Synopsis: My husband and I had an awesome time doing 98 miles of cycling over 4 days in Northern Virginia where moderate weather, extremely well-marked routes (different each day) and wonderful, folksy water stops made this an event I hope well make an annual tradition.
Rambling report:
I've only been on two organized bike rides: the Tour de Blueberry (13 miles) and the Bull Moon Ride (17 miles). I'm pretty new to cycling, having started riding only to participate in a couple of tris at Walt Disney World with my daughters. A couple of months ago I wrote an email to my husband imploring him to ride away for the weekend with me to Emporia Virginia for a 4-day cycling event called the Great Peanut Tour. I argued that our 17-yr-old teens were perfectly capable of looking after their 10-yr-old brother, especially with my mom and our neighbors checking in on them. I noted that we had not been able to spend time together alone as a couple since the kids were born my fiscally conservative husband even felt dating was too pricey, considering babysitters, movie prices, and restaurant expenses but I maintained that after 20 years of marriage, we deserved one weekend away alone. I clicked Send and held my breath.
I got an almost immediate reply that he thought it was a bit premature celebrating our 20th anniversary one month and one year from its actual date (19 years! Dang! -- Numbers never were my friends), but that the Peanut Tour sounded like fun and I could sign him up.
After a rather tiring weekend for me at
Disneyland doing the 5K and half, and not sleeping well the entire trip (my body is geared to getting up very early on the East Coast), I was more than a little nervous about the four days of cycling at the end of my birthday week. By the time my husband picked me up at the airport on Wednesday, I was already trying to talk him out of making the trip there was the whole idea of riding on the highway (which we never do, as confirmed bike TRAIL riders), the hotel and dining expenses, the idea that we had not ridden together AT ALL since his back had given him trouble in late July. His response was always in the we wont know until we try vein, so off we headed to Virginia.
The ride could not have been more suited to us. We were struck by the fact that the majority of the cyclist there were our age or older. The pace was relaxed, the miles of rural roads devoid of traffic and typically shaded, the water stops (which were actually buffets with not only water and Gatorade, but a variety of peanut-themed and other snacks and names like the Watermelon Rind Pickle stop, the Cucumber stop, the Cookie stop, the Tomato Sandwich stop, the Ice Cream stop, etc.) manned by gregarious volunteers and visited by easy-going and encouraging fellow cyclists. The entire 4-day event was an absolute blast!
We typically followed the 25-mile routes each day (with the addition of the 13-mile Peanut Tour on Saturday) but next year may go for the 50- or 81-mile route one of the days of the tour. On the first day, my husband learned a nutrition lesson. As a one-meal-a-day guy, he hadnt eaten and gave out of gas 10 miles into our first ride and we took the sag wagon in. He learns quickly, though, and had a light breakfast the other three days and finished the 25 milers easily the rest of the trip. We were both a bit saddle-sore by last night, but very happy we made the trip.
The Great Peanut Tour also offers a century ride for you super cylists and the option of combining the routes for any number of miles your heart desires, with sag wagons and water stops in abundance. Id encourage anyone to go, though it seems geared more to recreational cyclists since everyone does their own timing and there are no winners or prizes and I heard volunteers many times say This is a TOUR; not a RACE. Its a great way to try longer distances in a well-supported environment.
GO! WISH Team GO! 
well except for wet grass and stinky skunks LOL Glad you had a great day with your niece 
More later. 
Now get to writing that race report!!!!
