Kiki Bikes Across America

Wednesday, June 3rd: Troutdale, VA – Rosedale, VA

Woke up late this morning – about 7:20. Chris’ alarm went off at 6am, but none of us got up. We all slept pretty horribly, as we were sleeping on plywood without really much padding – just our sleeping pads, but that didn’t do much. Woke up sore from sleeping, but luckily just a little stretching and I was feeling better. We packed up and went to breakfast at Jerry’s general store/restaurant at the bottom of the hill – the guys loaded up on french toast, egg biscuits and such. I just had a sausage biscuit and orange juice – didn’t feel like loading myself down and being slow in the morning.

Around 9:30 we set off on the bikes towards Damascus, about 30 miles away. We climbed a hill/small mountain for about 5 miles then coasted downhill or relatively flat riding for another 20 miles into Damascus. We of course loved that part! Got to Damascus and there was a bike shop there, so I bought another set of brakes, since I was only able to buy one set at REI prior to leaving. Now I’m set for both front and rear – my brakes are pretty worn now after all the breaking on some of these steep downhills. I’ll wait a while longer before replacing though, since I still have some good braking power left.

Another 13 miles and we were in Meadowview which was supposed to have places to eat, etc., but in reality, there was only one place to eat. We had lunch there and I worked on my aerobars to try and raise them more – but they keep sagging with all the weight of the handlebar bag (the camera gear and all). We headed out around 3:30 to continue riding and climbed a huge mountain (Mt. Clincher) for 4+ miles which was a really steep grade.

Finally at the top, we took a small break and then flew down the mountain as it looked like the storm was approaching. We missed most of the rain – just pulled into Rosedale as the storm was approaching. Unable to find a place to stay, we went back to this church, hung out there under an overhang thing and at 7pm, five people showed up for the evening prayer. One of the guys was the husband of the wife who told me she didn’t have any rooms left at the motel…but he called her and had her get another room ready for us, so we went back down to the motel and checked in. We got hot showers and then headed to Pizza Plus for some dinner and now just about ready to hit the sack. Chris and George shared a double bed and I got my own twin size bed for myself:) I should have taken a picture of them to post, but I didn’t… maybe another time HAHA.

Hopefully we will be in Kentucky tomorrow – should only be something like 45 miles or so away… so if the weather isn’t too horrible, tomorrow night we should be out of VA which’ll be a nice change!

Computer Stats:
62.89 miles
532 miles to date
5:25:05 moving time
11.5 avg speed
44.0 max

GPS Stats:
61.3 miles
5:26 moving time
44.5 max speed
11.2 avg speed

Snake count: 3 dead, 2 alive; total to date: 18
Dog chases: 0
Aches/pains: feeling better today – I think today was my first day where I almost had zero back pain. I think the stretches the chiropractor in Blacksburg told me about are starting to help – I hope so anyway. I’ve been stretching my back a lot more and don’t feel the pain nearly as much anymore… hoping this is a sign of some recovery and that I won’t be biking across the US with this horrible back pain. Neck pain is also pretty minimal – I’ve been stretching my neck/shoulders a lot as well. No real pain associated with the actual use of my legs which is kind of funny. I just have upper-body pain because of my spine/neck apparently…haha. But I’m feeling good and much better than a few days ago before I saw the chiropractor.