A few days ago, on our way to Mineral, VA, we got caught in a huge thunderstorm. By the time we arrived to our camp at the Mineral Volunteer Fire Department the rain had let up, but we were soaked. Even worse, our shoes were soaked. We all hate soaked shoes so we decided to head over to the laundromat and stick our wet stinky shoes in the industrial dryer. While we waited for the shoes to dry we went to eat sandwiches, pizza and ice cream, and when we went back to the laundromat we found a pair of shoes mysteriously on the floor and the dryer door was open. Turns out that the shoes were pounding the door and flung it open, so Tony and I had to take turns standing against the dryer door until the shoes were all dry. And when it was all over... our shoes had shrunk. The rubber insoles shrunk at least 5 sizes, and the toes of the shoes tightened up. Our toes got numb from wearing them. But the beasts that we are, we kept pedaling like that for days. Now we are in Roanoke though, which is an actual city with bike shops, so we decided to head over to the bike shop today and get new shoes.
To get to the bike shop we took Roanoke's Greenway, which is a bicycle & walking path that cuts across the city. It is a nicely paved bike path and refreshing to ride on since Aaron and I didn't have to keep looking in our rearviewmirrors every few seconds for speeding cars. I took this picture while riding - a real action shot:
Midway through the trip to the bike shop we got off the Greenway and rode through the dilapidated part of town - downtown Roanoke's west end. Always nice to see how the other half of Roanoke lives. It is filled with vacant manufacturing buildings, empty warehouses, and soup kitchens. According to a recent article in The Roanoke Times, this area is actually going through a "revitalization" (read: gentrification) which seems to bother some of the longtime residents. The manager of a local soup kitchen says "They're not going to want us here anymore. Our people don't dress well. Some don't smell too good." One of the developers claims to disagree though: "I feel we're sharing downtown. I'm happy to have them here."
The bike shop is on the complete opposite side of town. Once we were a couple of miles away we hit some very short but steep hills through a neighborhood street. Tony and I made our way up the worst hill and waited for the others who were close behind. That's when we saw Anna suddenly, slowly, fall over ... Timber! She wasn't hurt, but her handlebar was badly bent. Luckily we were close to our desination, and luckily our destination was a bicycle repair shop.
At the Roanoke shop, called East Coasters, Anna got new extra-thick handlebars - "This way, the next times you fall your handlebar won't get bent up." Anna and I got new bike shoes, and I got a new handlebar bag. From now on when our bike shoes get wet, we'll just stuff them with dry newspapers and let them sit overnight. Supposedly that works like a charm. Aaron asked about getting a kickstand for his B.o.B. trailer, since it's so hard to park. The bike shop guy said there are no kickstands specific to the B.o.B. trailer, but the company has a suggested parking method wherein the trailer and the bike form an angle and can stand up by themselves. Unfortunately the trailer is filled over the max capacity, so it's too heavy for that. Props to Aaron for pulling that much weight! That's why we call him The Mule.
The Mule.After the bike shop we went across the street for smoothies, wraps, and iced coffee. The iced coffee was cool because the coffee shop (The Daily Grind) saves it's brewed decaf and uses it to make ice cubes. That way when you order iced coffee the coffee ice cubes don't dilute your drink. Genius.
By now it was already 4:00pm or so. Leaving the motel at 11:30 isn't good for the schedule. We decided to go to a nearby motel on our route, about 10 miles away, and just call it a day. We basically got across town today. Doesn't sound like much but we had fun and got some necessary bike shop stuff taken care of. On the way to the motel we decided to stop off at the post office to mail home some unnecessary items - extra tubes, street shoes, an extra stove - and got caught in a downpour. After whooping out my handy dandy weather radio we found out the storm had the potential to create 60mph winds and nickel-sized hail. Luckily we were waiting under the post office awning. After the rain cleared we realized that the high winds and hail were passing around our area so we decided to pedal on to our motel 10 miles away. And on the way, after mailing home some of our extra inner tubes, Anna got the first flat of the trip! The ironing is delicious.
The ride to Salem (where our motel was located) was actually clear, crisp, sunny and extremely beautiful after the rain died down. It was a refreshing ride. When we reached the motel, we met a nice motorcycle traveler named Vinnie. Vinnie was finishing up a week-long trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's much much easier on a motorcycle, but although he was motorized, we had a lot in common and I think we were on our trips for similar reasons. We could relate. When we tell people about our trip, some people respond with "Why???" and some people instantly understand. You either get it or you don't.
Well Vinnie got it, and we talked to him for at least 30 minutes outside of the motel before checking in, retelling our tales of people falling off their bikes and such, until we realized we should book our room. He was booking a room in the same motel (we gave him a coupon out of our motel coupon book), and we were having such a great time talking to him that we invited him to join us for dinner at the Mexican restaurant next door. He split a couple of pitchers with us and then we all went to bed exhausted. Vinnie had a 500 mile motorcycle ride to Connecticut ahead of him, and we were set to bike to Christiansburg in the morning. We all needed our rest.
Some chicken mole dish.
The whole group.
Vinnie. Gotta love that goofy smile!
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