Day 7: Our First Rest Day, And A Plan Devised

Blacksburg, VA

Stats! (from yesterday)
Miles biked: 20.0
Total miles biked: 254.3
Max speed: 25 mph
# of meltdowns: 3 or 4 (all Meredith)

So, yesterday was tough. I mean it was TOUGH. We'd gone through our difficult day 4, decided to soldier on, had a great day 5 on gentle terrain, and thought all was well.

Then we hit the day 6 terrain. We are still in the mountains. The hills are what they call roller-coaster hills, which means that as you ascend, you can kind of tell that you're up high, and that the bottom is surely down there somewhere, but until you summit, you can't see the actual road, because it's too steep. The climbs that we could do were debilitatingly exhausting, but there were a lot that we had to walk. It was broiling hot, passing cars were jerks, I still had heat rash on my leg and saddle sores on my butt, and five miles into our ride, I blew out my left quad. I guess I pulled it? Not sure, but it was in serious pain.

One of the easy hills

It was a grueling, miserable day. I broke down and told Dean that I couldn't do one more day. I could not possibly do another day of these terrible hills. And after the Appalachian mountains come the more treacherous Alleghenys, and then the Ozarks. Three consecutive mountain ranges, covering hundreds of miles with no end in sight.

I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. I don't want to be miserable on our honeymoon. I thought we'd just gear down for the mountains and cover them slowly, but with 40 lbs of gear on a steep mountain, no gear is low enough. It kills your muscles, it sucks all your breath until you're wheezing, and you're still only a quarter of the way up.

Dean and I talked about our options. I told him I could not do Kentucky. It is notoriously the worst part of the trail (as far as countless consecutive steep ascents and descents go), and I was miserable already. We talked about trading in our bikes for a motorcycle, we talked about taking the money and doing something completely different, we talked about biking the east coast only, and lots of other things.

Ultimately we decided to once again take my parents' offer of a rescue mission. They are coming tomorrow to take us to Carbondale, Illinois. I told Dean that I couldn't do Kentucky, but that I could do the Ozarks. As long as we never do more than a 25 mile day in the treacherous parts, and we can take as many rest days as we need. He said okay.

We checked the maps, and it looks like we'll have about 8 days of tough biking through the Ozarks, going at the pace I'm willing to go. Some days will be 10 mile days, even. With the tough terrain, it will still be really hard, but once we hit Iowa, it will be smooth, flat biking all the way to the Rockies.

We decided to figure out what to do about the Rockies when we get there.

Today has been a nice rest day. We walked around Blacksburg and around the Virginia Tech campus. I showed Dean all my old haunts. It's odd to go somewhere you lived a long time ago. It's all very familiar and jarringly different at the same time. I was really excited that we got to go up Slusher Tower and see my Freshman dorm room (all the dorm rooms were open, for cleaning maybe?).

For the VT alums, Our Daily Bread and Backstreets are still here (hi, Etienne), we're going to the Cellar tonight for dinner and we went to China Inn last night. Slusher is now co-ed, which is weird, but my room looked just the same. Ton 80's going strong, as is Gillie's. Sharkey's is now next door to where it used to be (Arnold's), and there's a theater on College Ave now (not the Lyric, but some modern student arty theater). The Lyric is alive and well. It's all very familiar. I think this would be a great place to live and raise a family, but there's nothing really for Dean to do here, so I guess Rockville it is. :)

Despite our difficult day and our differing expectations, I think we're both happy with the decision. We love each other and we're determined to make this a good honeymoon for both of us. The next week or two will be hard (depending on how many rest days we need), but I think we'll be glad we decided to keep going when we hit the flatlands.

Since we're driving quite a long way tomorrow, I may not post. More once we're in Illinois.

Day 6: Another Really Difficult Day

We're in Blacksburg. It was a very hard, long, sad day. We may not continue the trip. We're ok.

Day 5: This is a ROCKIN' 99 cent gas station hamburger!

Lexington, VA to Troutville,VA

Stats!
Total miles biked today: 49.9
Total miles biked on trip so far: 234.3 (we passed the 200 mile mark! yay!)
Max speed: 26.5 mph (steep hills means you ride the brakes)
# of dogs that chased us: 2
# of meals consumed: 4
and a first! -- first other trans am tourist we met on the road (Bruce)

Our new attitude really helped us have a great day today. It really was a fantastic day from start to finish. However, I will go ahead and get the bad news out of the way first. I have sun poisoning and saddle sores. BOO. But we have a rest day coming up very soon, so if I can just make it through tomorrow, we can hide in the dark and salve my butt. :)

We got up early this morning, giving us a reasonable jump on the day. The first part of the ride was *beautiful*. Babbling brooks and white horses and rolling green hills -- fairy tale stuff. It was great. Bunnies followed us on the trail. We passed badgers and chipmunks. We did see one HUGE black snake just hanging out in the road, but he was totally chill and we just passed him. We also saw a cat who was standing in the road, but when (s)he saw us, (s)he just lay down in the road and took a nap. Very odd.

A lot of today's trail followed a railroad, and we saw an abandoned train station that was overrun with vegetation. Also, lots of just chimneys were along the trail. The train went by and the conductor waved at us. Nice!

The terrain was much more gentle today. We still had a lot of significant elevation ups and downs, but they were more gradual. Only a couple of really tough hills today. I am beginning to think we are going to have to walk through all of Kentucky, but we'll make it! (I hope)

About ten miles into the trip today, we made it to a gas station. We were both almost out of energy. Dean wanted to buy $4 trail mix. Then we both noticed the 99 cent refrigerated hamburgers. A much better value. So we each got a burger, and decided to split a Powerade. The burgers were DELICIOUS. I mean, I know we were hungry, but they were just the thing. Hit the spot and allowed us to make it to our real lunch spot in Buchanan (pronounced "Buck cannon"), which was called "The Fountain Sandwich Fountain." Awesome.

Buchanan was a really cute town. After that, it was a lot of nothing. And by a lot of nothing, I mean a lot of elderly men riding lawn mowers around several acres of land. We must have seen three dozen of them. Today was clearly lawn maintenance day in Botetourt County (pronounced "Bot-eh-tot").

After we got to Troutville, we realized we must have made a wrong turn as this is in fact Pleasantville. Everyone has been eerily nice to us. We got a free place to camp, free showers, a free kitchen (if we want it), dinner recommendations (the Country Cookin', which was a recommendation we took), and wildly varying advice on how to cure sun poison. As I was just blogging, a Troutville resident stopped by our tent in the park to bring me aloe. We are big news in Troutville, and she'd heard in the market that a bike tourist had sun poison, so she stopped by with aloe from her plant. SUPER nice, and desperately needed.

Later, at the Thriftway, I got a slim jim, and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten, after the 99 cent gas station burger, of course.

Anyway, I think we're both really glad we decided to soldier on. It was a really fun day. Tomorrow our goal is Blacksburg, where we'll have our first rest day. Thanks for reading, and for all the encouraging comments on our last post!

Day 4: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Vesuvius, VA to Lexington, VA

Miles traveled by bike today: 25.8
Total miles traveled (by bike): 184.4
Max speed: 29 mph
Elevation increase: a lot
Miles traveled via support vehicle: 50-some

This morning started out bright and shiny with promise. We were up early and met my folks at Teri and Alex's place in Charlottesville. My parents had agreed to take our gear in their car for our massive ascent of Afton mountain.

We had originally planned to start out in Charlottesville, but decided it would be better to face the mountain fresh, so my parents drove us and all of our gear to the bottom of the mountain, skipping about 30 miles of rolling hills. By the time we got there, it was maybe 10 a.m. or so.

We biked the first five miles of the mountain before giving up in utter defeat. The incline was so steep, and it seemed to just go on forever. My quads were SCREAMING, I was sucking wind hard, and we had 20 more miles (straight up) to go. I told Dean it was time to call it in. This is our honeymoon, and I don't want to spend it miserable. We didn't train at all on hills, and they are HARD. I mean hard. I mean really, really hard. In a way that you can't understand until you've tried to climb an actual mountain on a bike. It's hard.

Dean, waiting at mile 5 marker for the rescue mission

So my parents came to pick us up and drove us over the main mountain to Vesuvius, VA. We figured we could still get a full day's ride in, as it was about 11:30 a.m., and we could salvage the day and make good progress.

The first 15 miles or so were fast and fun. Then we hit more hills. Steep hills. Grueling hills. We made it to Lexington, but I was ready to quit the trip, take the money we had left, and spend a week in Cancun. Seriously, I considered this. I just can't convey to you how hard it is to cross the frickin' Blue Ridge on a bike. What were we thinking??? The rolling hills of central VA were tough but fun, and now we're into some serious business, mountain-wise, and it is really not fun sometimes.

A waterfall we encountered during the fun part of the day.

I had another total emotional meltdown on one of the tough hills. I told Dean that I wasn't having fun anymore, and I wanted to talk about quitting the trip and just going home. I was feeling pretty defeated. Here was this dream I'd had, and we were doing it (!!!) and it sucked more than I could have possibly imagined.

We got to Lexington and we met with my folks and they gave us back all of our gear. Dean and I talked about our options. We could just quit, or we could take our bikes in the car and drive cross-country, doing short bike tours where it looked good, or we could take the money and do something totally different, or we could soldier on. I was really not in favor of soldiering on after those last few hills, where the uphills were steep and grueling, and the downhills were steep and terrifying.

As it happened, Dean had left his bike gloves on the side of the road on Afton mountain. His chain had fallen off (AGAIN) and he was pretty PO-ed about it. So we went to a bike shop to get some new gloves (though Dean did ask me, do we really need to go to a bike shop?, i.e. are we quitting this thing or what?). But we went in, and I'm glad we did.

Lexington Bike Shop is home to two guys about our parents' age (one shop employee and another guy who just hangs out there b/c he's a major bike enthusiast). The enthusiast had done many tours, including Trans-america (David) and the employee (owner?) had seen many a trans-am bike tourist in his day. They gave us some good advice and the courage to go on.

Basically, they said that this was a tough part of the trip, and Kentucky would be even worse (yipes), but if we were stressing it, we were going about it all wrong. David said that if you tell yourself you have to do X miles per day and make it to Oregon on your insane route that adds 1000 unnecessary miles, you're going to go nuts and hate it and suck all the fun out. It's most important to do what you can do each day, and each day you'll get fitter. And he gave the best advice yet -- switchbacks on steep hills. He said we shouldn't power through straight up and kill our quads and lungs, but just weave back and forth as much as necessary to ensure you're not pushing too hard. The fitness will come. But cars on the roads (on this trail) are few, and you can hear them from far away, so if it's all clear, just swerve back and forth in your lowest gear. It doesn't matter if it takes an hour and you make terrible progress -- you're making progress and not killing yourself doing it. It will get easier and easier as you go. Plus he talked about how amazing his trip was, and said he'd really be sorry for us to miss it.

The employee/owner guy said that he'd seen many a "shell shocked" bike tourist come through, ready to give up. After Yorktown to Charlottesville, this part of the state can be shocking and miserable, but that it's normal and we're young, etc., and should keep going.

After talking to them and getting our bikes and gear situated, it was after 4:30, and the next town was 20 mountainous miles away. We felt better about moving on, but thought we should pack it in after a very emotionally and physically challenging day. However, we plan to wake up bright and early tomorrow and get back on the bikes, and go however far we can. When we get to western Kentucky or Missouri, we will consider changing our route entirely to shave off several hundred miles, so we might still be able to make it (Sorry, Heather and Joy!). If we can't make it to the west coast, we go as far as we go, and have fun. It seems reasonable and sane to just do what we can do, and not kill ourselves to make any particular goal. This is a honeymoon and I want to have fun.

The rest of our trip will be:

Day 3: Central Virginia is Like a Rollercoaster, Baby Baby

Mineral, VA to Charlottesville, VA

Stats!

Miles biked: 40.4

Total miles biked: 158.6

Max speed: 30.5 mph

# of total emotional meltdowns: 1

# of crying jags: 2

# of hills climbed: lost count

# of downhills: too few

# of roads named "Three Chopt": 5

# of weird triangular purple things in trees: 6

Today was a short day. We had originally mapped out a 54 mile route to Charlottesville, but when we hit the intersection with 250 (the road we had intended to take to Charlottesville in my 70 miles per day dream world), we decided to take that road instead, cutting 15 miles off our route. Yay!

We got to C-ville early (about 2:30 p.m.), which was great, since today was essentially half a rest day. But the first (non-rest) half of the day was filled with hills, hills, hills. It was really tough. Early on I lost it on a hill. It was steep, I was exhausted, and I snapped. We stopped, I ate a granola bar, we got back on the road, but I was still kind of a mess. I pulled it together pretty quickly, though.

This trip is really fantastic, and really tough. I like watching the Biggest Loser on TV, and the contestants are forever having emotional breakdowns. Today, I got it. Three back to back days of grueling physical activity with no end in sight, and you snap pretty quick. At least I get to eat barbecue sandwiches.

We saw a ton of weird big purple triangle things in the trees today (and yesterday, and the day before). We keep seeing them. What are they?

Today also saw our first near-death experience. Charlottesville is full of terrible drivers who see bicyclists as expendable objects rather than people with lives. Lots of cars determined to go 70 mph past us, while oncoming traffic fast approaches. Now we know why our map didn't take us down 250.

When we arrived to Charlottesville, my friends Teri and Alex who live here took off work early to meet us! Very, very nice. We got to hang with baby Brandon and eat lots of food, which we always enjoy. :) And tonight we get a bed which is super great, and Teri and Alex are always super fun.

Sadly, no photos today. I only took one during the day, which I may choose to post another day. But there wasn't much exciting scenery, the ride was short, and so was my fuse. ;)

I am actually really worried about tomorrow, when we hit "the big one." Afton mountain. The hill that broke my spirit was maybe a 250 ft increase in elevation. Tomorrow we go up 2000 ft. Let's be honest, probably less. We're going to do what we can do, and we'll have a support vehicle with us (thanks, mom and dad!). The goal is to make it to Love, VA, but if we don't, we don't. Right now we're just doing what we can and getting accustomed to daily hard biking.

Thanks for all the comments so far. We love them!

Day 2: Rain, Rain Go Away

Alternate title: Day 2: Downhills aren't worth it

Richmond, VA to Mineral, VA

Stats!
Miles traveled today (all on a bike today!): 54.8
Miles biked total: 118.2
Max speed: 31.5 mph
# of dogs that chased us: 2
# of dogs that would have chased us, had they not been caged: at least 12
# of times we hid from the rain: 4

We woke up bright and early and ready to ride. Unfortunately, it was POURING in Richmond, so we ate some breakfast at Sapna's house (thanks for the awesome soysage!) and waited it out.

We got on the road at about 9:45 a.m. We weren't even out of Richmond the first time we had to hide from the rain. However, throughout the day the rains came and went, and we never needed to hide for more than 45 minutes or so.

We hid at a closed down restaurant, a Friendly's (yum!), a sports camp, and a Domino's (we didn't eat at the Domino's, since we just had Friendly's). Thunderstorms chased us all day. But we were not daunted! And when the sun did come out it was beautiful.

We had originally planned to bike halfway to Charlottesville on Broad St. and just stop at 35 miles (halfway). However, halfway to Charlottesville there are only snake-ridden wheat fields, angry dogs, and children bearing rifles. (<---- 100% true)

So we cut north 20 miles to Mineral, VA, where you can camp at the Volunteer Fire Department for FREE! And they let you use their showers, etc., so it's a great deal. We are blogging from our tent right now.

Other stuff from today .... I had my first fall, Dean's chain fell off again (twice), we saw a huge turtle, a bolt of lightning, and a double rainbow part-way across the sky! It was a VERY hilly ride, which is exhausting. But there will just be more and more hills until we hit the middle of the country, so this is good training. :)

Day 1: A Series of Firsts

Yorktown, VA to Richmond, VA
Miles traveled: 72 (on bike: 63.4)
Average speed: not included in future posts b/c our bike computer averages in our lunches, but about 10 mph
Max speed: 26 mph

Let me start by saying that I wanted to title this post "Day 1: A Rude Awakening," but Dean thought we should be more positive, hence a series of firsts.

So let's talk about the firsts! Today we had our:
First day on our
First bike trip!
First time getting lost
First time losing the map (we found it)
First flat tire (Dean) and first flat repair!
First fall (Dean)
First time biking more than 40 miles in one day
First time biking more than 6 miles fully loaded (yeah, we weren't so hot about training with our gear)
First motor vehicle rescue
First potato tacos

Dean fixes the first flat of the trip

So you may be wondering how we traveled 72 miles but only biked 63.4. See, what happened was.... we only ever trained up to 40 miles, but then planned our first day to be more than 70 miles. Not to mention that we were hungover (thanks, mom), started three hours late due to missing shoes, and got a flat along the way. So when my parents thoughtfully showed up with donuts at mile 63 (with 9 miles of pure uphill left, with the sun setting), we took them up on their offer for emergency transport. My folks live very near our starting point, so they started out with us and popped up every so often with food and encouragement. It was great having a support vehicle, and I'm sorry we won't have them the whole way!

Dean realizes his shoes are missing, so we hit the local bike shop for replacements

The lesson we learned was that we were just way too ambitious for days one and two. We've adjusted plans for the next couple days to slow things down and give us a chance to recuperate from day one. We aren't planning to make it all the way to Charlottesville in one bite. We figure that after we get going more, and are a little more accustomed to the long rides, and when the terrain gets flat, we'll make up for lost time.

But despite a rocky start, in some ways, it was really great! Starting in Yorktown was amazing and I'd recommend it to anyone planning a similar trip. The water was pretty and there were tons of flowers along Colonial Parkway, and they smelled amazing. We saw TONS of cool animals frolicking, or doing whatever animals do. The whole ride was beautiful and the roads were thankfully in really good condition. Dean is super into birds (beats me) and he saw two huge hawks roosting in a tree we passed (very close), but we spooked them, and they flew off but followed us by air for miles. Also, around here the 13-year cicadas are out, and they are LOUD. We had pretty dense forest on both sides most of the way, and the cicadas were buzzing and humming all along our route.

Dipping our back wheels in the Atlantic (okay, the Chesapeake Bay, but close enough!)

My butt is killing me and I am exhausted, but I am still really looking forward to day 2! After all, a day that ends with $1 potato tacos is a good day. :) Many thanks to Sapna and Bret for taking us in!

Sapna, Bret and Dean at dinner. $1 tacos are the tastiest tacos of all.