Day 16

Hazard, KY to Booneville, KY, about 47 miles.  Another short day of riding through Kentucky.  Nothing too eventful about today in particular.  I met two more TransAmerica cyclists, bringing the total to 18, far more than I expected to meet so early in the trip.  I'm now further west in longitude than Detroit, and also I realized that yesterday I made it further west than I'd ever been by car, that being Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.  I'm camping in the backyard of a Presbyterian church in Booneville with six other cyclists, the Penn State group and a couple of former marines sponsored by warriorexpeditions.org.

Day 15

Wheelwright, KY to Hazard, KY, about 49 miles.  Had a late start today as we had access to an awesome range of breakfast food at the Baptist church in Wheelwright.  Kentucky has been a fun state to ride through.  It is known by cyclists for its loose dogs.  On two occasions, a group of dogs rushed out into the street barking.  The riders I'm with tell me that at the Cookie Lady's house, which also serves as a makeshift cross-country bike museum, someone had donated a sword and named it the "Kentucky Dog Slayer."  So far I've only had to use my air horn once, although I've yelled at the dogs a few times.  Even if the dogs here aren't the best, I've found the drivers to be very courteous in sharing the road here, moreso than other states that I've been to.  The people have been very friendly, and often people wave or say hi as we go by.  Tonight, the group of Penn Staters and I are staying with a Warm Showers host named Izzy.  He lives in Hazard with two cats.

Days 12, 13, and 14

It's been two weeks and I've finally gotten out of Virginia!

Day 12: Took a rest day in Damascus, VA.  Talked to some more AT hikers, each with an interesting story to share.  My friend James, who had met up with me previously in the trip and whom I biked from Vancouver to San Diego with three years back, came to visit.  I was initially planning to ride to his house 35 miles over the Tennessee and North Carolina borders, but ended up saving the 70 mile round trip, but also failed to visit North Carolina and Tennessee on this trip.  Oh well.  James brought me some supplies that were shipped to his house, and filled me up on some touring knowledge before parting.

Day 13: Rode from Damascus, VA to Elkhorn, KY, about 81 miles.  I finally crossed the Virginia/Kentucky border!  Virginia is known as one of the most challenging states, with very steep climbs up hills and mountains.  This day will probably be one of the most challenging of the trip, with two mountains and three steep hills adding up to a mountain in height.  Crossing the Appalachians isn't easy.  Ended the day camping by the river in Breaks Interstate Park just over the Kentucky side of the border.

Day 14: Rode from Elkhorn City, KY to Wheelwright, KY, about 40 miles. 
Another challenging day with two more mountains plus a steep hill.  I've now crossed the most challenging part of the Appalachians, and what will likely be the most challenging segment of the whole trip.  It started pouring just after getting to the top of the second of the day's mountains.  Luckily there was a closed store at the top with an awning that we waited out the storm under.  A few from the Penn State group that I have been riding with got soaked while still coming up the mountain.  We went down the mountain once the rain stopped, and decided to cut the day short.  We were lucky that the father-daughter pair, now a day ahead, had found a welcoming Baptist church with showers and beds to spend the night in.  We got in touch and ended up staying at the same place.

Days 10 and 11

Day 10: Blacksburg, VA to Wytheville, VA, about 62 miles.  I've figured out how to reset my speedometer so now I can get more accurate mileages than reading the map.  Started the day going along the Huckleberry Trail between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.  Christiansburg marks the border between sections 11 and 12 of the TransAmerica Bike Trail, a significant milestone.  I had an awesome lunch in a town called Drapers, a country style buffet where I loaded up on mac & cheese.  One of the workers there claimed that he and a friend initially started the Huckleberry Trail.  My own waiter was an awesome guy who wants to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) next year.  As I was leaving, I saw the Penn State group go past.  Joined up with them for the rest of the day and camped out in a city park in Wytheville.  We ran into another cross country cyclist at the park.  One of the Penn State guys' dad came from North Carolina to meet us and got us all dinner at a Chinese buffet.  I eat so many calories from all the cycling, so buffets are great.  I am often still hungry after two full meals.

Day 11: Wytheville, VA to Damascus, VA, about 58 miles.  Finally hit the point where we can stop moving south and start heading west.  The day started out badly.  My joints were in pain, from my right Achilles tendon to my left knee.  Strong headwinds and rolling hills made me feel that I would need to take a short day.  We made it to an awesome Amish country store at Rural Retreat that fueled me for the rest of the day.  There was a big mountain between Sugar Grove and Damascus, Mount Rogers, which looking at the map had me feeling nervous about whether I would make it.  It turns out that the mountain was one of the best parts of the trip.  Less steep than the little country hills throughout Virginia, low traffic, and lots of forests on both sides of the road.  After a relatively easy ascent, we had a beautiful descent through wooded switchbacks next to a stream, where I would often exceed the speed limit on my bike.  The bottom of the mountain put me right into Damascus, an awesome town where cyclists meet hikers on the AT, where we stayed at a mixed hiker/biker hostel.

Days 8 and 9

Day 8: Rode from Buchanan, VA to Blacksburg, VA, about 60 miles.  Rode with the father daughter pair to just before Blacksburg.  They continued further on from there, trying to keep a fast pace to get to Seattle in one fewer week than I'm going to San Francisco.  I stayed in Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech, with Seth, a friend of a friend.  Seth had an awesome meal prepared for me, and has a cool house set-up with a bar that he built.  Earlier in the day, we stopped for lunch in a small town called Catawba, only to find that the one restaurant in town wasn't open.  Luckily, my friend James, who was driving back from his own bike tour from State College, PA to Burlington, VT, and an old friend from my Pacific Coast tour who inspired my trip after he crossed the country last year, planned to meet up with us at our lunch stop.  He offered to shuttle us to a nearby gas station serving cheap pizzas, saving us a few miles of extra riding.

Day 8: Took my first rest day since leaving Arlington.  Walked around Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech campus and ate a lot of food.  There is an awesome vegetarian restaurant named Gillie's where I ate both breakfast and dinner.  As an aside, I have found the Shenandoah region to be incredibly beautiful.  I have been impressed by awesome mountains and rolling hills and valleys, and the small college towns along the way.  I skipped a planned stop in Charlottesville, which I hope to visit someday, but Blacksburg and Lexington are both exceptionally beautiful.  The only downside to this beauty is difficult cycling terrain, but hopefully it pays off later on in the mountainous west.

Rick in Lexington

I'm taking a rest day today, but while doing it, I thought I'd take a moment to begin sharing some other stories.  The "Day x" posts will give a brief day-by-day synopsis of my trip, but I will occasionally post more stuff about things I see or people I meet on the trip, not necessarily in order.

The first story will be about Rick in Lexington, VA.  I rolled into Lexington on Sunday with a group of five.  As we waited for the sixth, a local cyclist named Rick rode up on his bike and started chatting with us.  Rick was incredibly excited about our trip, probably moreso than any of us were (given we were exhausted).  He had ridden the Bikecentennial in 1976, a large organized cross-country bike ride which inspired the TransAmerica trail or Bike Route 76, the route I'll be following for most of the way into Pueblo, CO.  Rick gave us advice, helped us with basic bike maintenance, and took us to a place with a water fountain to fill up our bottles (that place was Sweet Thing, the ice cream shop which I mentioned on Day 7).  Rick wanted us to keep moving, and had a catchphrase "let's roll," which he'd repeat while hopping on his bike over and over even while some in the group weren't yet ready.  Rick rode about 5 miles out of town with three of us and showed us a shortcut to Route 76.  He seemed to know many people in town, saying hi to just about everyone.  He also seemed to be picking up litter off the street.  Rick was a cool guy.

Day 7

This will be a longer post, all referring to Day 7.

Rode from Greenwood, VA to Buchanan, VA.  Today turned out surprisingly well!  Started the day looking forward to rain and my first big climb up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The campsite that I stayed at last night didn't afford me much sleep, after I was woken up by some people outside around midnight. 

I got an early start at around 7:30, and climbed a short but steep hill at the base of the mountain to Afton.  I passed a house with three bikes loaded with touring gear, and found a whole house full of people cycling across the country, 10 in total!  The house was that of the late Cookie Lady, a woman who opened her home to cyclists until her passing in 2012.  The home is still managed by friends of the cycling community.  One of the groups staying at the house is a group of four fellow Penn Staters (one is currently a student, the other three just graduated this year, so I'll refer to them as the Penn State grads) who are also planning to finish in San Francisco.  Another group is a father and daughter pair from and biking to Seattle.  The guy I missed at the campsite the previous night also stopped by. 

There was some debate about whether to take the Blue Ridge Parkway up the mountain, or to go around the mountain.  Going around the mountain involved busy highways, but with the mountain covered in fog, I wasn't sure that would be any safer.  I joined the Penn State grads and the daughter from the father and daughter pair to take the highway around the mountain (the father went up the mountain). 

We made it to my destination of Lexington with much daylight left to spare.  We stopped for ice cream at Sweet Thing, which will probably rank as my favorite ice cream shop due to the awesome homemade waffle cone, and because ice cream tastes so much better after riding.  One member of the group of Penn State grads had a friend at the local university Washington and Lee, so that group stayed there.  I was invited to join the father and daughter pair at the motel they were planning to stay at 22 miles up the road in Buchanan, so not wanting to waste the daylight, and since the rain so far had been light, I joined them at the motel.

Overall, it was a very exciting day and I'm glad that I found so many great people who are also crazy enough to ride bikes across the country.  I think I will have riding companions for most of the rest of the trip.

Distance ridden: about 75 miles.

Day 6

Rode from Culpeper, VA to Greenwood, VA.  When I left, there was light rain which continued most of the morning.  The road was very hilly, and I rode for about 6 miles on a dirt road with continuous small but steep hills.  The sky stayed overcast, but towards the end of the day, I approached the Appalachian Mountains and had some amazing views (didn't stop for photos, unfortunately).  About 10 miles out, I finally linked up with Bike Route 76, probably the most well-travelled cross-country bike route, going from Yorktown, VA to Astoria, OR.  I will follow Route 76 most of the way from here to Pueblo, CO.  I ended the day at a campground, where there is another cyclist staying who is riding across the country.  I unfortunately didn't get to meet him.  Distance ridden:  about 70 miles.

Days 3, 4, and 5

Day 3: Took a day off in Arlington to spend my last few days in DC.  For the second time, I brought too much weight on a bike tour.  Got rid of some old gear and bought a few new things from REI.  Replaced my old 7 lbs. tent with a 2 lbs. tent.  The bike now rides much smoother after dropping some weight.

Day 4: Stayed in Arlington again.  I rode the metro out to New Carrollton station with my bike so I could finish the bit that I missed.  I like to think of it as "uncheating," albeit I went without my gear so the bike was lighter, and it was a beautiful day as opposed to the cold rainy one on Day 2.  Riding in from Maryland made me appreciate the bike-friendliness of DC's roads.  Distance ridden: about 15 miles from New Carrollton, MD to Arlington, VA.

Day 5: Rode from Arlington, VA to Culpeper, VA.  It was a beautiful day and riding was great for most of the day.  Northern Virginia had wonderful bike paths taking me the first 15 miles.  There was a stretch of 11 miles with heavy traffic and a tiny shoulder that I had to ride off the road for a while to avoid trucks.  The rest of the trip was full of beautiful country roads winding through Virginia.  About 10 miles out from Culpeper, I was met by an awesome view of the Appalachian Mountains in the distance.  At present, I am Couchsurfing with David and Sarah in Culpeper.  They made an awesome taco dinner with homemade tortillas, and now we are watching Into the Wild.  I'm resting up now, with three days of rain to look forward to.  Distance ridden: about 75 miles.

Days 1 and 2

Day 1 took me from Rehoboth Beach, DE to Annapolis, MD.  It was a beautiful day outside with few clouds.  The peninsula across the Chesapeake was surprisingly rural with farms and fields most of the way.  Strong headwinds slowed my pace considerably.  I made it to the bridge leading to Kent Island, where a shuttle picked me up to get me across Kent Island and Maryland's Bay Bridge.  From there, I rode to Annapolis in the dark, getting there just after 9.  In Annapolis, I was hosted by an incredibly kind woman named Cindy who made ravioli and one of the best salads that I'd ever eaten. Her son DJ and their two incredibly friendly dogs Cooper and Ben also kept me company.  I rode about 90 miles.

Day 2 took me from Annapolis, MD to Arlington, VA.  It rained all day, and some poorly routed Google Maps directions had me riding on the sides of highways with small or no shoulders.  Overall, it was an unpleasant day.  I ended up aborting the plan to ride all the way into DC and rather opted to follow my printout maps which took me on some more local roads and suggested that I take the metro from New Carrolton.  I'm happy that I did that because across from me on the train was a man named Dave who once rode from Montreal to Key West.  He also went through Rehoboth Beach, and recounted his experience hitchhiking on the back of a flatbed truck across Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  I rode about 25 miles.

I'll be taking the day off tomorrow, which is well timed due to some expected rain.  I think that I've packed my bike too heavy, so I'll likely ship some extraneous items back home.  On Thursday and Friday, I plan to make my way south to Charlottesville, where I will pick up bike route 76, which will take me all the way to Pueblo, CO, minus a few detours.

Day 0

I spent tonight in Rehoboth Beach, DE with my parents and sister.  Rehoboth Beach is a typical Atlantic beach town reminiscent of those I visited on the Jersey Shore as a child, and located just a short ferry ride from my home state of NJ.  I played a boardwalk carnival game and had cheap pizza followed by soft-serve ice cream from Kohr Bros.  Tomorrow, I will ride to Annapolis, MD for the first day of my trip.

(Note:  I am having trouble uploading photos from my phone.  I will update with pictures later on.)