TransAmerica, Trixie and Mark

Pro cycling tip: Talking to people and taking advice from folks is an important part of any trip. However, be wary of advice regarding bridge closures. People with cars, when presented with signs for detours, often take the detour. They might not be qualified to tell you what lies beyond the detour. Is it passable? Is it impassable? Will you be attacked by trolls or zombies? Always ask a construction worker or police officer that actually has a reason to go to the detour and see what's up. They'll generally give you the scoop (construction's complete, you can walk across, you can wade across, or they'll reveal that there are actually aberrations that will attack you lest you follow the advice of MoDOT). In this case, after having folks reveal that any number from 2-10 bridges were out along the recommended route, with detours adding up to 20 miles suggested, we decided to just roll through the path after the Sheriff's office told us it was a good idea. We were able ...

We biked the beginning of the day with some SAG support from Dustin's mom and dad again. We said our goodbyes after riding to the top of a hill and pushed our way onwards. After a few hilly sections, we had a nice downhill through a river valley. We made it into Hartville, where we were allowed to camp out on the courthouse lawn. We ate at a little cafe and we called it a night. It got down to 34 degrees, but I was warm in my sleeping bag.

Dustin woke up early to meet up with his mom and dad in Eminence, but it sure was cold and rainy at 730 am. Jon and I looked outside and after getting a voicemail from Dustin that he was getting soaked, we decided to sit on the couch and watch infomercials until 10, when the rain had set from a drizzle. Some folks consider this day to be the hardest of the trip with it's roller coaster climbs. Luckily, the inclement weather meant that the wind came unusually from the South or South East, giving us the occassional tail wind. I stopped in Ellington to eat the typical gas station sandwich; when I biked another 200 yards through town I saw that there was a festival with all types of carnival food. I really wanted a funnel cake, but I pushed onwards. For the last few miles through the Ozark Scenic Riverways, Dustin and his parents picked up my rear bag, which allowed me to zip up and down the last few climbs. I thought the day was challenging, but wasn't as tricky as the day that we...

We woke up, ate some breakfast and then crossed the Mississippi. Into Missouri we went. It got pretty hilly quickly, but the easy mileage of the day made it doable. There weren't any gas stations or small towns for 40 miles of the ride, so it was a pleasant surprise when at the top of a hill was Crown Valley Brewing Company. I had a beer tasting and an order of nachos, which is the way a day of biking should really be completed. We moseyed down the hill into Farmington and settled into the Bike Hostel. Al's Place, named after the charismatic Long John Silver's George Bailey of Farmington, would probably be the most awesome bachelor pad. As such, it made great accomodations for our night in Farmington. We ate some Chinese food and called it a day.

I felt excited as the day began since today was the day that we'd pass through Carbondale to hit our first bike shop since Virginia. I had been having problem with flats with my thinner 700cx23s; not even as much punctures but anytime I hit any heavier rocks, dividers between bridges, etc. Our detour around flooding from Shawneetown had us riding on a shoulder along a smaller state highway. These were the worst roads for my now apparently flimsy tires. Of course, getting 3 flats on the way to Carbondale would be the final hurrah from my tires. But, I made it and put on 25 Continental GatorHardshells. I was a bit sad that 28s wouldn't fit, but I was happier for any improvement that I could make. I ate a burrito and then began biking towards Chester to catchup with Dustin and Jon. The rest of the trip on the highway I felt like I was driving a bulletproof car as trixie shot debris away from the tires. Awesome. When I started biking up the levees on the Great River Road, it was ...

Today was a pretty good riding day initially as we made our way to Shawneetown. Our detour around the flooding and the high Ohio River at Cave in Point worked. I, being a klutz, forgot my phone in the town beforehand. I started to plan to ride back 15 miles, get the phone and ride back before dusk, but Dustin and Jon encouraged me to ask around for help. As I tried to ask the folks at the police station for a ride (couldn't cross back into Kentucky) and folks at the gas station, things didn't seem like they'd work. One of the employees, Judy, was so kind to let me borrow her car and drive back to pick up my phone. It's one of the nicest things that's ever happened to me. I hope I can pay it all forward some day.

Our first century of the trip came on this ride. Today the up and downs seemed a bit harder, but we kept slowly moving towards our goal. The highlight of the day was a small bar right before we entered Whitesville, which served us our first beers in Kentucky. We also re-entered the central time zone. We had our first rerouting around flooding and got to see the Rough River dam work overtime to meet the needs to satiate the dam. We were able to sleep at the fire station on the route in Utica. So good.

Took a brief ride to Loretto, KY, home of the Maker's Mark distillery. Loretto, Pennsylvania (near where I grew up) had a monastery/nunnery and a college. Loretto had whisky. Loretto, Kentucky might be slightly cooler in that regard. The tour was fun and we met up with our 4th companion, Jon Mohr. We biked at a decent clip to Hodgenville. Paul, the caretaker, allowed us to shower in the community building and we were able to camp near a pavilion. The mosquitos were a bit bad, but I was able to get them out of my tent before sleeping.

Began the morning with a cool ride on 28, which was one of the cooler roads I've ridden on so far. From there, we had alot of downhills that crested quickly over uphills. To fly at 30 miles an hour down a hill to have your momentum throw you over another hill is one of the true joys of life. There were about 60 of these and one climb through farm country that reminded me of Observatory Drive in Paoli. Dustin may have taken the faster route, but I wouldn't have traded this for the world. Abe and I shared some breakfast at a greasy spoon diner with smarmy service.Wouldn't expect any less. Camped out by some baseball fields and called it a night.

A short ride in preparation for making our way to the Maker's Mark factory on Monday. It was a lovely sunny day in the morning, so I took my time leaving and jammed out to some music on my iPod. Leaving finally around 11, I made it into town. We did some laundry and ate some ice cream at the Dairy Queen. I railed about how it was unamerican that we couldn't drink a Mint Julep where we were (dry county, again), then missed the running of the derby itself because the announced time of the start of the race was wrong on my phone. Womp womp.We pulled into camp at the Oh! Kentucky campground and I bought some things at the Walmart. Onwards to tomorrow.

Day 2 in Kentucky turned out to be pleasant, although a bit more hectic since the Transamerica route put us onto a 4-lane highway for awhile through Hazard. Them Duke boys almost got into a bit of trouble, but we were able to get back onto a relaxing country road soon enough and back on the road. We settled up in Booneville and we were able to camp at the church lot. The shower had only the cold temperature, but it was nice to be clean after biking. We ate at a small smokey diner and listened to some bluegrass with some "mountain clogging", which is the process of folks tap dancing to Bluegrass.

We started the day off lazily from Breaks, but the day quickly picked up with climbs. Though not necessarily harder than the day before, being sore from Breaks kept the day fresh. Some of the places we biked through looked broken, old roads with no shoulders where folks left their loose junkyard dogs out to chase a cyclist. Normally, a dog chase isn't much of a thing... few dogs are mean enough to bite. They probably are having an awesome time chasing after a piece of spandex up a hill. But, when there's no shoulder and falling off a one lane road with no shoulder = pain, so it wasn't quite as cheeky as the usual dog encounter. After 2 climbs, 1 confirmed mullet sighting, 9 dog chasings, 2 orange sodas and the girl at the counter telling me that I was "moving super fast while she was driving behind me" (Only bike compliment from a random ever), we arrived in Hindman. We conversed some with the "legendary" folk figure Charlie, who wanted us to pay a lot o...

Woke up at the break of dawn and started rolling. Today was a harder day with 5 tricky climbs.  Probably my hardest day riding ever, let alone touring. But, we were able to keep rolling and reached the top. I spent some time looking at the majesty that we just rolled over to get there. Breaks Interstate Park is known as "The Grand Canyon of the East". I feel like alot of places call itself it's own version of the Grand Canyon. Just like some colleges call themselves the "Yale of the <Insert geographical region>". Breaks... be your own park, don't feel the need to conform to those other geological features. I was able to snag some Wi-fi so I could Skype call MB (AT&T reception in the mountains was bad), then we rode down the hill a bit to stay in a motel for the night. 570 miles through Virginia, Kentucky began tomorrow.

Today was a pretty easy day of biking with only one big climb, and then a blissful downhill into Damascus. I was worried the entire time that my last tube would blow out, but luckily everything ended up OK. We pulled into Damascus and I was able to pick up some new inner tubes for my bike. We pulled into a hostel hosted by the Methodist church. There were some older hikers there, since Damascus also crosses paths with the AT. We met a biker who was biking from the beach with an old Wal-mart bike, rolling "35-40" miles a day. Maybe that's the way touring or living should be done. We ate some pizza, then called it an early night so that we could attack the next day bright and early.

Woke up and said goodbye to our friendly hosts. We started biking towards Whyteville/Rural Retreat. I had a tough day. I blew one tube with a snakebite puncture, blew another with a cracked valve and then had my chain break. But, I was able to fix everything and keep moving. I was a bit afraid since I was out of tubes if another one broke (not likely, but could have still happened). I imagined myself being like a person in the Oregon Trail where I would need to barter tubes for powerbars. But, I made it to Whyteville OK. I then was able to stop at the local EMS, where Dustin secured us a place to stay. I ate some tasty mexican food, kicked it some with the EMTs and Dustin and Abe and then slept on the couch.

Woke up and ate a historically relevant "frittatta" and a biscuit with awesome blackberry jelly at the civil war reenactors breakfast spot. We then biked up the road a little bit where I met Jim and Elise. Jim is Dustin's wife's cousin and Elise is his wife. They grabbed some of our gear and we rode up towards Blacksburg. It was nice not to have to carry my heavy stuff and it was nice to go fast. We then stopped at Dan and Ann's house - Ann is Elise's sister. They took us in and fed us and let us stay there. Everyone was super nice to help us out and take care of us. Some highlights: - Dan played some banjo and enjoyed talking about bluegrass - Sleeping in a bed - Virginia Tech had a bunch of similar looking limestone, which reminded me a bit of Dickinson. - Dan went to Notre Dame and Ann went to St. Mary's. They had the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign heading into the garage. Felt good.

Woke up to eat a sandwich inside the store and then started biking towards Buchanan. It was windy... I felt slow. I didn't hurt as bad after the climbing day as I thought that I might, so I was glad about that. We stopped in Buchanan for the day since we knew that we were going to bike a longer distance in the morning with Dustin's cousin and his wife. We camped by the river in Buchanan next to a bunch of super serious civil war reenactors. I couldn't see myself ever doing it... yeah... I couldn't see myself ever being a civil war reenactor. But, they enjoyed the guns and such and I didn't mind it after falling asleep early. General Lee could have knocked on my tent door and I wouldn't have minded it any more.

We started the day a bit later after waiting out the storm until 10 and got our feet moving at about 11. We biked up past Afton, where we met June Curry. June, who is otherwise known as the Cookie Lady, has been taking in cyclists since the Bicentennial/TransAmerican route was established. We were just starting our ride, but it was nice to chat with June and see the collection of things that June had  acquired throughout the years. My favorite was a tandem that had a switch so that the front or back rider could steer. We then continued to climb up through the Blue Ridge parkway. The grade was rather gentle, but it was miles upon miles of climbing and climbing. It was a relief to finally end the day with a 5 mile descent into Vesuvius. We came to a place called "Gertie's", which looked closed. However, we saw someone working on the sign and Tammy (Gertie's daughter) came over to open up the place (they closed for the day since they hadn't had electricity since 3) a...

Woke up to the rain coming down a bit just as I was taking down my tent. During my sleep the night beforehand, I heard the train coming by and I thought that I had accidentally setup my tent on the train tracks. It took a solid minute before I realized that was crazy. We started taking off towards Charlottesville. I was feeling great about riding until I hit a bump in the spot betweeen the road and a bridge and my rear tire went flat. Boo. It was split right by the valve. At which point, I pulled out my one spare tube to find that the tube wouldn't hold more than 60 psi of air... maybe I should have picked up new tubes instead of the random one sitting in my car. I was finally able to get my other spare tube on the bike. The climb up past Monticello was rough, but I was replenished by some barbeque sandwich and sweet tea in town. We kept on rolling past to White Hall to camp at the base of the mountain. We met some pleasant folks painting (Virginia and Meg), grabbed a meatloaf sand...

After a relatively long day, we were able to make it towards Mineral, VA. It was a pretty easy bike, culminating in us ending up around noon to stop for lunch in Mineral. I ate some dry brisket, though the service was super friendly. At that point, we started to think if there was a way that we could somehow get to Charlottesville (40 miles away) or stay somewhere in between. Since we could stay for free at the Fire Department/EMS station, we decided to stay put in Mineral. There was a winery nearby, so Dustin and I hopped on our bikes and had a little tasting at Cooper Vineyards. It was a pretty cool building since it was LEED platinum with the grapes growing in the fields behind it. After eating cheesesteak number 2 of the trip, I set up my tent in the yard by the fire station and called it a night.