June 29
Christiansburg to Christiansburg
0 miles
K has had a sore throat, cold, and cough since Charlottesville. She’s been a real trouper, mashing out the miles in the heat, but yesterday’s ride did her in. She sorely needs rest, so we’re spending an extra day in Christiansburg, tucked comfortably into an EconoLodge. The next few days promise more tough cycling, so it makes sense to stop and recoup, rather than risk making this cold even worse. Hopefully we’ll be back in the saddle again tomorrow morning bright and early.
Note from K: Given that I spent the day sleeping and didn’t watch Animal Planet, you all know I really am sick!
In the meantime, I (ML) have been marveling at the regional differences in what’s offered at the grocery store. The local Food Lion has an entire section (5 shelves) devoted to chewing tobacco. The frozen food selections include breaded okra and black-eyed peas. There is no organic produce whatsoever. Kinda different than the ‘ole PCC.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Day 8 – The Steep Inclines of the Appalachians
June 28
Troutville, VA to Christiansburg, VA
64 miles
It’s hard to believe one simple word can nearly bring you to your knees, but “just” nearly did that today. Our route took us through the rolling farmland of the Catawba Valley. Cows, horses, goats, and acres of hay fields populated the landscape. Stunning. We keep waiting for the scenery to turn from picturesque to dull, or at least commonplace, but the landscape continues to awe. Gorgeous geography, not a lot of manscape, though. In the heat we can barely carry enough water with us. Our afternoon 40-plus miles were the toughest cycling yet; the steep roller-coaster grades of the Appalachians took the starch out of us. We’d prefer to climb an 8,000-foot western pass any day over these relentless up and downs, even if at the end of the day the total is only 4,000 feet elevation gain. You huff and puff to the top of a 15% grade, speed down the other side in 30 seconds, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. So when the one general store was Sunday shuttered and a passerby suggested a store JUST down the road on the right, we clambered onto our bikes with the mantra,Cold Drink! Cold Drink!, re-energizing us. We rode on and on in search of the phantom store, eventually realizing once again we’d been fooled by “just”. “Just” draws a line in the sand between motorist perspective and biker perspective. Just around the corner… Just down the road aways…We gave up on that search after a couple of miles off-route, even though it probably was just a little further. Didn’t pass another store until 2 hours later and finally got that cold drink. In the meantime, we were saved by the church spigot.
We didn’t make it into Christiansburg until 7:30 pm or so, riding in with the fireflies. Thinking we were being very clever, we spied what seemed like an obvious shortcut on the map. And as most “shortcuts” turn out to be, it was a no-chance-of-cycling-up-it, barely-push-our-bikes-up, very, very steep ½ mile hill. Half way up the hill, to further humiliate us, the skies let loose with a torrent of rain that soaked us through. As a fitting ending to the day, we then had to cycle an additional 4 miles down a 4-lane commercial road to reach a motel. But we made it, and celebrated with a big outing to the Ruby Tuesday’s next door to reacquaint ourselves with vegetables at the salad bar.
Sorry there’s not much in the way of pictures. We were too tired to stop for anything that didn’t involve cold drinks.
Note to neighbors: We wired money to Rascal and he’s on his way home for his appointments. No more adventures for him. He’s listed as one of Seattle’s longest lived rabbits and we might get big prize money from the American House Rabbit Society. Plus Animal Planet called for an interview. Thanks for keeping him going!
Troutville, VA to Christiansburg, VA
64 miles
It’s hard to believe one simple word can nearly bring you to your knees, but “just” nearly did that today. Our route took us through the rolling farmland of the Catawba Valley. Cows, horses, goats, and acres of hay fields populated the landscape. Stunning. We keep waiting for the scenery to turn from picturesque to dull, or at least commonplace, but the landscape continues to awe. Gorgeous geography, not a lot of manscape, though. In the heat we can barely carry enough water with us. Our afternoon 40-plus miles were the toughest cycling yet; the steep roller-coaster grades of the Appalachians took the starch out of us. We’d prefer to climb an 8,000-foot western pass any day over these relentless up and downs, even if at the end of the day the total is only 4,000 feet elevation gain. You huff and puff to the top of a 15% grade, speed down the other side in 30 seconds, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. So when the one general store was Sunday shuttered and a passerby suggested a store JUST down the road on the right, we clambered onto our bikes with the mantra,Cold Drink! Cold Drink!, re-energizing us. We rode on and on in search of the phantom store, eventually realizing once again we’d been fooled by “just”. “Just” draws a line in the sand between motorist perspective and biker perspective. Just around the corner… Just down the road aways…We gave up on that search after a couple of miles off-route, even though it probably was just a little further. Didn’t pass another store until 2 hours later and finally got that cold drink. In the meantime, we were saved by the church spigot.
We didn’t make it into Christiansburg until 7:30 pm or so, riding in with the fireflies. Thinking we were being very clever, we spied what seemed like an obvious shortcut on the map. And as most “shortcuts” turn out to be, it was a no-chance-of-cycling-up-it, barely-push-our-bikes-up, very, very steep ½ mile hill. Half way up the hill, to further humiliate us, the skies let loose with a torrent of rain that soaked us through. As a fitting ending to the day, we then had to cycle an additional 4 miles down a 4-lane commercial road to reach a motel. But we made it, and celebrated with a big outing to the Ruby Tuesday’s next door to reacquaint ourselves with vegetables at the salad bar.
Sorry there’s not much in the way of pictures. We were too tired to stop for anything that didn’t involve cold drinks.
Note to neighbors: We wired money to Rascal and he’s on his way home for his appointments. No more adventures for him. He’s listed as one of Seattle’s longest lived rabbits and we might get big prize money from the American House Rabbit Society. Plus Animal Planet called for an interview. Thanks for keeping him going!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Note About the Route
Many of you have asked about our route. For the majority of the trip, we are following the Transamerica Trail, shown above. Once we get to Missoula, we plan to join the Lewis & Clark Trail for a short distance, and then a DIY route from Eastern Washington to home. More detail regarding the Transam or Lewis & Clark can be found at www.adventurecycling.org
Day 7 - 1 Week Complete
June 28
Mallard Duck Campground (Lexington, VA) to Camp Bethel (Troutville, VA)
48 miles
We never did make it to Fed Ex so today’s good news is that I’m stronger! And I don’t have to send my toe nail polish back home. But then, ML is stronger too which means she’s still faster than me. Today she passed me saying, “I just can’t make my legs go that slow.” Just to prove my good humor I didn’t shout after her, “That would be slowLY. SlowLY. An adverb!” And then we had our true first taste of hospitality as we were called after by a friendly woman in her bathrobe getting her morning paper – “Would you like a cup of coffee?” A picturesque 8 mile jaunt took us into the lovely town of the grand house and enormous front porch, Lexington, VA. A two college town, Lexington was a friendly portal back to what feels like our “peeps”. Cars sported Obama stickers and I learned at the organic grocery store that it was the only town in western Virginia that solidly voted for Obama. Fueled by real coffee, a fabulous egg sandwich, and lemon meltaways from the local bakery, we rode along another lengthy stretch of stunning green farmland passed by an occasional truck. It did heat up today. ML remained unfazed and I, the heat weenie, sported my third heat rash of the trip. Riding over the asphalt was like riding over bubble wrap. The tar bubbled into tiny mushrooms which popped as we rode over them. Church of the Brethern made our day complete by offering its shady and spacious Camp Bethel for a inexpensive, delightful overnight stay. 5 bucks for the tent, complete with shower and swimming pool.
1st week complete! Total miles=352.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Day 6 - Thanks Be to Granny Gears and Cloudcover!
June 26
Afton, VA to Mallard Duck Campground 8 mi E. of Lexington, VA
44 miles
We’re out of the Piedmont and into the Appalachians. It’s a whiter, more Confederate world. BUT, the ride that got us here was amazing. The word of the day was ASCEND! Thanks to our ultralow gearing (Granny) we pedaled our beasts of burden up and down the lush Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, actually enjoying ourselves along this 27 mile section. It was slow going, though, and I was gleeful when ML, the head navigator, announced we only had seven more miles before we DESCENDED, as in a long descent to a store with cold drinks and provisions. Well, 7 miles took a long time to dissolve into 6 and 5 and so on. The sun blazed; we pedaled. The descent was a challenge of a different kind; 3 miles down a winding road so steep that we had to stop twice to let our rims cool down. A real forearm workout from applying brakes.
Scrounging up a meal in these parts is the challenge of the day. Even after viewing the old one room log cabin where a typical family of 14 would live and cook over a wood fire (exhibit on the Blue Ridge), I felt pretty sorry for our hungry selves as we surveyed the dusty, scantily stocked shelves of Gertie’s Country Store. The friendly folk there served us up grilled cheese and a “chef’s” salad and we rode off with Cambell’s mushroom soup and pasta for dinner.
A note to readers: We are camping more now with minimal access to the Internet, so our posts may be less frequent. Please continue to leave comments - we read and enjoy them all.
Day 5 - The Cookie Lady and Fresh Peach Pie
June 25
Charlottesville, VA to Afton, VA
29 miles
Need inspiration? Read on (even if we’re not the focus). Our short, but hilly and hot day out of Charlottesville ended at the home of the legendary Cookie Lady. After thirty years, 88 year-old June Curry is still welcoming Transamers into the Bike House, a house adjacent to hers that she has dedicated to bikers. Stories, memorabilia, lodging, and sustenance are offered for free, and about 14,000 bikers have rolled by to pay regards or stay for a night. The bike house is papered with the thanks and good will inspired by the Cookie Lady’s generosity. Despite a catalog of health issues, Mrs. Curry has remained dedicated to supporting cross-country cyclists, asking for nothing in return except signing her log book. After a lively, entertaining chat and photo shoot for her photo log of cyclists, we happily holed up in our own “home” for the night.
On the way up to the Cookie Lady’s house, we passed a peach orchard and were delighted to find out that the peaches are in! We bought fresh peaches (immediately consumed) and a piece of peach pie (to go) from the roadside stand. What could be better than ending the day with fresh peach pie?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day 4 - What Can I Pitch besides the Tent To Make these Panniers Lighter???????
June 24
Mineral, VA to Charlotesville, VA
59 miles
This was my (Kath’s) main query for the day while riding through the most bucolic scenery. Yes, except for those pesky conservative laws, I could be a Virginian. Bucolic – landscape so beautiful it almost makes you a little ill. Oh, I forgot – riding through ROLLING countryside. Is it possible to ride slower than 4 miles an hour and stay upright? Yes, you can! Slower than a Virginia turtle, which happen to dot the roadside. Some are raised dots, some are (sadly) flat dots. But the real reason for mentioning turtles is that Mary Lou has threatened that if I don’t quit helping the lil’ snappers cross the road, we’ll never make it out of the state. So I leave it to PETA to take up the cause. Oh wait, they’re too busy going after fly swatters.
Today we rode by more history and gave it a friendly wave. James Monroe’s estate- an awesome tree-lined driveway winding up a big hill. Sorry James. We really gave Monticello an honest effort, but ,no, we weren’t allowed to ride our bikes up to old Jefferson’s front porch. I think if you extend his politics to present day, he’d have supported our biking initiative. However, our initiative was mos’ def’ not supported by the frantic volunteer calling after us, “Maam’, Maam’, ya’ll may not ride up there!!”
Oh well. So we rode on into lovely Charlottesville. Fabulous commercial pedestrian walkway. Large scale photography exhibit hanging from the trees, cool restaurants, book stores, interesting architecture. A happening spot. Visions of a warm summer eve sipping wine as vibrant nightlife flowed around us, floated away as we rode further and further from the historic downtown to our comfy, but uncoolly situated hotel. Not even a crisp glass of Pinot Grigio and an excellent wood-fired pizza could lure us back through hilly Charlottesville. Our quads are on fire! But we’re having FUN!
Tomorrow, first stop – FedEx.
Mineral, VA to Charlotesville, VA
59 miles
This was my (Kath’s) main query for the day while riding through the most bucolic scenery. Yes, except for those pesky conservative laws, I could be a Virginian. Bucolic – landscape so beautiful it almost makes you a little ill. Oh, I forgot – riding through ROLLING countryside. Is it possible to ride slower than 4 miles an hour and stay upright? Yes, you can! Slower than a Virginia turtle, which happen to dot the roadside. Some are raised dots, some are (sadly) flat dots. But the real reason for mentioning turtles is that Mary Lou has threatened that if I don’t quit helping the lil’ snappers cross the road, we’ll never make it out of the state. So I leave it to PETA to take up the cause. Oh wait, they’re too busy going after fly swatters.
Today we rode by more history and gave it a friendly wave. James Monroe’s estate- an awesome tree-lined driveway winding up a big hill. Sorry James. We really gave Monticello an honest effort, but ,no, we weren’t allowed to ride our bikes up to old Jefferson’s front porch. I think if you extend his politics to present day, he’d have supported our biking initiative. However, our initiative was mos’ def’ not supported by the frantic volunteer calling after us, “Maam’, Maam’, ya’ll may not ride up there!!”
Oh well. So we rode on into lovely Charlottesville. Fabulous commercial pedestrian walkway. Large scale photography exhibit hanging from the trees, cool restaurants, book stores, interesting architecture. A happening spot. Visions of a warm summer eve sipping wine as vibrant nightlife flowed around us, floated away as we rode further and further from the historic downtown to our comfy, but uncoolly situated hotel. Not even a crisp glass of Pinot Grigio and an excellent wood-fired pizza could lure us back through hilly Charlottesville. Our quads are on fire! But we’re having FUN!
Tomorrow, first stop – FedEx.
Day 3 – Navigational Challenges (or, Where the *bleep* is Bumpass??)
June 23
Fredericksburg, VA to Mineral, VA
57 miles
Low point: Trying to find the elusive Bumpass, VA
High point: Finding Bumpass
Notable sign outside a Baptist church: “Warning: Exposure to the Son may keep you from burning”.
(We went with the sunburn….)
Awards: 2nd road rash of the trip: ML
Luckily, we had only planned on 50 miles on Day 3 because our legs were toast when we woke up. Burnt toast. The route was a cyclist’s delight on rural lightly travelled roads with rolling terrain. Farmland, woods, and small communities were the order of the day. It feels good to finally be out in the country, though the food options have gotten decidedly poorer. Today we met up with the Transamerica Trail, which we will be taking all the way to Missoula. We had a frustrating couple of hours trying to find the town of Bumpass, which was the town directly after the point where the 2 routes intersected. We still have no idea how we got off route, but we must have been way off route. We finally got directions from a local resident who got us pointed in the right direction, not once, but twice: “Are you girls STILL lost?”
We finally made it to Bumpass, and then to Mineral, our home for the night. We are camped behind the Mineral Fire Station, across from the garage housing the fire engine. Let’s hope it’s a quiet night for emergencies.
Epilogue: No sirens were heard, but perhaps they were drowned out by the train that passed by 50 yards away every 2 hours.
Fredericksburg, VA to Mineral, VA
57 miles
Low point: Trying to find the elusive Bumpass, VA
High point: Finding Bumpass
Notable sign outside a Baptist church: “Warning: Exposure to the Son may keep you from burning”.
(We went with the sunburn….)
Awards: 2nd road rash of the trip: ML
Luckily, we had only planned on 50 miles on Day 3 because our legs were toast when we woke up. Burnt toast. The route was a cyclist’s delight on rural lightly travelled roads with rolling terrain. Farmland, woods, and small communities were the order of the day. It feels good to finally be out in the country, though the food options have gotten decidedly poorer. Today we met up with the Transamerica Trail, which we will be taking all the way to Missoula. We had a frustrating couple of hours trying to find the town of Bumpass, which was the town directly after the point where the 2 routes intersected. We still have no idea how we got off route, but we must have been way off route. We finally got directions from a local resident who got us pointed in the right direction, not once, but twice: “Are you girls STILL lost?”
We finally made it to Bumpass, and then to Mineral, our home for the night. We are camped behind the Mineral Fire Station, across from the garage housing the fire engine. Let’s hope it’s a quiet night for emergencies.
Epilogue: No sirens were heard, but perhaps they were drowned out by the train that passed by 50 yards away every 2 hours.
Day 2 –Shopping Malls Give Way to Civil War Battlefields
June 22
Woodbridge, VA to Fredericksburg, VA
75 miles
High point: Courteous motorists
Low point: Hunting for provisions
Awards: 1st road rash of the trip: ML
Famous last words: “I’m sure there’ll be another grocery store up ahead”.
Day 2 turned into an epic day mileage-wise at 75. The planned mileage was only 62, but a combination of navigational errors and mistakes on the map (yes, really) added unintended distance to the route. End-to-end shopping malls started the day, gradually giving way to subdivisions, which in turn gave way to a short stretch of farmland, hanging on for dear life. The encroaching development was evident; billboards with “10-acre lots available” were frequent and a few newly-built mega-homes mingled with the old barns.
Following this stretch, we came to Fredericksburg, steeped in Civil War history (Battle of Fredericksburg anyone?). The route took us directly through one of the battlefields and we couldn’t help imaging what it would have been like to be a soldier of that era in a trench with a musket. Turns out General Lee is a popular guy around here. Friends and family you’re all getting Confederate key rings as souvenirs.
Our long day ended eventually at the Fredericksburg KOA, which was quite spendy for camping, but the only thing available camping-wise, and less expensive than a hotel. Unfortunately, we had unknowingly passed the only real grocery store on the route north of Fredericksburg, and had nothing for dinner. We passed on the Mac and cheese with canned peas from the KOA “store”. Since one of us didn’t want s’mores for dinner either, ML added another 13 miles of riding to the Food Lion for provisions. The day closed with a thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain. Lucky for us, it waited until we had gone to bed, and the tent held up just fine.
Woodbridge, VA to Fredericksburg, VA
75 miles
High point: Courteous motorists
Low point: Hunting for provisions
Awards: 1st road rash of the trip: ML
Famous last words: “I’m sure there’ll be another grocery store up ahead”.
Day 2 turned into an epic day mileage-wise at 75. The planned mileage was only 62, but a combination of navigational errors and mistakes on the map (yes, really) added unintended distance to the route. End-to-end shopping malls started the day, gradually giving way to subdivisions, which in turn gave way to a short stretch of farmland, hanging on for dear life. The encroaching development was evident; billboards with “10-acre lots available” were frequent and a few newly-built mega-homes mingled with the old barns.
Following this stretch, we came to Fredericksburg, steeped in Civil War history (Battle of Fredericksburg anyone?). The route took us directly through one of the battlefields and we couldn’t help imaging what it would have been like to be a soldier of that era in a trench with a musket. Turns out General Lee is a popular guy around here. Friends and family you’re all getting Confederate key rings as souvenirs.
Our long day ended eventually at the Fredericksburg KOA, which was quite spendy for camping, but the only thing available camping-wise, and less expensive than a hotel. Unfortunately, we had unknowingly passed the only real grocery store on the route north of Fredericksburg, and had nothing for dinner. We passed on the Mac and cheese with canned peas from the KOA “store”. Since one of us didn’t want s’mores for dinner either, ML added another 13 miles of riding to the Food Lion for provisions. The day closed with a thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain. Lucky for us, it waited until we had gone to bed, and the tent held up just fine.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Day 1, On the Road at Last
Washington DC
to Woodbridge VA
40 miles
Yesterday we flew from home to BWI in 5 hours. Now it's going to take us 9 weeks to get back.
The past two days couldn't have been nicer. The flight was easy and we had a really nice, although much too short, visit with John, Dawn, and Mom. This morning we took Metro into DC to pick up our bikes, and started out right from the bike shop. The first 14 miles was on the Mt Vernon trail, a scenic wooded bike trail along the Potomac River with views of the Lincoln Monument across the water. With mostly overcast skies and a light breeze, it never felt hot, though apparently it was 82 or so today. We went right by Mt. Vernon, but chose not to stop in the interest of getting to our destination on the early side. The remainder of the ride included several miles through a quiet military fort and then many more through forgettable surbuban landscape. Tonight we're resting comfortably in a Courtyard Mariott and feeling fine. A great start!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Correction
So actually, we do have a pet. I thought by the time we left on our trip that we would be petless, and I jumped the gun a bit. A quick trip to the vet, and voila!
Jumpy Rascal is a mini lop-eared rabbit that lives in our basement. He was supposedly going to be a classroom rabbit, spending most of his time in K's 2nd-grade classroom, and only coming home on weekends. I was also told that average rabbit life expectancy was about 4 years. That was 11 years ago. Rascal was named by the 2nd-graders (but you probably already figured that out). At first he went to school regularly (only rarely staying overnight). Over time, he went less and less, and is now pretty much fully retired. He is deaf and blind, and according to the vet, one of the oldest bunnies he's seen in 16 years of practice.
Lucky for us, Rascal has his own personal physician who will be giving him his antibiotics and caring for him while we're away. Thanks Doc, we couldn't do this without you!
Monday, June 15, 2009
What On Earth?
The basic plan is to cycle 3,857 miles from the Other Washington to Washington on fully loaded bikes, in 9 weeks. This a very ambitious timeframe given our current level of fitness, the generally unfavorable summer weather conditions over much of our route (at least to those of us acclimated to the Pacific Northwest), and our penchant for lazying about. One might wonder why we would undertake such a trip. Some might venture to ask. In fact, a work colleague delicately inquired, "And just HOW did you come up with this idea?" To us it seems obvious: why WOULDN'T you want to cross the country on a bike? We love to ride, we like to travel, and heck, neither of us has ever been to eastern Kentucky. For as long as we've know each other we've talked about riding cross-country SOME DAY. It never seems like the right time and there have always been a long list of reasons why we couldn't go that summer: it's a long time to take off from work, it's too much money, there are so many other things we should be doing, what would we do with the pets for that long...yada, yada, yada. Well, we're currently petless. More importantly, we've been reminded recently more than we care to think about that health and physical ability shouldn't be taken for granted. If we keep postponing the things that we most want to do until "the right time", we may miss the boat altogether. So, this is THE summer. Here we go. Hold on and enjoy the ride with us.
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