Bad morning amazing afternoon

Mileage 59.6

So everything about yesterday is repeated this morning. Cold, clear, Windy, and hilly. All that changes after lunch. When I stopped for a break the wind blew my bike over. Doing so caused my handle bars to get out of alignment and actually bent my kickstand.

 I was able to put the handlebars back to normal as getting out of alignment is what is supposed to happen to prevent breaking my break levers. When I got yo Damascus the LBS was able to bend my kickstand back to normal so no big deal.

I roll into a little nowhere town called Sugar Grove where I take a break from the wind in the local post office. The postwoman mentions that there is nowhere to stop until I get to Damascus in 30 miles. I thought that the little town of Troutdale had a diner but it seems to have closed. So I grab a quick bite in the local Exxon station before beginning the big climb up the mount Rogers recreation area.

On paper the hill is big, over 1500 ft with no breaks. In reality it was a piece of cake since the grade was nice and gentle. Additionally I was shielded from the wind by the mountain and the trees. So I went from freezing cold to a nice cool shaded climb. Just cold enough to be comfortable while climbing but not so cold that taking breaks was uncomfortable.

After making it up the hill I had a 20 mile stretch downhill into Damascus. Now the bike route follows road 58 the entire way which is your typical Virginia backcountry road. However, half way down there is a junction onto the Virginia Creeper Trail which is an old railroad that's been converted into a bike tail. For some reason the creeper trail isn't mentioned on my bike route, probably cause it's all gravel, but it was amazing. 15 miles of a gentle 2% downhill grade next to a creek surrounded by a national forest. I knew about it from hiking the AT but it seems most bikers miss out since it isn't mentioned. I cruised into town at 11 mph pedalling like once a minute.

Damascus was exactly as I remember from the AT except with more hikers. When I came through last time there were 2 hikers in town and some people doing sections. This time I rolled in around 430 and took the last bunk in the hostel. The other hostels in town were already full. There were at least 25 through hikers in town.