Saturday, July 17, 2004 - Day 51 - 46 miles
Started riding today in off-and-on sprinkles that turned into a downpour by the time we reached Council, about 30 miles away.
Started riding today in off-and-on sprinkles that turned into a downpour by the time we reached Council, about 30 miles away.
Better Get Used To It!
We sat out one rainstorm earlier while having breakfast at Haysi and having a chat with the fiddle/guitar-maker at the store. He showed us some of his hand-crafted instruments, including a beautiful Appalachian mandolin. He plays, but his real love is simply making them. We have his card (and web address) and maybe someday .... ;-)
After sitting out the second storm in Council for about an hour, we decided to face the music and head out over the BIGGEST hill to date in the East : "Big A Mountain". No kidding ... that's the name! And it was tough. By the time we reached the top, the rain had nearly stopped, but as soon as we crested ... it let loose again. Wet day. Reached Rosedale, had dinner, and headed toward Elk Garden, only 2 more miles, where the local Methodist church offers bikers a dry place to stay. Pow! At about 28 mph on a downhill, we had a front blowout. Man ... on a fully loaded recumbent tandem, that's an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. I managed to get pulled over w/o dumping it, but my heart rate was certainly over my doctor's recommended max. Once repairs were made, we cruised into Elk Garden and emptied the Bob trailer to dry out everything, and crashed for the night. You can tell the hills are getting bigger and the skies are less friendly today.
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
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Sunday, July 18, 2004 - Day 52 - 59 miles
We got an early start today and the 1st order of business was getting over Clinch Mountain. After about 4 miles of warm up thru wildly rolling foothills, we ran into the base of the mountain and started with a switchback that almost stopped us dead. I kinda swung it wiiiiiide across the road to keep from hitting the front wheel with my heel on the tight turn. Recumbent riders with minimal heel clearance understand the difficulty here at extremely low speed (about 2mph!) This had me thinking about what everyone says we have to look forward to on Vesuvius Hill (to get up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway). :-(
But I can't complain. After finally summitting Clinch Mountain (about an HOUR later), we got to see what those poor Westbounders have to face. At the top of the mountain, we saw a sign that indicates a curvy road ahead, 20 MPH speed limit, for 2.6 miles!!!! No kidding .... Westbounders have to CLIMB that far, doing switchbacks the WHOLE WAY UP! (Hey folks .... EAST BOUND is the CORRECT way to do the Trans-Am!) ;-)
Postnote - even after coming down the east side for two miles through really tough switchbacks, we eventually "leveled-out" to a more gentle section of descent for another 4 miles before getting to Hayter's Gap.
Well ... it was FUN for us! We enjoyed one of the coolest descents of the entire trip here, and it dumped us into a valley at Hayters Gap ... one of the prettiest little places we've seen in the East. We headed on to Damascus, where there's a hostel everyone has been telling us about that is shared by bikers ...
on the Trans-Am and hikers doing the Appalachian Trail, which intersects here. Very cool town (4 bike shops!), but we decided it was too early in the day to quit, and headed on to Troutdale, on the top of the mountain range topped by Mt. Rogers ... highest point in Virginia! Great idea, right? Well ... I can read topo maps, and even though it's a climb to a HIGH spot, the grade looked pretty easy. Off we went, and the gamble paid off. We reached Troutdale JUST BEFORE a storm passed thru. We stayed at the hostel run by the Troutdale Baptist Church, which included laundry, a bunkhouse, and ... (tah-dah!) SHOWERS! GREAT night sleep! Not bad!!! 59 miles that included two of the biggest climbs we have to do in the Appalachians.
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
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Monday, July 19, 2004 - Day 53 - 70 miles
We're in Wytheville at noon after a rolling downhill from Troutdale. Easy riding so far, with tailwinds! Not sure how far we'll go today as weather threatens us still, but we're getting close to visiting our buddy Linda in Blacksburg. Ironically ... she's on her way HOME from Rochester as we write. More later! Tailwinds! (and big whoppin' downhills!)
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
After leaving Wytheville's library, we stopped at a truck stop along the interstate and had lunch, then headed toward Draper - our planned destination for the day. After about 30 more miles of rock-and-roller coaster roads, we arrived in Draper around 4:30pm. Too soon to quit, we motored on to Newborn with the revised plan of camping at the State Park at Clayton Lake. But, after dinner at another truck stop ...
... near the entrance to the park, we spotted a bargain motel and decided to indulge ourselves with a hot SHOWER and TV - to check the weather channel! Karen shows signs of sleeping MUCH better in real beds than on a thin camp-pad. ;-) Even with a later start, an hour off in the library, incredibly slow service at the truck stop, and quitting early, we still managed 70 miles today.
Amazing what a little downhill, tailwinds, and adrenaline can do!
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
(- posted from the Wytheville Virginia public library, 7/19/04)
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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - Day 54
Up late, of course, but that was planned, as today's target was only as far as Blacksburg VA (42 miles) ... home of the third fastest (at time of writing) super-computer on the planet (at Virginia Tech - and based on a cluster of Macintosh CPU's by the way) and our buddy Linda's home. Linda is a former (and honorary CURRENT) member of the Rochester Bicycling Club who moved back to VA a few years ago. Once we started nearing town, we were located by our other buddy Kathy, who escorted us into town.
Arriving at Linda's place
THEN ... once we got in, Linda managed to twist our (mine) arms and talk us into staying for a rest day and going to her bike club's "L'Alpe d'Huez Time Trial" party tomorrow night. For non-bikers - "L'Alpe d'Huez" is the name of a stage in the Tour de France going on right now. America's Lance Armstrong is currently in the lead and is expected to win this stage - a time trial UP the mountain. This should be a pretty cool party - not to be missed.
So, we're enjoying some badly needed time off before attacking our own little L'Alpe d'Huez in Vesuvius in a couple days ride from here. Once we clear that hurdle and the Blue Ridge Parkway, we'll be cruising into the Tidewater region of Virgina ... and a finish to this adventure. More later!
(- posted from Linda's home in Blacksburg Virginia, 7/20/04)
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - Day 55 - 0 miles - Rest Day
A "rest day" means no biking, but it doesn't mean no fun or exercise! Kathy picked us up and we went hiking at a wonderful park not far from Blacksburg called Cascade Falls.
A Refreshing Break from the Heat and Humidity!
It's a 2 mile hike up the gorge to a beautiful waterfall that's about 66 feet high. Reminded me of a lot of places at home in the Finger Lakes Region. Sunshine and warm temps made for a great day. After the hike, Kathy drove us up the road which is the final climb on the "Mountains of Misery" (MOM) ride that her bike club hosts. It leads up to the top of the mountain where there's a beautiful hotel and a lake that you might remember from the "Dirty Dancing" movie. Tough climb!! So of course ... I have plans to go participate in next year's event!
(Postnote: We DID in fact go back to do the "MOM" in later years ... THREE times, in fact! Plus, we did another loaded tour that landed us IN the hotel another year ... another story!)
After hitting the post office and grabbing some Chinese take-out, we went to the party and watched Lance kick some serious butt on the L'Alpe d'Huez again. I was energized!
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
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Thursday, July 22, 2004 - Day 56 - 90 miles
With Linda and Kathy escorting us, we hit the road with the "plan" to do a short day.
After saying bye to Linda and Kathy in Catawba about 25 miles down the road ...
we continued on thru the rolling hills in the valley toward the Blue Ridge. Rain started coming down hard as we entered Buchanan, but it was warm enough, and it was early enough that we decided to go for broke and head for Lexington. We met a group of 4 Dutch cyclists ...
westbound for Oregon and exchanged notes. Still surprised to see people starting so late, but I'm sure these guys will do fine. After much more rain and our second front flat, we made it to Lexington and ditched into a motel as soon as we pulled into town looking like drowned rats. Tailwinds are great, but I could have done w/o the rain!
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
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Friday, July 23, 2004 - Day 57 - 56 miles
We got an early start today because we positioned ourselves yesterday to make the distance from Blacksburg to Afton in two days instead of three as originally planned, and we figured today would be the TOUGH day. After a 20 mile warm-up, we arrived in Vesuvius and hung out at Gerties Country Store for breakfast.
We "signed" the ceiling like thousands of other trans-am cyclistshave, (remember "Team Davis" who we met back in Kansas?) then headed over to the climb we've been hearing about for hundreds of miles.
The goal today was to arrive at the "Cookie Lady's" Bike House in Afton and that would require doing the 4 mile climb up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, rolling another 30 miles up and down on the parkway, and safely descending the other side of the Blue Ridge into Afton ... without the assistance of the drum brake that blew up a few days ago.
Well, we think everything went our way. I made a deal with the sky-gods. I asked that if we could get ONE DAY of no rain while we climbed over the Blue Ridge, I would happily accept another 3 days of torrential rain all the way to the coast once we cleared the mountains. The sky-gods accepted my offer and granted us a hot and hazy, but DRY day today. Well fed and feeling healthy, we started the climb up Vesuvius Hill ...
and to our surprise and delight, the switchbacks never got any tighter than anything we've already done before. There were still some stretches hitting 12 and 14 percent grades, but with not carrying extra water (like out west) and both of us having lost about 15 pounds each, we were able to handle anything the hill tossed at us, and we finished the climb in about an hour!
Onward! The next 30 miles on the Parkway was a treat. Lot's of ups and downs, swooping turns, and SUNSHINE!
We chatted briefly with a Park Ranger who knew our destination ... EVERYBODY knows where bikers with trailers go to around here ... The Cookie Lady! Leaving the parkway, we bombed down the mountainside and arrived in Afton. Karen knocked on the door, and we finally got to meet her ... June Curry ...
... who has operated the Bike House and offered hospitality to bikers ever since the original Trans-Am tours in 1976.
The Bike House is a museum of experiences of Trans-Am bikers and I'll only say that you HAVE to see the video to understand how extensive June's collection of biker memorabilia is. Words can't describe it.
The Bike House
Words also can't describe how wonderful, how generous, and how thoughtful June is to the cyclists who pass thru here. Last year (2003), Adventure Cycling Association awarded her the first "Trail Angel" award and I'm sure no Trans-Am cyclist could argue that anyone else deserves it more.
We spent the night after staying up late wandering around the house looking at all the items on display, and I even woke at 3am and wandered some more with a flashlight (so as not to disturb Karen who was sleeping VERY soundly!). 56 tough but fabulous miles!!
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
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Saturday, July 24, 2004 - Day 58 - 83 miles
The Sky-Gods are more than fair. We not only got yesterday's ride on the Blue Ridge in sunshine, but we also got thru today without rain. Rolling hills are slowly turning into smaller bumps as we leave the mountains of Virginia. We started out with tailwinds, but as we approach the tidewaters, we are getting into headwinds. Arrived in Mineral in the mid-afternoon and had dinner, ice cream, and did laundry before checking in with the local fire department that offers camping to Trans-Amers in their backyard.
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
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Sunday, July 25, 2004 - Day 59 - 77 miles
Remember that deal with the sky-gods? It's payback time! We woke up to a mist that developed into full blown rain that kept going till about 2pm. We had planned to stay with a couple in Mechanicsville this night, but when we called, the broke the news that they had water pipes broken and some damage that they had to deal with. So, we altered our route to put us into the outskirts of Richmond, near the airport, where we could find yet another motel to hide from the wrath of the sky-gods ... at least during the night. Nice riding roads and pretty country today. Seeing lots of historic markers and battlefield cemetaries ... but man, when it rains here ...
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
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Monday, July 26, 2004 - Day 60!!!!! - 78 miles
YORKTOWN!!!!!!!
We left the motel in Richmond around 7:30am in the pouring rain, fully accepting the fact that we would likely arrive at the coast in Yorktown totally soaked. When we got to Charles City, we saw the signs for a detour around a bridge out 13 miles down the road. Since we REALLY don't want to chance having to ride 26 miles round-trip PLUS do the extra miles of a detour, we started asking around if bikes can get across. We lucked out ... there was a DOT office in town and they assured us we COULD get across. When we arrived at the bridge, we found it was a swing-bridge across the Chickahominy River ...
A Hominid Chick on the Chickahominy Bridge
... but it was open ... meaning that we couldn't get across. The workers eventually closed the bridge about 1/2 hour later, just after it stopped raining at noon, and we were able to continue. We got onto the Colonial Parkway and rode it into Williamsburg where we had lunch and contacted our "escorts", Natalie and Mike, who rode out from Yorktown on their tandem to meet us about 1/2 way between Williamsburg and Yorktown.
Do We Look Excited?
Upon arriving at Yorktown, Mike and Natalie showed us to the Yorktown Victory Monument ... the eastern terminus of the Trans-America Trail!!
After they took our picture there, we headed for the beach and dipped the front wheel.
3974 miles. 60 days. A Lifetime of Memories.
(- posted from our home in Rochester New York, 7/30/04)
