Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
This morning Tiffany and her mom drove me back to Elkton from Front Royal, VA. Since we rode for an entire day in the wrong direction from Afton to Elkton on Friday, we needed to get back to Afton ASAP so that we could actually ride the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sure, we could've ridden back, but that would have taken a whole extra day. We're on a tight schedule you know. So as it turns out, Bob, the owner of the Country View Motel in Elkton, VA was kind enough to give us a ride in his pickup, with our bikes in the back, all the way back to Afton. He's used to this sort of thing, although usually it's for Appalachian Trail hikers. Bob has a big heart, and the convenience store lady in Elkton even mentioned that some of the locals tend to take advantage of his helpful nature. It's not nice to take advantage of kindness like that, but thank God there are people like Bob in this world. This trip is about meeting people as much as bicycling, and we are all glad we met Bob.
Aaron, Anna, Bob, Dog, Tony.Bob and the 4 of us would not all fit in his pickup truck, so Tiffany and her mom were kind enough to drive us to Afton as well, carrying myself and Tony, while Bob took Anna and Aaron. It was probably an hour and a half out of their way, so I can't thank them enough for the favor.
Tiffany & Mom.Today's ride along the Blue Ridge was actually a bit nicer than the Skyline Drive ride. Skyline Drive had trees on both sides for most of the way, so it was like a nice ride along a country road with the occasional overlook for a view. Today was different. We could see the views of the distant hills and valleys as we rode, which helped make up for the massive hills.
Typical view while riding.Going up a big hill, Anna fell. Again. It's not just her who keeps falling though. I've fallen once, Aaron's fallen... actually Tony's the only one who hasn't fallen yet. We should have named our blog "Legends of the Falls". It's comical watching it happen, because it's this slow-motion movement to the side, like a tree being cut down. The person falling of course is clipped in to the bike pedals and so can't put their foot down to stop it from happening, and in one smooth motion... "Timber!" Actually, this time it was less funny because the teeth on the large cog of the bike tore into Anna's calf and left a couple of gashes in her leg. Ever quick on my feet, I jumped to get my first aid kit and disinfected the wound and gave her a bandage. Disaster averted.
Right about this time, we noticed the dark storm clouds. Some of you are probably thinking "What do you guys do when it rains? Where do you go?" The simple answer is: it depends. How hard is it raining? Are there severe weather alerts? If there are no severe weather alerts (i.e. high winds, hail, tornados) we probably just keep riding, unless it's a quick-moving storm with heavy rain and there's shelter nearby. In that case we can just get under an awning or something and wait 15-20 minutes. On the Blue Ridge Parkway however, there are no awnings. There are no stores. There are just rocks and trees. There were no tornado warnings either so we just decided to ride on, and we got very lucky and only felt 2 drops of rain. Then the skies cleared up and it was smooth sailing. Disaster averted.
Once we were off the Parkway, we headed for Vesuvius. We rode for 3 miles and descended over 2500 ft! It was the steepest, windiest hill we encountered up to that point. It zig-zagged so much ("switchbacks" in mountain talk) that we couldn't even go fast down the hill or we would have just flown right into the forest. We had to ride down the entire way holding down our brakes hard, and we were still going 25 mph or so. Possibly the least fun downhill I've ever ridden. I didn't take pictures of it because we were too busy clenching our teeth and holding on to our handlebars for dear life.
By the way, in the picture above, you'll notice a sign for Route 76. This is the Bikecentennial route which we are following. It was first mapped out in 1976, hence the route number, and only the state of Virginia has signs along the length of the entire route within the state. Hopefully the other states on our route will follow suit someday. Speaking as a Marylander, I'm growing to love Virginia more and more everyday.
We decided to shoot for Lexington, VA, which we thought was 20 mostly downhill miles after the Blue Ridge. Not true. We still encountered monster hills into the city, which were very unwelcome after the hills earlier in the day. We finally arrived at the Super 8 in Lexington around 6:30pm, completely exhausted. After showering, we for some reason decided to ride our bikes (unloaded) out to Main Street 2 miles away to a restaurant called the Southern Inn. Everyone in town raved about it. It turned out to be a delicious restaurant, but if I had to do it over again I wouldn't have ridden the 4 miles roundtrip. Anna and Aaron loaded the restaurant info into the GPS, and then the GPS led us on a big 1 mile loop ending right back at our motel (whaaaaaaa???). Turns out you don't need a GPS to find Main Street in a small town. Then, after dodging rain earlier in the day, we end up getting wet on the way to dinner after checking in to our motel. Then after a huge meal, we had to get back on our bikes at 9:15pm and ride back the 2 miles.
In the dark.
In the rain.
Not fun.
Lesson learned.
From now on, suck it up and go to the Waffle House or whatever is next to your motel.
5 comments:
yo dudes! wish i could be there with you. keep up the hard work. i hear it's all downhill once you reach the continental divide.
I vote that you next update be in the style of Tolkien:
"Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor! Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in this speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the host of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City."
Hey Cousins:
I have complete respect for you guys. I've always wanted to go cross-country, but in a winny. I never thought doing it on a bike. I've alwasy said "that if your life is ready to challenge the invisible, then your heart will definitely be embraced by the unknown."
I do have a question: Are you guys biking back? Or taking motorized transportation?
Good luck.
I keep trying to tell everyone how awesome Virginia is and nobody every listens. I guess am just going to have to send theg doubters on a bike trip across the state.
Michelle, to answer your question, Anna and Tony are flying back before the school year begins in September. Aaron and I have purposely left the option open... if we feel like we're done biking then we'll fly back too. Or maybe we'll bike south to LA to visit family, and then fly back. Or maybe we'll then bike back along the south. Who knows! That's part of the adventure. We'll bike until we either run out of money or don't want to bike any more. Either way, hopefully we'll be satiated.
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