, the city was suddenly totally clean and well-kept and there were even designated bike routes. The destination near the airport was quickly reached.