The gradiants here are steep...very steep in places.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Strange feeling to actually be here in the final state of my tour. But what a wonderful state it is so far. The mountains here are a joy to ride in...lots of steep climbs through dense forest. It is very humid but strangely not to hot. The trees are alive with birds ands all kinds of insects...it sounds like a tropical rain forest!
The downhills are fast and have sharp switchback turns...my brakes are wearing thin...time to change pads.
They have sheep here...mostly all I've seen across America is cows. Some of the trees are dropping their leaves..I wonder if this is the first sign of fall here?
As I rode today I felt mixed feelings...happy that I am riding in such beautiful surroundings, sad that my trip.is almost done, thinking of life back in the UK...some good..some not...but there are people I want to hug.
Damascus is a lovely small town in the hills here. The church has a biker hostel and I have a bed for the night. Around the corner is the bar where tonight I can recommend the special..pasta..bolognaise sauce...salad...yummy!
People in the town are welcoming...within two minutes of riding into town I had an offer of a free bed in somebodies house...then two guys on motorbikes stopped to say hi and recommended this bar to eat in...I followed their advice and it was good.
Once again..good things are happening on this ride...I make my own luck..take may own decisions and live with them...they have always been the right ones for me.
I try to catch the essence of the rides with the pictures and videos on facebook. But really it'd about the wind in my face, the smells, the people, the freedom and the feel of the bike under me. I can't catch that on camera.
I just don't want this ride to end. But I'm young enough to do this again or a similar ride. But its not over yet...I still have some big climbs and a state to cross....and a lot more smiling to do!
Virginia..wow..I actually made it to the tenth and final state I'm riding across! I crossed the state line this morning after several more climbs here in the mountains. The views from the top of the climbs were pretty amazing and the downhill runs were great fun...steep fast and sharp bends .
Tonight I'm in a small town called council in the park. After a short 45 miles mostly climbing I got to the park and was warned about bears having been in the park in the last few days..also cayottees.
Hmmm...now I know why I carried the bear spray all the way from Yellowstone lol!
Earlier in the day is had breakfast at a diner and the lady who served breakfast had such a good sense of fun ...$150...no way...ha ha! Mickey mouse pancakes for breakfast...cool!
Although today was the shortest ride of the tour so far I think, it was beautiful and although the climbs here are steep I'm loving doing them.
I have a feeling Virginia will be another good state for me...as they all have been.
Friday, 24 August 2012
...but...then came the really steep climbs...three of them...in a row...but I got up and over each of them without to much agony and the downhills were fun!
The mountains here are covered in trees and they restrict the view almost totally. But trust me, its a long way down at the side of the road!
Along the way I had a major ice cream relapse and stopped twice to sample the local soft ice!
My legs felt great and I could have kept on for another 20 or so miles but decided to stop at the baptist church centre to sleep. The only problem being it was locked and the guy with the key gone on holiday. So...I asked the neighbours and the girls in the gas station store and soon the village was all involved...but to no avail the keys were still on holiday lol!
So u just put up my tent anyway and ate gas station pizza ans green tea until Anne and Scott arrived. I knew they were a way behind me and were relying on the hostel being open. I could have gone over the next mountain to the campground at the state park lake but decided to wait for them here and called back to let them know about the food drill here etc.
The accent here is really hard for me to follow...and tonight I had a real laugh with the pizza people about it as they were also clueless as to what I was saying..great fun!
This part of Kentucky is very poor. The people are friendly but have little compared to those in the previous parts of this state I have ridden through.
The dogs here try to take food from cyclists panniers I was told even though I had no trouble with dogs today.
Ah...here us a lady with a key...gotta go!
...well..as always on this trip when I need a lucky break something good always happens. The neighbour I asked earlier tracked down a key...so tonight I'm sleeping in the gym here. It has a full shower washroom set up, a basketball court, and enough food to feed an army!
Also I'm protected from the free running pitbulls outside tonight.
Ann and Scott showed up to so we are all sleeping on the basketball court!
I had a good day...a great ride and have a safe place to sleep tonight. Tomorrow I cross the state line into Virginia!
The climbs here are steep switchbacks that look ominous at the bottom but once into my stride they were actually not to bad. Lowest gear all the way up and real dig in and let's get this done mind set did the trick.
It reminded me of the climb up McKenzie pass at the begging of this tour...steep sharp switchbacks.
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Today was all about climbing...here in the appalations the hills are long and steep...but nothing I couldn't handle. Mostly its quiet narrow roads with well behaved traffic...then there is the highway to hell...80..from hazard to dwarf. Apart from that stretch the ride is really scenic...green everywhere. I rode with Chris ...Scott went to hazard and Ana rolled up later and here we are at the hostel in the historical society on top of what has to be the steepest hill on the transam...thankfully its just the guys driveway but it has to be a 50% grade no kidding!
Here the are cats...and so far I've only trodden on one kitten lol!
I rode 68 miles today in these mountains...my legs could have ridden another 40 I felt so good up here in these green hills...free...and within a day or twos ride now of Virginia.
I'm having a.problem slowing down...my body and mind is conditioned to riding at least 50 miles everyday...niether wants to stop...I feel like I just want to ride forever...I suppose that's the endorphins talking lol!
Camped on the hill here at the hostel...Kentucky has been good to me so far.
The scenery here is really nice...I'm told the hills get a lot tougher soon.
Kentucky is a beautiful state to ride through...so green and sunny but not to hot.
No dog attacks today...because there were no dogs..lol!
Keeping it short tonight as I'm exhausted.
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