One final ride before we say good-bye.
Join us - Saturday, September 26 & experience
The Excusion that Built the Brand
Signature Ride at Upper Shirley Vineyards
Whether it’s your first or your 10th ride with me, I would be honored if you would join me. (more details below photo)
Optional add-on for Westover Historic Autumn Pilgrimage House Tour
Signature Ride
Departing and ending at Upper Shirley Vineyards, enjoy a leisurely, 14-mile, guided bicycle tour along the Virginia Capital Trail.
Our BASKET & BIKE bicycles will be available to the first 16 riders for $105, which includes your bicycle and basket, ride snack, boxed picnic lunch, glass of wine at Upper Shirley, and our $5 donation to Westover Church.
And because this is our last ride, I would be delighted to have others join us on their own bicycles at no charge. Bring your own bike and simply enjoy the ride, or add the boxed lunch and wine for $65.
Tour includes:
Guided tour filled with stories of Virginia and American history, nature, and viticulture
Comfortable, chic, 3 speed, Priority bicycle fitted with Nantucket bike basket and custom liner (available for first 16 people)
Signature snack, bottle of water, box lunch - We will enjoy a box lunch at Westover Church at the turn around. Visit to purchase tickets to the homes on the tour.
Glass of wine from Upper Shirley Vineyards
Optional: We’ll gather after for wine. If you prefer to dine after your ride at Upper Shirley Vineyards Winery Restaurant. Payment a la carte. Veranda, patio, and indoor seating are available but fill up quickly on weekends. We recommend bringing a blanket or chairs for setting up your own spot on the lawn by the river. No outside food allowed.
Our ride begins at Upper Shirley Vineyards, just outside Richmond, VA, with a tour devoted to the history of the Charles City County area and the beautiful James River, aka Yeokanta, that has rightly been called The River Where America Began*. Three nations came together to form this country we know as America—from early English settlers, who created a new nation of freedom on the shores of this river, to the Africans who arrived in chains to bear the brunt of the work in building the industries of cotton and tobacco, to the Native American Algonquins who already called this home some 15,000 years before.
As we pedal through cotton fields and past plantation land of Westover and Berkeley, we will face the inspiring and often uncomfortable truths of our history. We will bring in America’s future, introducing you to VCU’s Rice Rivers Center and their work on water quality and preserving the health of all rivers. We will bike on to a quest at Historic Westover Parish Church and grounds, established in 1613 and still in use today. We pedal back to the vineyard on what was once the original grounds of Shirley Plantation, American’s oldest working farm, to be reminded, this history is our story, and the truthful telling of it, our legacy.
Rising up from the same ground where tobacco once grew, there is now a vineyard. After our tour along the trail, we will come together at Upper Shirley Vineyards to offer you the chance to connect over a glass of wine and riverside lunch. We will have wheeled our way through 400 years of history to a modern vineyard for wine and celebrating good friends and shared connections.
*Note: The River Where America Began: A Journey Along the James is also the title of a book published in 2007 by Richmond native, Bob Deans.
$5 of each rider has gone to support our conservation and community partners: Capital Trees, VCU Rice Rivers Center, and the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation.
For this final ride we are donating to Westover Episcopal Church for their support these past ten years.