day 2: 5/27 (memorial day)

This year, we are doing a trip by Backroads. It the first Backroads trip for all of us.

This trip will be more challenging than most of the VBT trips we have done. This trip has three ride options every day, ranging from an easy 10 flat miles to a 62-mile Gran Fondo with over 5000' of climbing. We generally had our eyes on the middle options.

The trip began at 11:00 so we had the morning to re-pack, blog, and go for a walk around town. The downtown area where we are located is called the "riverwalk" and they have done a nice job of creating some pleasant public space.

Here are some of yesterday's pictures from right outside our hotel.

This is the section of the river walk right outside the hotel.

Our evening walk took us by Shakespeare in the Park, a free performance of Romeo and Juliet.

And this was right outside a bike shop that we will have to visit later to replenish Walter's lost supply of electrolyte drink.

Since Mike arrived earlier than us yesterday, he took a segway tour. Here is a picture he took of a local cemetery. Note the flags. As his guide pointed out: "we are in the south, after all".

Here is an example of how they have made the riverwalk pedestrian-friendly.

Of course, there is a bike shop nearby.

Here is an example of some interesting new architecture.

And some re-purposed.

Here are the boyz in front of a statue with a history lesson about individuals who were instrumental in advancing civil rights in a resistant southern city.

And this is a statue of the Mayor of Greenville during the 1970s who had the vision to modernize the city to be a tourist destination.

Any five-year old could tell you what Walter is doing to the statue.

This patch of synthetic grass is actually an outdoor skating rink when the weather is not in the mid-90s.

I took this picture because I am pretty sure I took the same picture two years ago when I was at the Southern Sociological Society's annual meeting.

We met our guides at 11 and after an orientation lunch, we were off. The first 10 miles were along the Swamp Rabbit Trail, a stretch of a rail-to-trails system that I had actually ridden two years earlier.

Here I am at the back of our bunch with Mike the first wheel but hidden behind Stu and Walter right in front of me.

The ride must have been pretty engrossing because there are no other pictures of us on bikes.

Here are my data: https://www.strava.com/activities/2402454654

We arrived at the Hotel Domestique, George Hincapie's hotel that caters to cyclists. It is a small boutique hotel and we had the run of the entire place.

Every room is named after a famous climb in the French Alps. This was our room.

There is a lot of stone and rough-hewn wood, giving it a very European feel.

And this looks like it could be someplace in Italy.

The mountains in the background are what we are climbing tomorrow.

We had a picnic BBQ and live bluegrass music over dinner. They were very good.