actually reads slightly less than it should because I hadn't set the
wheel diameter correctly.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
The proof...
actually reads slightly less than it should because I hadn't set the
wheel diameter correctly.
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Day 49- Ashland to Yorktown
The end! Finito! Done! Woohoo. The flat terrain today appealed to my
lazy side but the traffic was a bit crazy. Not that there was too much
of it but American drivers refuse to slow down, especially on the
weekend when everyone is rushing to get somewhere relaxing... And even
on roads as narrow as today, where I have nowhere to go as there is no
shoulder, they always want to squeeze past no matter how fat their car
is or how big the one coming the other way is. Idiots. My last 20
miles was then ruined by the "Colonial Parkway", which connects the
three historic towns of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Its
surface looks to be as old as the three towns, so rough that my wrists
and elbows soon started hurting from all that rumbling! I made it to
Yorktown all shaken up and with a really sore bum (hadn't mentioned it
in a while but these sores don't go away, they just become part of
everyday life). The tour's official finish was at the victory memorial
in Yorktown. But now I had to get back to Williamsburg, 13 miles away
on the parkway, because none of the motels I called in Yorktown had a
room. Luckily, I found a couple who were just packing up their bikes
in a big SUV who gave me a lift back.
So, here are the statistics:
4,250 miles in 49 days including 3 rest days. So on my riding days I
averaged 92.4 miles per day.
I rode through 10 states on the Transamerica trail (Oregon, Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky,
Virginia) and briefly rode into Washington on my first day.
I rode over 4 mountain ranges: the Cascades, Rockies, Ozarks and
Appalachians.
I don't want to know: how many chocolate bars, burgers, eggs and other
crap I ate; how many gallons of Gatorade/powerade/vitamin water and
milk I drank; the number of close calls with cars and trucks or how
much roadkill I've seen!
Overall, an amazing experience. The way I did everything worked out
perfectly for me, although many people would tour differently. The
people in all states were great, very friendly and helpful all around.
And I love my bike! I think it'll serve me well as a commuter, off-
roader or winter training bike for years to come.
I was planning to ride down to Virginia Beach tomorrow to spend a few
days relaxing at the beach. I figured though that I wouldn't want to
ride 50 miles south just to come back north again a few days later.
Plus, knowing myself, I'll spend at least two days in bed watching
TV... So the beach would be useless. Instead, I'm taking the train to
Richmond (laziness and avoiding weekend traffic!), where I'll spend a
few days relaxing and sightseeing before I head up to Washington DC.
lazy side but the traffic was a bit crazy. Not that there was too much
of it but American drivers refuse to slow down, especially on the
weekend when everyone is rushing to get somewhere relaxing... And even
on roads as narrow as today, where I have nowhere to go as there is no
shoulder, they always want to squeeze past no matter how fat their car
is or how big the one coming the other way is. Idiots. My last 20
miles was then ruined by the "Colonial Parkway", which connects the
three historic towns of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Its
surface looks to be as old as the three towns, so rough that my wrists
and elbows soon started hurting from all that rumbling! I made it to
Yorktown all shaken up and with a really sore bum (hadn't mentioned it
in a while but these sores don't go away, they just become part of
everyday life). The tour's official finish was at the victory memorial
in Yorktown. But now I had to get back to Williamsburg, 13 miles away
on the parkway, because none of the motels I called in Yorktown had a
room. Luckily, I found a couple who were just packing up their bikes
in a big SUV who gave me a lift back.
So, here are the statistics:
4,250 miles in 49 days including 3 rest days. So on my riding days I
averaged 92.4 miles per day.
I rode through 10 states on the Transamerica trail (Oregon, Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky,
Virginia) and briefly rode into Washington on my first day.
I rode over 4 mountain ranges: the Cascades, Rockies, Ozarks and
Appalachians.
I don't want to know: how many chocolate bars, burgers, eggs and other
crap I ate; how many gallons of Gatorade/powerade/vitamin water and
milk I drank; the number of close calls with cars and trucks or how
much roadkill I've seen!
Overall, an amazing experience. The way I did everything worked out
perfectly for me, although many people would tour differently. The
people in all states were great, very friendly and helpful all around.
And I love my bike! I think it'll serve me well as a commuter, off-
roader or winter training bike for years to come.
I was planning to ride down to Virginia Beach tomorrow to spend a few
days relaxing at the beach. I figured though that I wouldn't want to
ride 50 miles south just to come back north again a few days later.
Plus, knowing myself, I'll spend at least two days in bed watching
TV... So the beach would be useless. Instead, I'm taking the train to
Richmond (laziness and avoiding weekend traffic!), where I'll spend a
few days relaxing and sightseeing before I head up to Washington DC.
Day 48- Charlottesville to Ashland
It's sad that a) the motel last night didn't offer free wifi or
breakfast, b) my breakfast at Starbucks was probably the best and most
nourishing I've had in a few weeks. Speaking of food, I caught up with
the Dutch guys I met last night after a few miles (I'm not the only
getting slightly late starts!) and I noticed again just how skinny, or
actually malnourished, these two look. It seems plain stupid to me to
let yourself lose that much weight while on tour. It's hard enough to
do this much riding everyday, I think you really have to feed your
body enough to help it recover- which really isn't that hard in the
US, it's the country of cheap and abundant food after all! Although
actually I'm getting kind of sick of American food and how much I need
to eat... Might go on a fruit detox week after the tour! Well, I got
to Ashland without any problems. It's still not completely flat, but
there's not too much climbing so I had quite a relaxed ride. Still on
schedule to make it to Yorktown tomorrow!
breakfast, b) my breakfast at Starbucks was probably the best and most
nourishing I've had in a few weeks. Speaking of food, I caught up with
the Dutch guys I met last night after a few miles (I'm not the only
getting slightly late starts!) and I noticed again just how skinny, or
actually malnourished, these two look. It seems plain stupid to me to
let yourself lose that much weight while on tour. It's hard enough to
do this much riding everyday, I think you really have to feed your
body enough to help it recover- which really isn't that hard in the
US, it's the country of cheap and abundant food after all! Although
actually I'm getting kind of sick of American food and how much I need
to eat... Might go on a fruit detox week after the tour! Well, I got
to Ashland without any problems. It's still not completely flat, but
there's not too much climbing so I had quite a relaxed ride. Still on
schedule to make it to Yorktown tomorrow!
Day 47- Lexington to Charlottesville
The first 20 miles to a little place called Vesuvius already had a
fair amount of steady climbing in it... That was just the warmup
though! The climb from Vesuvius to the top of the Blue Ridge (one of
the two parts of the Appalachian mountains, either the young or old)
was only 3 miles long but very steep. My legs were burning so much,
and I reached a new low speed record- I usually climb at 5-6 mph
(heavy gearing! most touring bikes allow you to climb at down to
2.5mph) but I got down to 3.8mph today. So to go that slow with my
gearing means I was essentially doing very heavy single leg presses,
ouch! Once I got to the top, I rode 25miles along the Blue Ridge
Parkway, a beautiful quiet road with some stunning views of the
mountains and the valley below. I passed two cyclists who I met again
later at the motel- they recognised me after reading Luke's blog, and
told me they were afraid that Luke would catch them up again because
of me! After coming down from the ridge, I ran into another cyclist
and we rode to Charlottesville together. Charlottesville is a really
pretty university town- it actually reminds me of the Harvard area!
Now I've got about 190miles to go to Yorktown, luckily with minimal
amounts of climbing... Oh nearly forgot something again- I'm pretty
certain I finally saw a black bear today! It was walking across the
road about 70m ahead of me, it looked like a cub so I stayed back
because its mum was probably nearby, and you don't want to get in the
way of mummy bear!
fair amount of steady climbing in it... That was just the warmup
though! The climb from Vesuvius to the top of the Blue Ridge (one of
the two parts of the Appalachian mountains, either the young or old)
was only 3 miles long but very steep. My legs were burning so much,
and I reached a new low speed record- I usually climb at 5-6 mph
(heavy gearing! most touring bikes allow you to climb at down to
2.5mph) but I got down to 3.8mph today. So to go that slow with my
gearing means I was essentially doing very heavy single leg presses,
ouch! Once I got to the top, I rode 25miles along the Blue Ridge
Parkway, a beautiful quiet road with some stunning views of the
mountains and the valley below. I passed two cyclists who I met again
later at the motel- they recognised me after reading Luke's blog, and
told me they were afraid that Luke would catch them up again because
of me! After coming down from the ridge, I ran into another cyclist
and we rode to Charlottesville together. Charlottesville is a really
pretty university town- it actually reminds me of the Harvard area!
Now I've got about 190miles to go to Yorktown, luckily with minimal
amounts of climbing... Oh nearly forgot something again- I'm pretty
certain I finally saw a black bear today! It was walking across the
road about 70m ahead of me, it looked like a cub so I stayed back
because its mum was probably nearby, and you don't want to get in the
way of mummy bear!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Day 46- Christiansburg to Lexington
Had a late start because I stayed up until after midnight watching the
Olympics- Phelps winning another 2 golds and the US women battling the
(scarily tiny!) Chinese team for the gymnastics gold. It's nice to
relax and watch others at work! The day went by slowly as nothing
whatsoever exciting happened. Or maybe I was just a little too tired
to notice. Once I got Lexington, I found a motel and headed over to
Walmart to stock up on sweets- seriously, the looks you get here for
pulling up with a bike are hilarious. I went to get some dinner, and
managed to get back to the motel just as the thunderstorms once again
started up. That means it'll be even cooler tomorrow, brrr!
Olympics- Phelps winning another 2 golds and the US women battling the
(scarily tiny!) Chinese team for the gymnastics gold. It's nice to
relax and watch others at work! The day went by slowly as nothing
whatsoever exciting happened. Or maybe I was just a little too tired
to notice. Once I got Lexington, I found a motel and headed over to
Walmart to stock up on sweets- seriously, the looks you get here for
pulling up with a bike are hilarious. I went to get some dinner, and
managed to get back to the motel just as the thunderstorms once again
started up. That means it'll be even cooler tomorrow, brrr!
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Day 45- Damascus to Christiansburg
Christiansburg = end of section 11. Boy did I tear this section up,
380 miles over 3.5 days of riding! Oh yeah, and through the
Appalachian mountains... Child's play. Well not quite, my thighs did
hurt a bit but again, I still got up every climb just fine. On the
last section, number 12, there are only a few smaller climbs and then
one big ass crazy steep climb left. I'll tackle the big one on
Thursday, it's apparently 4 miles of up to 22% steep climbing... Might
take a while to get up there! I have to mention that the lady at last
night's B&B was just the sweetest thing: she did my laundry for $3,
and it smelt heavenly before I sweated all over it again. She made me
a huge delicious breakfast, and made sure I packed a banana as a
snack. It's people like her that make this trip so much more enjoyable!
380 miles over 3.5 days of riding! Oh yeah, and through the
Appalachian mountains... Child's play. Well not quite, my thighs did
hurt a bit but again, I still got up every climb just fine. On the
last section, number 12, there are only a few smaller climbs and then
one big ass crazy steep climb left. I'll tackle the big one on
Thursday, it's apparently 4 miles of up to 22% steep climbing... Might
take a while to get up there! I have to mention that the lady at last
night's B&B was just the sweetest thing: she did my laundry for $3,
and it smelt heavenly before I sweated all over it again. She made me
a huge delicious breakfast, and made sure I packed a banana as a
snack. It's people like her that make this trip so much more enjoyable!
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