33 miles through Nokesville

Yesteday my friend "J" and I went on a 30 mile group ride hosted by the Potomac Pedalers over in Nokesville. I've heard about the Potomac Pedalers since they are a rather large group but have never participated in any of their rides. They host a very popular century ride called  Back Roads Century that always sells out. I only heard about this particular ride from reading a post about it in a Facebook group that I belong to. It was a free ride to members and non-members so I thought what the heck.

overcast but temps were nice & low

Now, I never bothered to look at the map or to check out the elevation so when my friend J asked if there were a lot of hills I said no I don't think so because from what I have seen of Nokesville and portions that I have driven through it was relatively flat with only a couple small slow inclines. Well, I guess I was wrong, the first 17 miles were quite easy and scenic & I was able to get a few good pictures.

Moooooo

interesting way of decorating 

driveway to a gigantic house 

At just past the 12 mile mark was a country store and that was one of the rest stops. We stopped and chatted, took a drink & grabbed a bite to eat. We befriended a couple ladies who were riding the same speed as us & J took a group selfie.

country store rest stop

break time

group shot

And here is where we got mixed up. We started making our way down the road according to what we thought were the right directions & we even looked back to make sure some of the others were behind us. We even asked is this is the right way & they seemed to agree so we pedaled on. After about 1.5 miles we realized that something wasn't right so we stopped and waited but nobody was behind us. Oops ! We turned around and headed back toward the store where we were relieved to see a bunch of riders still there. We asked one of the guys if we could see his cue sheet since he was riding the 42 mile route & his directions were the same as ours after the rest stop. We just followed everyone else for the next 20 miles.

still trying to smile even climbing his smaller hill.

After the ride we were treated to a huge picnic with lots of food. They had a variety of burritos catered from Baja Fresh along with all kinds of desserts & various home made foods that people brought. It was very nice. We ended up sitting next to one of the ladies who we got "lost" with.

post ride picnic at the pavilion

Baja Chipotle Chicken Burrito

side of guacamole, seven layer dip, chips, ginger snaps, chocolate peanut butter cookie & watemelon