Kiki Bikes Across America

Archive for May, 2009

Today was a bit on the grueling side, yet not horribly grueling. We had some climbing throughout the day with the rolling hills into Blacksburg. Our goal was to get to Catawba, VA for lunch – since the maps showed symbols of food and services. We got there and there was nothing open – the gas station/general store was closed. However, a few guys from the Appalachian Trail told us of this place called the Homeplace – it was the only place open to get food. It was a real mansion kind of house and they had set prices for all you can eat. We stopped there and had a real home-style cooked meal in a sense – all you can eat, was definitely appealing too. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, beans, coleslaw, apple cobbler, cherry cobbler and ice cream, lemonade and ice tea. It was definitely tasty and filling. A few of the AT hikers were chatting with us – they were from Boulder, CO and said we should go through there. We’ll see – I’d like to see a couple friends up there, but it’ll also depend on timing and how tired I am by that point.

After lunch, we had a little over 20 miles to go and knew we had to climb another mountain to drop down into Blacksburg. Luckily, George took the lead for about 10 miles or more and kept a good fast pace of 17-20 mph going. The roads had improved and were smoother surfaces so made riding a lot faster and easier. The hills had let up at this point and were a bit more rolling and we could pedal fast down and then more normal paced to get back up the next rolling hill. We made great time on those 10 miles or so.

3 miles from Blacksburg we hit the mountain and it was the worst – we climbed something like 800 ft (maybe more) – I’d have to check the GPS again. But it was a really steep climb up and then a slight break down into Blacksburg, yet still a few hills on the residential streets. Finally, at 6pm we arrived at Allison’s to spend the night. After cleaning up and organizing ourselves, we went to the laundromat to wash clothes and then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Afterwards we did a Walmart run to do a little restocking on things.

And finally I conked out around 12:15 after having to work on my back a little more with the tennis ball and TENS unit.

Day 6 – Buchanan, VA to Blacksburg, VA

GPS/Computer Stats:
I forgot it back at Allison’s so don’t have stats for today … but I do know we have come 375 miles thus far on our ride across the country!!! We’re almost done with our first map from Adventure Cycling Association!

Snake count: 3 today, 11 to date 
Dog chases: 0 today, 3 to date 
Aches/pains:  A bit of back pain today – not too fun on the hills, but I made it to Blacksburg alive and well. I called a few chiropractors and left messages seeing if I could get an appointment in the morning. I got a call back and will be seeing someone at 8am tomorrow morning! Woohoo!

Another slightly tiresome day – not as bad as yesterday though. We did a lot of climbing, about 10 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway prior to exiting onto Route 56 going down to Vesuvius, VA. The ride down was amazing – 3 miles of downhill, getting speeds up to 40mph and then realizing my breaks were overheating. We all had to stop and let our breaks cool off for a bit and then we continued the last mile down the mountain. We had a pretty relaxing ride from mile 14 till mile 30 or so. Then we did a bit of an uphill into Lexington where we had lunch at Subway. After Lexington (mile 37), we were sluggish in getting going again and wound up taking a break alongside the road. Then a nice lady came out (Dorothy Perkins) just near Natural Bridge, VA and offered us water and let us spray ourselves with the hose outside. We sat down and talked to her for a bit and she said she was trying to fix up her house alongside the road for cyclists to use to camp, cook, etc. She was very friendly and we stayed for maybe 30 minutes before continuing on. She told us how to cut off 2 miles from our route which was definitely nice at the end of the day.

We finished the day with some big rolling hills and wound up rolling into Buchanan, VA around 5:30pm and went to the Volunteer Rescue Squad to ask if we could camp on their grounds. They said yes and so we set up camp and then they came and checked on us a while later and  even brought us an entire case of water. Apparently the water in Buchanan has been contaminated and we can’t drink any of the well water, so would have to buy it otherwise, but the chief dropped a case off for us which was really nice.

 

The guys made a Burger King dinner stop and I cooked cheese rotini for dinner and then we cleaned up and I came to Main Street to use the internet in front of the public library and go grab some snacks at the Burger King.

Anyway, so things are going well – we’re all getting along great and have lots of fun and inside jokes are becoming more prevalent now. We’ve kind of gotten a pace going and know roughly when to take lead and rotate and such and everything’s going reall well. Tomorrow night we’re aiming for Blacksburg and will stay with Allison Long and her roommate down there before meeting Paul, our 4th rider, on Monday morning. 

We’re hoping our first rest day will occur after we get out of Virginia, so probably anoter 2-3 days – I’m not really sure!

Day 5 – Love, VA to Buchanan, VA

GPS Stats:
62.1 miles
5:50 moving time
42.3 max speed
10.7 avg speed 

Computer Stats:
63.32 miles
5:42:31 moving time
44.0 max speed
11.1 avg speed 

Snake count: 2 today,  8 to date
Dog chases: 0 today, 3 to date 
Aches/pains: moderate back pain, nothing too horrible. Always feel great in the evening, just climbing hills with 65+ lbs of gear doesn’t do my back much fun.
Favorite piece of gear: voice recorder

P.S. Almost got caught for the second time cleaning up after the day – had just finished changing clothes and wiping down with wipes and no more than 3 minutes later the firechief came by to check on us… and rode past just where I had been.

 

Spent the night at Jen’s (former camp counselor of mine from 1996-1997 when I went to Nature Camp in Vesuvius, VA). We left around 9:45 in the morning and had a pretty long day on the bikes – finally ending around 7pm. 

The day was extremely tiresome – our most tiresome yet. We started at 384 ft as our lowest point and climbed to over 3200 ft, and went up and down multiple times on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was climbing for hours and taking many breaks at overlooks to replenish our energy and hydrate.

 

 

Before the Cookie Lady’s, we found a small stream/creek where we stopped and Chris used his water pump to get fresh water and we all played in the water. I went wading since I could and it was hot out – I just walked right in with my Keen Commuter bike shoes so that was awesome:) Very refreshing water and was a nice “morale booster” as George would call it. 

Chris had another bike issue – he blew a tire going around a bend as a car was passing…going uphill. We stopped, he repaired. We took photos and then we continued on to the Cookie Lady’s house in Afton, VA. There we met up with Mack again – he was just heading out as we arrived. June (the Cookie Lady) was really friendly and nice and had lunch stuff for us to make food and we checked out the bike house – it was packed full of postcards, notes, stuff that people left saying thanks and such. It was really neat. We then went and ate lunch with June on her porch and she took our picture with her old polaroid camera and we placed it in her 2009 album behind Mack’s picture. As we were leaving, guess who we saw? MACK! He was biking up from the same direction we had come from about an hour earlier – he did a full loop going uphill, then back down, and then climbing the mountain again. Poor Mack – I would have been drained if I had make that goof up. He decided to call it a day around 2-3pm and stayed at June’s house.

Hours later after all the climbing on the Blue Ridge parkway, we find ourselves camping in Bill and Lynn’s backyard. They were very nice and let us stay there and sleep in our tents and use the bathroom.

Day 4 – Charlottesville, VA to Love, VA

GPS Stats:
46.8 miles
5:32 moving time
8.5 avg speed
38.2 max speed

Computer Stats:
47.86 miles
5:26:12 moving time
8.8 avg speed
38.5 max speed

Miles to date: 253.56 total

Snake count: 0
Dog chases: 0 
Favorite piece of gear: Keen Commuter Bike Shoes!

P.S. Heard a bear roar as we were biking past on the Blue Ridge Parkway – pretty cool:)

P.P.S. Almost got caught by the wife Lynn as I was washing off outside the house where we camped. Phew, close call.

The start wasn’t too bad this morning – weather was decent. A bit overcast, but still cool enough to not feel hot. Our plan was to reach Charlottesville tonight to stay at Jen Creasy’s house. We were doing pretty well for the first half of the day, getting in 30 miles by lunchtime at noon and having stopped at someone’s house to spray ourselves with the hose and cool off – also were semi-offered cake (if only we had been later in the day would we have gotten some, but it wasn’t ready yet). We saw a street called “Beer Can Alley” as well as a few odd looks from cars passing by or people in their yards yelling out to us and asking where we were going. We talked to people here and there and lots of them thought we were doing something pretty cool and said they couldn’t ever do it…but admired us.

We had hoped to arrive early so Chris could get a haircut, so I could mail some stuff home, and so we could stock up on some food for the next day or two for camping. Needless to say, we didn’t get to Charlottesville early, instead we arrived around 6pm to Jen’s house. We had a bit of a mishap 30 miles into the ride – just at the lunch stop, Chris and I biked to the post office to mail stuff back home… on the way back down the hill Chris disappeared out of my sight when I looked back and later arrived back to our lunch stop (a little hitchin post deli). I asked George if he had seen Chris – he hadn’t either. So I biked back up to see what happened and there he was on the side of the road. He popped a spoke and couldn’t ride anymore. We tried one of my spokes, but that didn’t fit so then I asked a man if he drove a pick-up and was going towards Charlottesville. He said yes, and said he’d take Chris to the next bike shop up the road. He did and then George and I rode our bikes the 6 or so miles up the road to meet Chris again after getting his bike fixed.

Our team captain (George, aka  Amish Boy) decided we needed a morale boost so bought us push-up orange ice cream pop things at the gas station as Chris was finishing packing his bike up after having it repaired. It was yummy indeed especially since it was so hot out and the sun was scorching. We were literally dripping wet all afternoon from sweat and the heat on us. Our worst part of today, in my opinion was the last 15 miles into Charlottesville. Route 53 and another road were packed with traffic and it was windy and no shoulders… we rode in the middle of our lane sometimes so that cars couldn’t try to pass us and risk creating accidents and we’d have to hold our arms out telling them NOT TO PASS us as cars were on-coming. Some of the drivers were absolute idiots, but luckily no close-calls or accidents of any kind. We were really cautious and I thoroughly enjoyed getting into Charlottesville as opposed to riding on those roads leading us to the town.

Once in Charlottesville we went to Jen’s and she made us a yummy dinner – salad and veggie burgers and loaned us her car to run out to Performance Bike and Walmart. That was a little weird, only because we felt so out of our element – we were in civilization again and things were really strange from the perspective of a car or walking. It was a nice change of scenery though since we’ve mostly been out in the fields and boonies of central Virginia.

Things are starting to blur  really fast – our days are so similar and we can’t remember one day from another already. I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is and what the date is. I hope I don’t forget important things that I need to do back home via Internet or what not while I’m gone, but I have no sense of time. I ride all day and don’t know what time it is unless I deliberately look on my bike computer or ask Chris (he relies on a wrist watch). I thought those were out now since cell phones do everything for people now days. Overall, the day was pretty good, but definitely a tiresome one, especailly since we lost 3+ hours in our lunch break + bike repairs. We dealt with a lot of rolling hills, and hope it only better prepares us for what’s ahead tomorrow with the huge hill were all so curios about, yet dreading!

I’m exhausted and need some shut eye, but will update again when I get a chance. Most likely it won’t be tomorrow as we camping out after we conquer the huge hill after visiting the cookie lady in Afton, VA

Day 3 – Mineral, VA to Charlottesville, VA

GPS Stats:
Start time: 8:45am
End time: 6:00pm
57.3 miles
39.7 max speed
11.8 avg speed
04:51 moving time

Computer Stats:
58.47 miles
41.0 max speed
12.2 avg speed
4:47:16 moving time

Total distance to date: 205.68
Snake count: 1 for today, 6 to date
Dog chases: 1 today, 3 to date
Aches/pains: again, moderate back pain… leg pain is gone. Stretching a ton to keep muscles loose and not let them get too tight. Overall, feeling great., especially when off the saddle! Butt is definitely sore though – we’re all fighting that one!
Favorite piece of gear: insulated water bottles today, really nice to not have hot water!

I got up at 7:30 this morning to the sound of my alarm… started packing up my things and organizing again. George offered to be the chef this morning, so he cooked us all omelets (thanks to the Freed family for letting us stay at their house and shower, relax and sleep, as well as eat pizza and omelets)! Mind you, they weren’t even there, but nonetheless were so nice to let us stay at their house and not have to camp in the humid weather.

We set  off around 9:45 in the morning again – heading for Mineral, VA. We had to meet up with the ACA route again, which was about 5 miles from the Freed’s. We pedaled on and all was going pretty well, none of us were in extreme pain or anything. We started hitting some slight rolling hills today and I could definitely feel the 65+ pounds of  gear that I have packed. Lucky for Chris, he dumped his extra pedals, shoes, and a couple other things this morning so his load was a little ligher. I plan to mail some things home tomorrow and hope that I won’t need them. I have some Heet that I can probably get rid of along with my fleece, another light-weight jacket, some thermal long-pants, and an extra pair of socks, and another pair of shorts. Heck, I’m soon going to only have 2 shirts + 1 jersey, 1 pair of convertible pants, 2 pairs of socks (but I have biking sandals, so don’t wear socks at all during the day (YET)…) and the 1 pair of underwear that’ll last me for 3+ months:) The last was a joke…

So our ride today went pretty well, it was a slower pace than yesterday – we did crank out 88 miles yesterday so it was pretty good for our first day, especially with all the gear we’re carrying! Today we managed 56 miles. No snakes were seen on the roads today – just a few other dead animals. We were going to try and have lunch at Coatesville, but it was apparently a non-existent town or we blew by it so fast we didn’t see it. I’m not sure which happened, so we sat down in someone’s front yard and made oatmeal for lunch and while we were eating the people came home. But they didn’t seem to mind us sitting in the front yard relaxing for a little bit.

Onwards we went, we had another break at a gas station – the guys both got more ice cream. George has now created a rule that he will eat ice cream at any chance possible if it’s between breakfast and dinner. If it’s at dinner, he won’t eat it unless it’s amazingly awesome or something crazy. From the gas station we had another 20 miles or so until we reached our destination. However, within the last 10 miles today we were chased by a big dog. George was leading, Chris following and then me. All of a sudden I notice George takes off really fast. I wonder why, then Chris starts pedaling faster. I look to my left and there’s this huge dog chasing after us, so of course, I started pedaling faster and faster  and eventually we lose the dog after maxing out around 23mph.

About 30 minutes later, we arrive at Fire Station #2 in Mineral, VA – we were welcomed by the firemen and volunteers. They showed us where to store our bikes, the showers, and our banquet hall for where we’d camp out. We showered and then headed out to the town (the one-traffic light town, mind you) to get some food. George ordered a pizza and shared with us and then went went to the BB&T to get some cash. Then back to the fire house for the evening. They had a carnival tonight that goes through May 30th. They had lots of little kiddie rides, food and such. I wound up buying a funnel cake and eating that before coming back to work on this wordpress installation and blogging stuff for my site.

Anyway, it’s now almost midnight so I better get some sleep before I have another riding day. We’re off to Charlottesville where we’ll stay with Jen, a former camp counselor I had when I went to Nature Camp in 1996 in Vesuvius, VA. So that’ll be fun seeing her again and catching up. We also plan to stock up on some food for cooking and Chris wants to shave his head – too much weight he says!

Day 2 – Mechanicsville – Mineral, VA


GPS Stats:
Start time: 9:45am
End time: 4:52pm
57.2 miles
33.6 max speed
12.6 avg speed
04:31 moving time

Computer Stats:
58.24 miles
34.0 max speed
13.0 avg speed
4:29:07 moving time

Total distance to date: 147.16
Snake count: 0 for today, 5 to date
Dog chases: 1 today, 2 to date
Aches/pains: moderate, but not horrible. Just a bit of soreness behind my right knee and my back being sore a bit.. Did lots of stretching throughout the day though.

Torey and I started off the morning with breakfast with our Couchsurfer hosts near Yorktown. We had eggs, bacon, toast, juice, and strawberries. Our hosts were really nice and friendly – from Russia, but have lived here for 7 years now.

We met up with Chris and George at the Victory Monument in Yorktown at 9am and then mom and Mopsie showed up to see us off. We took photos and then dipped our tires in the ocean and then rode off. We knew we had a lot of weight on our bikes when our tires sunk into the sand completely and the rims couldn’t be seen anymore.

Torey, Mom, and Mopsie all trailed along following us – Torey for around 8-9 miles and then Mom/Mopsie for 16 miles. They snapped photos of us biking along. At mile 35 just before Charles City, we stopped at a small sub shop on the side of the road and the guys had subs and I had leftover chicken salad that Mom gave me.

Somewhere between lunch and the end of the day, we were chased by two small dogs – that were speedy as anything. We kept having to yell at them as they got really close to our bikes. We didn’t seem to think they were serious dog chasers – but we were wrong. We lost them after a couple minutes when they got tired and we continued on our merry way.

We then continued on and at mile 60 took another extended break at a restaurant/deli which was shut down and no longer in business. George and Chris found a water spicket out back so we all refilled water bottles and splashed ourselves down to cool off. We got a snack and then Mack, another cyclist doing the Transamerican Trail showed up. George/Chris had met him earlier in the morning at Victory Monument. We hung out there for a bit while a thunderstorm came through and then we continued on towards Glendayle. This is where Mack was staying the night, and for us it was another 20 or so miles past to get to the Freed’s house. We finally arrived after a tiresome 88, almost 89 miles at 6:56pm!We all had our showers and then popped the pizza in the oven and ate around 8:30 or so. Now we’re all heading to be here shortly.

Day 01 – Yorktown, VA to Mechanicsville, VA


GPS Reading (minus the first 3 or so miles):
84.4 miles
28.7 max
13.5 avg
6:16 moving time

Computer Stats:
88.84 miles
Total miles to date: 88.84
29.5 max
13.7 avg
06:28:02 moving time

Snake count: 5 dead on side of road. One really nasty fat one that luckily I didn’t roll over!
Dog chases: 1 today
Aches/pains: very little the entire day. Almost no back pain, miraculously!
Favorite piece of gear: solar panel! I’ve powered two days of the GPS strictly using the solar panel. I haven’t used any AA batteries yet! Keep the sunrays shining when I need them and we’ll be golden!