Trip to NAHBS 2010, day 1

Well I left Ottawa by bus for a connecting train to go to NAHBS in Richmond Va. I had to get a drive to the bus station, and I wanted to be kind to my chauffeur. So I decided to take the 6:00am bus instead of a 3:00am bus. My SO/Chauffeur was woken at 5:00am to get me to the bus. One of the reasons I did not chose 3:00 was the weather was fine. Well shortly after leaving Ottawa the weather took a tiny turn for the worse, snow was blowing across the roadway. I thought not a problem the bus is just going to fly through the crap. Well the other road users slowed way down and my worry meter started working overdrive. And there went my chance to nap as I had purposely stayed up so I could sleep on way to train. As the bus continued on we passed vehicles in ditch and one was on it's roof. Worry quotient creeping up more, and I started to think that it was a bad idea to give 90minutes layover time. I talked myself down a few notches by thinking that a big city like Montreal will have bus lanes. Ha, when we got close to the city around 8:00am the bus comes to a complete stop a few times. Since I was at the very front of the bus I asked the driver if they still stopped at the train station. He said, "no, that they go directly to the bus station since last fall". I asked what time did the bus get to the station, and he said "around 8:40-8:50, and the metro is in the station". Well the bus arrived at 8:45 and I got to the Amtrak station to pick up my tickets in 15 minutes, leaving 30 minutes to spare. Well the train left the station on time to head for New York where I had a 6 hour layover. I was hoping to store my luggage in a locking locker while I was going to check out the city. Well since there are no lockers the only thing to do is sit and wait. It was nice to find out that the train to Richmond is electric until Washington when they switch engines. As I got off the train in Richmond I met some fellow passengers on route to the show. One of them was there to be a judge for the show, J.P.Weigle. I was able to get a few hours of shut eye on the train, but not enough. The early morning arrival allowed me to get a room and crash for a while. I then went over to see where the show was, and saw that there was a party that night in the hotel sponsored by Bicycling magazine and Blue Moon beer. At the party there was a contest to see who could ride the 500 virtual meters against the clock. The final was 1k, and the winner of both the men and women are and here There are a few photos to remind me of stages of the trip. Day 1