Yay rain

Rainstorms today. Looking at the weather map they are coming right at us all day. Luckily we missed the rain all day. There was a ton of rain to the north and east and a bit of rain to the south but thanks to our north westerly direction it kinda missed us until the evening.

There were two options for the night a campground by the town of Buckhorn or a church 20 miles further. At first we had planned on the church since it was free and there was a big elevation change to the campground. However, about 3 miles from the town of Buckhorn the rain finally got us. It was one of those heavy cold rains too. After coming down a hill at 30 mph into town I decided I was done. I'm out here to enjoy the tour not endure it. Alex decided to join me but Biff rode on.

Buckhorn was your typical small Kentucky town with one unique addition. 

It's church was a log cathedral. A massive log cathedral. When we went into the local convienece store to get supplies Alex was able to give them the wet puppy dog look and the called the pastor up on his vacation to get us permission to stay in the church's community center.

Long days fellow riders

So there isn't much options for places to stay in eastern Kentucky. I can either ride 20 miles or 70. Since I was feeling good the temperatures were cool with no rain until tonight I went for the 70. It was a nice easy day riding. Eastern Kentucky is beautiful country but depressing. The roadsides, rivers, houses, and towns were run down and dirty. Trash everywhere, so many old rundown houses that I no longer found them rustic or charming, and disgusting brown slimy water everywhere.

We were advised that the local tap water wasn't entirely safe to drink. At first I thought it was a ploy to get us to buy bottled water but they were selling a gallon for a dollar so that wasn't it. A little later I saw a notice from the water department indicating there was a high concentration of something and people should be aware but not need to take any special action.

Toward the end of the day when I was approaching the town of hindman that I was going to spend the night at I finally encountered my first fellow westward Transam cyclists. The first one was Alex from Belgium. He just graduated from college and is touring to see the country. He's having a rough time in Kentucky since he has a dog phobia. The other guy is Biff from Virginia and he can tell an amazing story or two.

We had all made arrangements to stay at the local hostel. But Biff encountered a local high school teacher who offered to put us up for the night. I declined the offer because I had already made reservations with the hostel and the hostel host sounded nice on the phone and was going to take us to dinner. Mistake. The hostel was just a big tent. The host never showed up so I waited around for dinner that didn't happen. I didn't know if I was allowed to go into the house to use the restroom. The air mattresses for the tent had been left out in the rain. Meanwhile the other guys had beds, shower, laundry, good company, and even breakfast in the morning. Ah well.

To Kentucky

Had a good dry night's rest at the church hostel and got moving early. I heard about a park on the VA/KY state line the had great hiking. The park is called the breaks interstate park and bills itself as the grand canyon of the southeast. Not even close. It was a beautiful park and would be amazing early spring when azaleas were blooming or midsummer with a family when everything was open. The hikes were nice easy with some cool rock formations. The view was neat but didn't change after seeing it the first time. Either way I am definitely glad I stopped by.

Storms again

Today's mileage 30ish.

Sigh yet another post complaining about the weather. Rain and thunderstorms were the forecast for the day. It started around 3 am and kept raining until around 930. I got out of Damascus around 1045 when it looked like the storms were going to be just north of my route. Today's ride was actually pleasant for the time I was out there.

I had three bail points at 20, 30, and 50 miles available if the storms came back. Which they did. Right after I got to a church hostel at the 30 mile point. I had planned on just stopping by to check out their trail register, turns out I just missed another cyclist today. As I was getting ready to ride on I decided to check the weather one more time, and it was a good thing I did. There was a storm cell with red  color heading directly for me. Within an hour it arrived and there was a lightning strike a little over 1 second away from the church.

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.

A cold wind blows

Yet another crystal clear sunny day with 10+ mph winds. On top of that the cold front is lingering so it was in the mid 40s when I started at 9. That being said it was still warmer than last night's 55 with the rain and wind. Not much to say just a nice easy day with great views, almost no traffic, and a strong cold wind blowing. I only did around 40 miles before calling it a day. The wind and cold were just miserable.

Leaving Blacksburg

Finally made it out of Blacksburg, after 130 but I made it. I had planned on leaving at 9 but I started a project of improving how my phone is stored on the bike. I have this phone holder that is basically a giant rubber band. It works my phone only fell off once when I didn't secure the rubber band properly. The problem is the band either crosses the center of my screen, which is the part I need to see my maps, presses on the power or volume buttons, or makes it so I can't unlock it. Until now I've been using a twisty tie to arrange the rubber band from pressing any buttons. But that makes the phone seem a bit unsecure to me so I was looking for a better method. My friend suggested we use magnets super glued to the phone and my "gas can" bag. After a couple of hours with super glue on all my fingers we finally decided that the magnets won't work. The glue just wasn't strong enough. The magnets kept getting ripped off the phone. What we ended up ding was using a couple strips of Velcro in the same configuration. So far that is working great.

I didn't make it far from Blacksburg. It was cold. There was a strong wind and threatening to rain. So at 5pm as I was riding by a hotel I decided to see if there was a room. There was but it was graduation week at Virginia Tech so the room rates were high, too high. Luckily the hotel manager was there and gave me a room at the normal rate after hearing my its freezing story. On top of that they gave me a fancy room with a hot tub in it. Totally worth it.

To Blacksburg and zeros

The app ate my posts so here is a summary. 

Yet another gorgeous ride along a river valley through Virginia farm country. The weather was perfect just warm enough to be comfortable but cold enough that I never broke a sweat. The wind from yesterday was still around but I'm starting to get used to it.

Except for a big climb into Blacksburg the entire ride was just little rolling hills. They were just the right size. The downhills were long enough to allow my legs to recover and steep enough to give me momentum to make 3/4th the way up the next one. The uphills were steep enough to require low gear but not steep enough for max granny gear.

I have a college friend in Blacksburg I got a hold of and talked into letting me hang out for a day off and some hiking. After the surprise trip up to Harrisonburg I have been taking it easy and moving slow. Only doing 40-50 miles a day. The slow pace and effortless riding meant my body didn't really need a zero but there are no more friends between here and Colorado so I might as well enjoy the company while I can.

The first zero was only a zero from biking. I ended up taking my friend wife on a hike yup McAfee's knob. When I did the AT the overlook was fogged out so I wasn't able to get a picture from the top.

The second zero was hanging out watching movies and doing town chores. I spent a lot of time trying to get rid of my old Sprint phone. When I switched to Verizon I wasn't able to get rid of it until I got my final bill. I didn't get that until I started riding so I've been carrying my old phone this whole time. 

Windy

What a gorgeous day. That storm yesterday blew everything away so outs nothing but blue skies. The temps dropped down to a much more reasonable 70. Just about a perfect day. That is if one doesn't factor in the 5-15 mph headwinds with the occasional 30-50mph gusts.

Butterflies on a windy day. 

Today's ride was up a river valley. It was basically a very gentle slope all day. There were some rolling hills here and there but that was all. It really was a perfect spring day for riding the other direction. Still a good ride for me but the grass is always greener going the other way.

As I made my way to the town of Troutville I ran into an accident on the road. This was a first for me. I've seen wrecked cars blocking the road before but I had never seen a house that had crashed and obstructed the road. Yep a house. A house moving company had messed up and caught a corner of the house they were moving stuck on a wall. It wasn't anything major and no harm was done too the house but they couldn't move it and it was blocking the road. 

Traffic was able to squeeze by by using a driveway so it wasn't a big deal. I stuck around to watch the show wondering how they were going to get it unstuck. I started to think up all kinds of grand strategies for how I would do it using cranes, breaking the wall, or some other expensive and time consuming method. 

Meanwhile the professional movers took some 4x4 wood blocks from their truck laid them out under the tires and drove the house trailer up into them. Wala house unstuck, wall in one piece, and traffic flowing normally before rush hour. That's why you pay the pros to do something crazy like move a house. Since it was basically rush hour I decided to call it quits for the day.

On and off the blue ridge parkway

No mileage today the computer reset.

Yesterday's big climb brought me up to the blue ridge parkway. The views were exactly how I recalled and paralleling the AT was a fun trip down memory lane. This morning reminded me why I never want to hike the AT again. Cold, rain, no views except clouds, and non stop hills.

There is an owl. 

It took me until 11 to cover 20 miles that was after starting around 630. The blue ridge parkway is just that hilly and I was slowly but surely making my way up.

It didn't help that I had too stop at every overlook to take a picture. You see I have a tradition that started after I bought my car. As its first road trip I took it along skyline drive in Shenandoah and the blue ridge parkway. On that trip I decided to take a picture of my car at every overlook. What don't judge it was my first brand new car. So now whenever I'm on the blue ridge parkway or skyline drive I take pictures of my ride at every overlook. I'll say it again, every overlook. Even the ones that are just trailheads or history signs. With wet weather I have my camera in its sack for extra protection. That means extra time opening and closing to take a picture of my bike, clouds, and a sign. I did manage to get one picture that I like.

So I eventually made it to the top of the blue ridge parkway (the section I'm riding anyway). Now that means down, lots of down. Steep, winding, wet, and terrifying down. Now I like to go fast as much as the next guy. But when I'm going down a road with a recommended speed limit of 15 to 20 mph, has signs everywhere telling people to put their car into low gear, and looked (and felt) like it hadn't been paved in at least 30 years I'm not a fan. I had to stop three times to let my breaks cool off. I tried pouring water on them to help and it instantly vaporized.

I eventually made it down and off the parkway. The rest of the day was a nice gentle downhill cruise of like 1% grade along a river into town. I got there and rented a hotel room around 145 right as a big thunderstorm rolled through.

Back to the ride

Today's mileage 44.5

So today was a fake zero. I ended up riding 45 miles to get from Harrisonburg back to the trail. Along the way I visited my old friend Mings Chinese Buffett in Waynesboro(a popular AT destination), did some town chores, and some shopping before returning.

I'm not getting back on exactly where I left off and because of that I'm missing one of the iconic stops(the cookie ladies house) but riding up rockfish gap once is enough for me. I'll redo this at some point in the fall since its not far from Maryland.

The real Virginia shows up

Today's milage 57.6

If the last few days have been something out of a Virginia tourism welcome guide. Today was the welcome to the next month of your life preview. All day long nothing but uphill follow immediately by down. I would be surprised if I rode more than 5 miles on flat ground today. Don't get me wrong the scenery was great, traffic almost non existent, and the temps nice and cool in the morning. I even gave myself enough time to sit down and do nothing during the hot part of the day and skipped rush hour.

Prior to today I was wondering what if I would ever use my max granny gear. Everytime I tried it out it was such overkill that I thought there is no way I'm going to need this. That was before I started riding these backcountry Appalachian roads. Now I'm wondering if there is a way to get an even easier gear to use. In Charlottesville I was in max granny gear and still had to zig zag my way up a hill.

Surprise!

Today's mileage 17.98

The reason I've been pushing myself and doing these 55+ mile days is so I could meet up with some college buddies for a beer festival in Harrisonburg, VA. I was hoping to get up and over rockfish gap by 10am but I was worn out and couldn't seem to go any faster than 8mph. When I let my friend that I would be about 30 min late he said he'd just come grab me from the bottom of the hill instead of the top. Considering my legs are currently jello it wasn't a difficult job to persuade me.

Lazy winding roads

Pictures coming soon(trademark)

So today is what I pictured cycling through Virginia would be like. Nice slow winding roads with forests, creeks, and the occasional horse farm. No traffic worth mentioning just me cruising along a nice gentle pace. The temperature was a perfect sunny spring morning in the mid 60s with a slight breeze. Not enough to slow me down but enough to cool things off. With all the tree throwing intermittent shadows it really was something straight out of a tour Virginia commercial.

I'm trying to get another 50 miles in today but I'm sore from yesterday. There isn't much choice as there isn't anywhere listed to sleep after that for another 50 miles. So it's either 50 miles today or 60+ tomorrow. The soreness is the good kind, the kind where every time I flex my quads there is a gentle reminder from my body about the strain I put on them. After a half hour that pain goes away and its easy cruising on beautiful empty road.

Thankfully the anti chafing treatment I've been using has worked perfectly. That was a concern of mine coming into the trip. I'm using the same anti chafing that I use while hiking and I was unsure if it would be up to the task. I think as long as I'm diligent in the application there will be no issues. Chafing is similar to blisters while hiking, everyone gets them and can be a show stopper until it heals. Thankfully both can be prevented with proper preparation and paying attention to the warning signs.

The ride went smoothly until I reached the lake Anna nuclear plant. I thought there was a tour of the plant available so I took a detour down to the visitor center to sign up. Unfortunately there was no tour, just a nice air conditioned information center that seemed to be aimed at middle schoolers. After the tour there was a dilemma I either continue riding at what is now the hottest part of the day, or take a 3 mile detour downhill to the lake to wait out the heat on a beach. I think I made the wrong choice and kept going. Hindsight says waiting at the beach had to have been better than riding during the hottest part of the day. I went from cruising along at 12 mph in the morning to crawling around 8 mph. Now that mighta been the slight headwind or it coulda been the majority uphill but I'm blaming it on the heat.

Since I pushed on through I made it to my destination only to find out the nice quiet little firehouse I had planned on sleeping at was having a spring fair. There were carnival rides, games, and even a beauty contest. Unfortunately that meant there was nowhere for me to setup camp. Now the whole reason I pushed on through the hottest part of the day was to avoid rush hour traffic. Now I had to bike 5 more miles over to the next town in rush hour. I definitely want to avoid riding during rush hour. The heat was uncomfortable but the cars during rush hour is so stressful. All the enjoyment from this morning's ride disappeared in 30 minutes of traffic.

Great start to the day

Today's mileage 62.58ish. I think I'm getting short changed in my odometer. The capitol trail had mileage markers and I was .5 miles short. 

Started the day out in the low 60s with a fog and occasional light misting rain. 

It was just cold enough that I was able to pedal full speed without getting warm. That plus the nice easy flat Capitol bike trail(it was actually a very very very slight incline) allowed me to make great time. 

I finally saw a bike route 76 sign. 

I  don't know if I missed the previous ones but this was the first one I consciously saw. In case you were unaware the TransAmerica trail is U.S. bike route 76 since it started with the bikecentennial in 1976.

Thanks to the bike tail I covered 35 miles by lunch time. The scenery was still great but not nearly as nice as yesterday. If I hadn't stopped off at President Tyler's plantation for a tour I would have probably covered 40 miles. The plantation was nice but other than a few unique plants it was just another big house.

Unfortunately all things must come to an end. So too did my time along the capitol bike trail. At first riding along the road wasn't bad. The roads were basically empty so I could just cruise along. Eventually the heat started rising and I started dragging. I'm not sure if I was dehydrated, undernourished, or it really was just took hot at 76 degrees. If it was the heat I'm gonna be in trouble. Thankfully I found a cute little shop selling freshly made limeade. I grabbed a seat and updated my blog for an hour while drinking they limeade. When I got back on the bike Iwas refreshed and ready to ride. I made it all of one mile before stopping at another historical site. I don't think I'll make it if all these historical parks, signs, and locations keep popping up.

After another hour wandering around the park I headed out again. Unfortunately rush hour traffic had started. Riding along during rush hour traffic with no shoulder to speak of is extremely stressful. I'd really like to avoid it in the future but its one of those damned if you do damned if you don't situations. I either ride in the blazing hot midday sun or during rush hour.

I eventually made it to my targeted campsite. A nice little former KOA with all the amenities. There is even the possibility of waffles for breakfast. What my trail guides was missing, and it was a major oversite in my opinion, is right across the street from the campsite is a brewery. Not only that Wednesday's is live music in the patio with a good truck. If that was included in the guide I don't see anyone camping anywhere else.

Anyone know what this plant is it smelt amazing. 

What a beautiful turtle. 

Yay flowers. 

More flowers.