9-Aug-17

August 9, 2017 – FarmVille, VA to Richmond, VA – 75 miles 

 
Today, we cycled from Farmville, VA to Richmond, VA! Our morning started with a delicious breakfast at Chic-fil-A sponsored by Wolfgang Acevedo, a Pi Kapp from the Theta Delta chapter (FIU). From there we made our way through the hills of the Virginia countryside. The ride was gorgeous and the backwoods of Virginia make for a great place to cycle. We were accompanied by Pi Alphas from previous years for much of the day as our route intertwined with their alumni route. It was fantastic to hear their stories about previous JOH teams.  
 
We finished the ride early in the day, arriving at lunch at a local diner sponsored by Mike Valentine, a three time Pi Alpha. It was a great healthy meal off of the bike and our early arrival gave the boys plenty of time to rest at our lodging, a local YMCA. 
 
We spent our evening at a park outside of the city at a friendship visit with a group named Sportable. This group works with Richmond’s differently abled community giving them opportunities to participate in sports and other physical activities. There, we shared dinner with them (gourmet tacos sponsored by Mr. Valentine) and spent the evening on a bike path trying to keep up with Sportable’s participants. They fitted the clients with specialized bikes to meet their physical needs and some of them might have been better cyclists than us! 
 
It was incredible spending time with this group and enjoying one of my favorite sports with them. Only a few short days till D.C. and I’m definitely going to miss these friendship visits. 
 
Dean Coffman 
Delta Alpha (Virginia Tech)