Carrie, KY

The ride ended at the post office of Carrie, KY after 72 miles. I think the post office is Carrie in its entirety. The route today followed numerous hollows, narrow stream valleys between the hills. At the end was a challenging climb over a ridge into the the next hollow. As the route moved west the climbs were shorter but still steep. The most interesting was the first, a 2 mile long almost 1000 foot climb.

This is eastern Kentucky coal country. Coal mining is of both the hard rock and strip mining varieties. We passed several large strip mines where half a ridge line was gone. The homes along the roads are very modest with gardens and chickens. Today was dog day, with five or six chases. Fortunately, they were all small and cowards. For those of you who rode on the Black Bear trip last year in Kentucky, I can report the roads are just as good in this part of the state. After rain last night, the weather has turned fair under a high pressure, so the ride ended in bright sunshine and clear skies. (Matt K. - Sally is making good use of your present, she verified that high pressure has arrived.)

We are staying tonight in Hazard, KY. We struck up a conversation with a guy as we were buying a mid afternoon sub. It turns out he is from New Hampshire and came down to Kentucky to mine hard rock coal, even though he currently is "changing tires". Asked why he would want to mine, the response was "its dirty, dangerous, pays well, and I don't like the sun". He also added the temperature is always 65 degrees.

Breaks Interstate Park

Today featured lots of climbing over 67 miles. The biggest challenge was a 3.5 mile 1500' climb followed by another 1000 footer and a couple of 500 footers. The legs were starting to feel it by the end of the day. The compensation was more splendid descents of several miles each. The day started foggy but the sun emerged and so a whole day with no rain. We ended the day's riding just over the Kentucky state line so Virginia is checked off. I am writing the blog from the Visitor's Center hot spot in Breaks Interstate Park on the Kentucky-Virginia border. The "breaks" is a river gorge first discovered by old Daniel Boone in the 18th century. The park is on top of the ridge looking down. We will now be entering coal country in Pike County, KY. This is also the area of the legendary Hatfield and McCoy feud. The first picture was taken from an overview of the Breaks on the final ascent. We are staying just down the road in a local motel on the bike route.

Meadowview, VA

Today's 73 mile ride crossed over another arm of the Appalachians. The weather was cloudy to sunny with one brief shower and 10-15 mph headwinds. We seem to be in a consistent pattern of a rain threat every day. The route headed west for 25 miles through rolling country before ascending two separate 1000' climbs in the Mt. Rodgers National Recreation area to a maximum elevation of 3700'. The climbs were very manageable, several miles at a relative low grade. We passed under the mountain to the east. For those who are into high points, Mt Rodgers is the highest point in VA at 5729' according to the map. Sally and I climbed it once upon a time. The Appalachian Trail crosses here, and while we were stopped at the trail crossing, right on cue a through hiker emerged for a chat. He was from Australia and hiking solo. A man of few words when asked if he was going to Maine he wisely said he was going to the next shelter. After lunch at the "top", there was a glorious 15 mile descent to Damascus on a windy road with good pavement through the forest with a rushing stream on the side. Damascus is the junction of the TransAm bike trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Virginia Creeper, a local long distance biking trail. Sally was able to get out and ride two separate times to enjoy the country side. Today marks one week and my odometer shows 508 miles, so a good start.

There is an adendum to the 5/26 post. Sally came across another couple doing the same thing as we are only west to east. They started in April in Huntington Beach, CA. Their blog is http://www.meezan-thecrossing.blogspot.com/.

Wytheville

Today's ride ended in Wytheville after 68 hilly miles. I started riding about 12 miles north of last night's town where we had left off yesterday. Within five miles there was a 500' climb that set the precedent for the day. With the exception of a few river valleys the route went up big hills and down big hills (200-300'). There was lots of gravel on the roads from yesterday's rain. I now can appreciate the statement that Virginia has the most aggregate elevation gain for any state on the entire trip route. With the exception of a couple of showers the weather was good, with some sunny breaks in the afternoon. Kim and Liz, I am working on my tan, and you? The country side is a combination of woods and farm pastures with views of the mountains in the distance.

Our days have settled into a routine of sorts. Up at six, breakfast, and then on the road by seven or so. We pick a location 25-30 miles down the road for a first meeting, and then another at around 50 miles for lunch from the back of the truck. We are finishing in early afternoon. Today the meeting place was the junction of RT 11 and 52 in Wytheville. Wasn't so obvious where that was as it turned out. So I had to do a little circling around until I spotted the truck. But no Sally. I packed the bike and still no Sally. I walked up the street, and still no Sally. But wait, here she comes with a bag. She had been shopping for ... yarn. I know Marji will relate. Anyway, we find an inexpensive motel (no camping yet), get dinner, blog, and get ready to repeat tomorrow. Tonight we went upscale for dinner, the 1776 Log House Restaurant. It was good, on the other hand by the end of the day I will eat anything.

Christiansburg

The 78 mile ride today followed the valleys between the highlands. The terrain was rolling with a few steep but short climbs. Did I mention that it rained? Actually, off and on until the last 10 miles when it became serious rain with streams of water coming down the road and large puddles. Unfortunately, I got a flat tire not far from where I planned to stop about 12 miles short of Christiansburg. We are staying there tonight and drying out all of what I had with me. I am carrying a fanny pack with phone, ID, money, camera, and food. The plastic bag with the gorp opened. Picture all that stuff sitting in a puddle of water in the pack. But hey it's all part of the adventure. No pictures today, it was raining too much.

Blue Ridge Parkway to Lexington

I have looked at the elevation profile on the route map for days wondering what the climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway was going to be like and now I know. The hardest climb was up to the town of Afton on a county road just before Rockfish Gap, the beginning of the Parkway. The climbs on the Parkway itself were long, up to two miles, but the gradient was reasonable. Still I am glad to have the new compact gearing. Our host Howard accompanied me for the first 30 miles to the Parkway entrance. Sally and Margaret did their own 20 mile loop ride before Sally drove on to catch me well down the Parkway.



On the way to the Parkway Howard and I came upon a bike tour group riding a tour in Virginia. It happened to be on a fairly steep hill and as we approached we watched one of the men fall off his bike into the roadside ditch full of poison ivy. He wasn't hurt ---yet. We also stopped at the house of "The Cookie Lady" in Afton. She has been providing cookies to cross country riders for years and her house is full of biker memorbila. We saw her in the yard but did not spend the time to go in the house.




The weather on the Parkway was foggy to start and then some views opened up. It also rained from time to time. The balance of the week promises more rain and scattered storms. The downhill run off the Parkway dropped over 2000 feet in four miles. I was glad I did not have to make that climb. Tonight we are in Lexington after 78 miles.

Charlottesville

After a good night's sleep I started riding at around 7:30. The route today continued on back roads through central Virginia ending in Charlottesville after 62 miles. For the first time there were more interesting hills as an appetizer for the bigger climbs to come. I came across my first self supported bike tourist heading in the opposite direction at a road junction. He is on his way to Maine from San Diego. I think he kind of looked down his nose at me on my light weight road bike, or maybe it was envy. This meeting happened in the town of Palmyra that happened to be a meeting spot with Sally. While we were there a couple of other cyclists showed up heading in the same direction as we were. They were two college professors on a three day credit card trip from Richmond to Lexington. We hooked up for the final 20 miles into Charlottesville. Once in Charlottesville I managed to miss another turn and rode through the Main St pedestrian mall that I was later informed that I could have been ticketed for. Tonight we are staying with Margaret and Howard. Margaret was a rider on the cross country trip that Sally went on in 2006. They live near the U of VA campus so we had a nice tour of campus and a great meal. This will the last night of lodging with friends for quite a few days.

A Nice Day of Cruising

Our hostess Terry served up a delicious breakfast of omelets, potatoes, and raspberries. After returning to the spot where we left off, I took off for the day’s ride under overcast skies and temperatures in the low 70’s. After the first 1.5 miles I came upon the first detour of the trip, it was not too far out of the way. The route skirted the northern suburbs of Richmond. Good pavement, nice rolling terrain, and quiet roads except at major intersections. There was maybe a 300-400 foot elevation gain from the James River. I noticed quite a few snake road pizzas, something we don’t see much of in NY. Sally did a quick tour of downtown Richmond and we rendezvoused for the first time just outside of Ashland more or less as planned. The next scheduled meeting point was somewhat more of an issue as we learned to pick landmarks right on the route. With no cell phone coverage, it took about 45 minutes for Bob to be found. We were waiting at intersections only about a mile apart. Sally enlisted the neighbors who helped get her headed in the right direction. With a few more days of experience we will get the drill down to a science. There were lots of turns in the route so one had to be very diligent although there is good signage as the Adventure Cycling TransAM route is marked in VA as Virginia Bike Route 76. By the end of the day I had ridden 84 miles, of which 75 were actually productive miles. The others were the detour, one missed turn back track, and the Sally search. Tonight we are staying in the Rebel Motel in Louisa ($45), my kind of place. Dinner is pizza at Pizza Hut. Life is good.

Day 1

Maybe I will come up with more creative titles as the trip goes along. We were up sort of early (some people have a hard time getting up) and on the road by 7:30 to drive to Yorktown. We stopped at a Waffle House on the way for a double waffle breakfast, always a cultural experience. Bumper to bumper traffic with rubber banding all the way down. Those of us in NY may be taxed and cold much of the time but at least we don't have congestion like this. After arrival there was the obligatory pictures of the start, a good bye to Liz and Kim, and then I started riding at around 12:30. The first half mile was past a bikini beach in Yorktown, not that I noticed. The next 25 miles or so were along the Colonial Parkway. I had ridden this road once before several years ago, and I remember now why I didn't like it then. The surface is concrete with embedded pebbles. At Williamsburg, the parkway goes through a tunnel so you have to cut through town. I learned the hard way how to read the Adventure Cycling town maps since initially I read it from the wrong direction and spent 20 minutes wandering around the town trying to find my way. The route transitions from the parkway to a nice bike trail that eventually will go from Jamestown to Richmond. The last 25 miles of the day were along Rt 5 which parallels the James River. Flat and through a nice forest. It ended up being a 62 mile day so a reasonable start. Tonight we are hosted by our friend Terry in Richmond who cooked a delicious meal. Tomorrow we go for an early start that will be more typical of the days ahead.

PS Jim R, what were you thinking? What kind of precedent does this set for the rest of us?

Day Zero

Today is staging day. We finally finished loading the truck and closing down the house by nine and drove down to daughter Liz's apartment in Falls Church. We played around with the new GPS unit on the way down. It got somewhat confused as we drove down a new stretch of Rt 15 just over the PA line as it appeared we were driving through a field for a couple of miles. I would like to say we managed to pack light (well one of us did), as I discovered that Sally brought along our bathroom scales. Enough said. We had pizza at my favorite local pizza restaurant, Pie-Tanza. Then it was off to BWI to pick up Liz's friend Kim who is visiting for the weekend. They will be going down to Yorktown tomorrow for the start of the ride. Tomorrow is Sally's birthday so Elizabeth made a cake from scratch, blueberry lemon cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting. Very good. She also gave us matching jerseys personalized for the ride. Very cool. So it is up early tomorrow to drive to Yorktown and finally get on the bike and head west. Can't wait.

One Week and Counting

There is only one week to go now until the ride starts next Saturday, 5/23. I am ready and getting anxious to start. Today we have been doing final yard work and we have started packing. Next week will be busy with finishing up end of quarter requirements at RIT, really packing, and closing the house down for two months. I talked with a reporter from the Greece Post so there may be an article about the ride in an upcoming issue.

Yesterday I did a tune-up 100 miles as part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ride. It was my first time participating and it was a lot of fun. The group either rides by or stops at elementary schools along the route in Monroe County and the city of Rochester. This year Hilton was the first stop so familiar territory. The ride is on a tight time schedule so that at arrival the kids are all out cheering their little hearts out. At the stops there is an educational program, food, and then off we go. There was a police escort the entire way so we never had to stop in between schools. There were 227 riders, riding in pairs, so a fairly long line. The average speed was supposed to be between 14 and 15. But in practice the line continued to rubber band between slow and fast (10-20) so you had to pay attention constantly to avoid rear enders. I recommend it for a fairly easy century.