Day 32 (6/23/09)
We left Hazard, Ky. in the fog, riding the shoulder of a 4 lane highway for about 6 miles, before the route changed course onto more rural roads. We rode the last 80+ miles through rural, eastern, Kentucky. The recession doesn’t appear to have affected the area, because the area never experienced an up economy. Despite the depressed area, the road surfaces were good; however, the road shoulders were often sketchy. The roads generally meandered along streams and rivers with mobile homes and shanties squeezed between the mountain and the road and the streams. Often the road edges were non-existent because of water erosion. Sometimes, KyDOT would place a warning sign in the holes, but there was no substitute for vigilance. Most of the coal trucks seemed to be going westbound so we were fortunate to generally avoid that hazard. We also remained perfect in avoiding any confrontation with dogs. Despite all the dire warnings about Kentucky; we were pleasantly surprised. We had good weather, good roads, and courteous drivers. The terrain was a different matter. We climbed over 14,000’ in the 101 miles between Hazard, Ky. and Haysi, Va.. We all agreed that the sheer steepness of the climbs made Day 32 one of the hardest days. None of us got off our bikes and walked or even stopped to rest until we sumitted. Although, the thought of walking did cross my mind on a few occasions, but the humiliation would be far worse and long term than the temporary relief. Unfortunately, there was no reward waiting for us at the end of the day. The only “hotel” in Haysi was the Hilltop Hotel. It was at the top of the mountain and not along our route of travel. The hope was the support team would get to our hotel rooms, check in, and unload the van and come into town and pick us up, because at that point we already had 97 hard miles in. The support team did not arrive to rescue us, so we had to get our own directions and climb to the top of the mountain to the hotel; wasted miles and effort because it didn’t get us any closer to Yorktown. The hotel was hands down the worst place we stayed, even outdoing Eureka, Ks. Words can not convey how awful the place was. It was so, bad that I set up Tim’s folding chair in the parking lot to take a post ride nap, because I wanted to limit my exposure to the bed. We scouted the town for places to get breakfast the next day, but there wasn’t anything. So we resorted to buying Subway subs and putting them on ice for the next morning.
Flat tire tally: Jere – 3, Sam – 3, Tim – 2. Sam developed a slow leak around the valve stem of his rear tire. At about mile 25, the low tire pressure became obvious and another maintenance stop was ordered. Jere believes the problem originated with operator error of the bicycle pump at the beginning of the ride; hence, I am not allowed to touch the bikes or even pump up the tires.
Day 33 (6/24/09)
We left the Hilltop Hotel early, because it didn’t take long to eat our Subway sub breakfast. The mountain top was foggy and cool. For the first time in awhile, we actually put on long sleeve clothes for the morning ride. We turned on our strobe head and taillights and descended down the mountain, to get back on course. The weather for the day turned into probably the best riding day of the trip. The fog slowly burned off, the humidity was low and the temperatures eventually climbed into the mid 70s. We also were riding at elevations between 2,000 and 3,000’ which helped. Again, the roads were generally back country, tree lined roads, with little traffic. We had our third day in a row of climbing over 11,000’; we finished the day with over 15,000' of climbing in the 101 miles we traveled (The most feet of climbing in one day the whole trip!). Not wanting to risk a repeat of our accommodations of the night before we had the support team scout out the Bed & Breakfast that was situated about the 92 mile point along our route. The recon was not favorable, so we rode the extra miles to Sugar Grove, VA. and waited for the support team to drive about 20 miles to Marion, Va., which is off an exit of of I-81, to get decent accommodations. Tomorrow, the support team, will shuttle us back to Sugar Grove where we’ll resume out trek. Tomorrow’s route will generally follow I-81, sometimes to the north and sometimes to the south of it. Since we did extra miles today, we have a short 80 mile ride, with no significant climbing, into Christiansburg, Va. (I’m going to wear my Florida State jersey as my way of thumbing my nose at all the Hokie fans).
We left Hazard, Ky. in the fog, riding the shoulder of a 4 lane highway for about 6 miles, before the route changed course onto more rural roads. We rode the last 80+ miles through rural, eastern, Kentucky. The recession doesn’t appear to have affected the area, because the area never experienced an up economy. Despite the depressed area, the road surfaces were good; however, the road shoulders were often sketchy. The roads generally meandered along streams and rivers with mobile homes and shanties squeezed between the mountain and the road and the streams. Often the road edges were non-existent because of water erosion. Sometimes, KyDOT would place a warning sign in the holes, but there was no substitute for vigilance. Most of the coal trucks seemed to be going westbound so we were fortunate to generally avoid that hazard. We also remained perfect in avoiding any confrontation with dogs. Despite all the dire warnings about Kentucky; we were pleasantly surprised. We had good weather, good roads, and courteous drivers. The terrain was a different matter. We climbed over 14,000’ in the 101 miles between Hazard, Ky. and Haysi, Va.. We all agreed that the sheer steepness of the climbs made Day 32 one of the hardest days. None of us got off our bikes and walked or even stopped to rest until we sumitted. Although, the thought of walking did cross my mind on a few occasions, but the humiliation would be far worse and long term than the temporary relief. Unfortunately, there was no reward waiting for us at the end of the day. The only “hotel” in Haysi was the Hilltop Hotel. It was at the top of the mountain and not along our route of travel. The hope was the support team would get to our hotel rooms, check in, and unload the van and come into town and pick us up, because at that point we already had 97 hard miles in. The support team did not arrive to rescue us, so we had to get our own directions and climb to the top of the mountain to the hotel; wasted miles and effort because it didn’t get us any closer to Yorktown. The hotel was hands down the worst place we stayed, even outdoing Eureka, Ks. Words can not convey how awful the place was. It was so, bad that I set up Tim’s folding chair in the parking lot to take a post ride nap, because I wanted to limit my exposure to the bed. We scouted the town for places to get breakfast the next day, but there wasn’t anything. So we resorted to buying Subway subs and putting them on ice for the next morning.
Flat tire tally: Jere – 3, Sam – 3, Tim – 2. Sam developed a slow leak around the valve stem of his rear tire. At about mile 25, the low tire pressure became obvious and another maintenance stop was ordered. Jere believes the problem originated with operator error of the bicycle pump at the beginning of the ride; hence, I am not allowed to touch the bikes or even pump up the tires.
Day 33 (6/24/09)
We left the Hilltop Hotel early, because it didn’t take long to eat our Subway sub breakfast. The mountain top was foggy and cool. For the first time in awhile, we actually put on long sleeve clothes for the morning ride. We turned on our strobe head and taillights and descended down the mountain, to get back on course. The weather for the day turned into probably the best riding day of the trip. The fog slowly burned off, the humidity was low and the temperatures eventually climbed into the mid 70s. We also were riding at elevations between 2,000 and 3,000’ which helped. Again, the roads were generally back country, tree lined roads, with little traffic. We had our third day in a row of climbing over 11,000’; we finished the day with over 15,000' of climbing in the 101 miles we traveled (The most feet of climbing in one day the whole trip!). Not wanting to risk a repeat of our accommodations of the night before we had the support team scout out the Bed & Breakfast that was situated about the 92 mile point along our route. The recon was not favorable, so we rode the extra miles to Sugar Grove, VA. and waited for the support team to drive about 20 miles to Marion, Va., which is off an exit of of I-81, to get decent accommodations. Tomorrow, the support team, will shuttle us back to Sugar Grove where we’ll resume out trek. Tomorrow’s route will generally follow I-81, sometimes to the north and sometimes to the south of it. Since we did extra miles today, we have a short 80 mile ride, with no significant climbing, into Christiansburg, Va. (I’m going to wear my Florida State jersey as my way of thumbing my nose at all the Hokie fans).
I support wearing FSU gear in Christiansburg/ Blacksburg! Not a big fan of VT, that is for sure! Do you plan on doing the same in Charlottesville for UVA? Just wondering. I enjoy UVA fans a little more than VT fans. However, I am a Nittany Lion through and through! Hope to make my way to see you at some point in your final days! Love ya, DAD!
ReplyDeleteJana
Hurry back dad! Mom and Aunt Amber miss their lawn boy!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Amanda
I want to say I told you so about the Hilltop motel, but I am too much of a gentleman to even mention it.
ReplyDelete