Hell Week day 8: Last day on the bike :-(

Today was the 'Wine and #9' route, taking us on the hilly Old #9 road, which crests at a park featuring the 'bat cave' which is an old railroad tunnel. Apparently it's pretty spectacular when a huge colony of bats emerges from the tunnel to go hunting for insects every night. This colony eats over 25 tons of insects every night!
__Robin, Sascha and I rode this together, making for a nice leisurely day. We could have had a repeat of Day 1 when the wind blew over Sascha's bike, bending the derailleur hanger and causing it to throw the chain into the spokes when shifting to the largest cog! Fortunately she noticed it before we started riding again, and I was able to bend it back some and adjust the set screw so it wouldn't throw the chain into the spokes. The highest gear was locked out as a result, but better than a trashed ohmyfreakinggodsexybike! After the bat cave we rolled back toward town into the wind, but had some very scenic roads that were little more than paved cattle paths. In fact, at one point there were cattle standing around the road at a point where Sascha dropped her chain. Sascha has a thing about cows, so I had to get a picture of her misfortune! Note the very nervous look on her face while she's attempting to smile for the camera as the cows in the background come up to investigate!
__After we got back into town, we all went for coffee at the Java Ranch in Fredericksburg (excellent coffee) and I got some Texas barbeque - yum! - and turned in the Specialized (which performed admirably!). Alas, a long road trip, then packing and moving to my new condo, awaits starting tomorrow.