Day 3 took us 76 miles from Richmond to Fredericksburg with approximately 3,425 feet of climbing. It was shorter than the first two days, but after back-to-back long rides, “shorter” did not necessarily mean easy.
We rolled away from the Omni in downtown Richmond at 6:40 a.m. and rode together to the Governor’s Mansion for the morning ceremony. While we were there, I had the opportunity to meet Col Ewing, my recruiting group commander, who had come to administer the oath of enlistment.
That was another full-circle moment for me during M2M. I was surrounded by hundreds of cyclists helping tell the Air Force story, while my own group commander welcomed a new group of Airmen into the service. Recruiting is what I do every day, but seeing the oath happen in the middle of this ride connected the two parts of my life in a completely different way.
After the ceremony, we rolled out of Richmond under police escort and began riding north toward Fredericksburg.
And then came the hills.
There was not one enormous climb that defined the day. It was more like the road never completely stopped climbing. We would go up, get a short break coming down, turn a corner and immediately start climbing again. The hills were spread throughout the entire route, which made it difficult to ever settle into an easy rhythm.
On fresh legs, it would have been a challenging ride. On Day 3, with two long days already in my legs, every climb demanded a little more. The official route listed 3,425 feet of elevation gain, and I am fairly certain my legs noticed every foot of it.
We had hydration stops around miles 25 and 58, which divided the day into manageable sections. By then, everyone was beginning to show some fatigue. That is part of a multiday ride: eventually, nobody is operating with completely fresh legs. You keep eating, keep drinking and keep moving toward the next stop.
Day 1 was about managing the initial shock. Day 2 was about discovering what was possible with the help of a good pace line. Day 3 was about consistency. There was no single dramatic moment that carried me through it. I just had to keep turning the pedals, climb whatever appeared in front of me and trust that every hill eventually had a top.
We finished in Fredericksburg and my hotel was an Embassy Suites which meant my room had something I had not seen at all during this trip: a full kitchen.
Naturally, I walked over to the grocery store and bought entirely too much food.
After two days of piecing together meals around ride schedules and hotel limitations, having a stove and an actual kitchen felt almost luxurious. I made homemade pasta and garlic bread and opened a bottle of wine. I could not finish the bottle before it was time to leave for the Hall of Fame and Storytelling Dinner, but I did figure out a way to save it for the final finish line.
That evening brought everyone back together at the Fredericksburg Convention Center for the Quilt of Valor presentation, the Hall of Fame induction and stories from people connected to the ride. After spending the day climbing through Virginia, it was a chance to slow down and remember the purpose behind all those miles.
Day 3 was not flashy. It was simply hard from beginning to end. But there is something satisfying about finishing a day when the road never gives you much of a break.
Three days complete. One final ride remained and at the end of it, the Air Force Memorial.