June 2024 – Dog Days Came Early

It’s the last day of June. Time to assess.

It is a rare thing when one of your very best days on a bike comes a day after one of your worst but that’s what happened to me this month. The ride from Draper to Whytheville was a gawdawful slog. The ride from Whytheville to Damascus was joyful. Go figure.

Multiple dog attacks over the course of two days completely ruined my interest in continuing my tour this year. When people who know the scene tell you to carry bear spray, it’s time to stop which is what I did. Since then I’ve been looking through journals on Cycleblaze.com and Crazyguyonabike.com to see if I had overreacted. Nope.

Only a couple of bike tourists made it through “dog alley” between the Kentucky border and Berea, Kentucky unscathed. Two were bitten. Two were knocked off their bikes.

I filled out a survey about the US Bicycle Route System a couple of days ago. I commented repeatedly that my route US Bike Route 76, in Kentucky is downright dangerous because of the dog situation. It’s a shame because, despite the brutal climbs from Charlottesville to Berea, the USBR 76 is worthwhile.

I finished the tour with something like 835 miles under my pedals. After taking a day off, I rode 17 days in a row around home. During these period I tweaked my saddle and handlebar height to good effect on both The Mule and The Tank. Yesterday in high heat and humidity I rode up one of the steepest, nastiest hills in the area and didn’t die. (The last 100 yards were most unpleasant but I made it without stopping.)

With a nearly rain-free month, I cracked the 1,000-mile threshold at the end of the month, reaching 1,089 miles. For the year I’ve reached 4,991 miles, on pace for a shade over 10,000 miles, despite taking two weeks off. I have no designs on another bike tour this year (although the Natchez Trace is tempting.)

Maybe the best thing that’s happened this month is the big reduction in neck and back pain I have experienced. I was pretty miserable all fall and winter, but a visit to a massage therapist in May and a series of daily PT exercises have paid huge dividends. I am standing up straighter. I have most of the range of motion in my neck back (although the saddle tweaks aren’t helping in this regard.) And I can walk about 50 percent farther without experiencing pain in my lower back.

A few millimeters works wonders

The other day I pulled out the measuring tape and the level to see if I could improve the fit on the Tank, my Surly CrossCheck. My baseline for comparison is The Mule, my Specialized Sequoia touring bike that fits me like a glove.

I put the bikes up against a wall on a level surface. I could immediately see that the saddle on the Tank was level while the saddle on The Mule was tilted ever so slightly up. Hmm.

I tilted the saddle on the Tank up to the same degree and did two 30-mile rides. I discovered two things immediately. First, the ride strained my neck. Not as much as a few months ago but enough to make me cautious about riding the Tank on a regular basis. The second thing I noticed was I was getting much more power to the pedals. Not only was the Tank suddenly faster put the power transfer was even better than what I have been getting on The Mule.

I also noticed that the tip of the saddle was slightly higher than my handlebars on the Tank but not on The Mule. On a whim, I raised the saddle a few millimeters on The Mule and went for a ride. The bike was marginally faster. I took it up a bunch of short, steep hills. It was climbing better too. My upper body was more relaxed, something I have been missing since riding out west in 2022. The big revelation happened when I was done riding.

I was standing up straighter with much less lower back discomfort than usual. The onset of pain from walking seemed to be delayed. I guess the lower saddle position was aggravating my lumbar spinal stenosis and I didn’t realize it.

Today I took The Mule for a 43-mile romp in Charles County, Maryland. There are a handful of short hills on the route. Not once did my legs tie up as they did during my recent tour. I am not saying that this new position would help me haul 35 pounds of gear up a mountain but it seems like a step in the right direction.

For my next tweak, I’ll be attaching a flux capacitor. Stay tuned.

Bike Tour Aftermath

Getting Re-aligned

Like it or not, all tours come to an end. Had I been on my original timetable, my 2024 tour would have ended on Saturday so quitting when I did meant a couple more weeks at home than usual. After a tour there are two things that demand immediate attention. The first is rest. Typically, I need a few days of rest or light activity to recover. The second is reconfiguring my bikes and gear. When I go on a tour, my usual distribution of bike stuff (tubes, tire levers, small tools, saddlebags, etc.) gets changed into my four-pannier touring set up. It takes me a few days to get everything back to normal. I also need to update my hard copy riding diary (which I have kept for over 40 years going back to my running days). Just yesterday I finished posting my tour blog posts into a journal on Cycleblaze.com. It’s basically the same content as here on Rootchopper.com with some light editing.

Getting Flat

I was so sick of hills and mountains that I needed to re-level my riding. In addition to rides around home which are generally pretty flat, I drove The Mule over to Talbot County, Maryland on the eastern shore and did a 52-mile ride. We are having a heat wave so I was pretty gassed by the end. Still, the ride restored my mental state from “Do I still have it?” mode to “I may be slow but I’m old.”

Mercifully flat roads on the Eastern Shore

The Ride Included a short ferry ride across the Tred Avon River

I used up all the water on my bike in the heat. So I bought this gallon jug of ice cold water. I drank half and poured the rest over my head.

I also broke out Big Nellie, my Tour Easy recumbent. It’s a refreshing change of pace from upright bikes. Yesterday I rode it 53 miles up to Bethesda, Maryland and back via Rock Creek Park. When I was done I couldn’t stand up straight. Maybe I ought to ease into things a bit.

Go Nats

When I am on tour I miss out on a big chunk of the baseball season. Nationals Park is a flat, 15-mile ride from home, just the thing to aid recovery. I rode to a game last weekend and will probably go today. The Nats are surprisingly better than crappy this year. Go team! They are missing a couple of thunder bats but otherwise are pretty good and, after a couple of truly dreadful years, competitive.

What’s Next

I don’t think I have another tour in me this summer. Riding my bike is something I enjoy, but the grind of touring, especially before and after the days’ rides, wears me out mentally. I may need to start touring with other people again or do cycling events like Cycle Saskatchewan (I made that up).

I also will need to attend to my bikes. I typically wait until I wear out a chain then I go to a bike shop and surrender my Visa card.

This fall I plan on the usual double header of the 50 States Ride in September and the Cider Ride in November. I have a family event in October, otherwise I’d get the Natchez Trace off my to-do list. It’ll have to wait until 2025 I’m afraid.

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 18 continued – That’s a Wrap

I went to the rental car place as soon as it opened. They did not have the SUV I reserved. Instead I settled for a white Dodge Charger. I was prepared to drive to WalMart up the hill to buy a bike rack if necessary but the Charger’s back seats folded down giving me room for The Mule and all my stuff. Impressive. (Note: I did have to take off the front wheel and lower my seat.)

The drive to Berea went on a parkway west to London and north to Berea on an interstate. It took about two hours because, despite my sporty car, my brain had been dealing with 3 to 35 miles per hour for over two weeks. Big trucks were zooming past me as I puttered along.

The terrain was very mountainous until I arrived at Berea (the second “e” is long). It was like someone threw a big geological switch; the town was basically flat.

The drive gave me time to think. The original point of this tour was for me to complete the eastern third of the TransAm. I had already bypassed 20 miles of it from Hindman to Hazard. Now I had blown off roughly 110 more in the car.

Most journals I read were all dated five or more years ago They made it sound like the dog problem was no big deal but the eastbound rider I met at the Cookie Lady’s house was still stressed out about his dog experiences in Kentucky over a week later. The hostel contact in Booneville sounded downright scary. The rental agency person in Hazard had all kinds of tales about indifferent dog (and pony!) owners. Owners who don’t neuter their animals so when the puppies get big enough they turn them loose in the woods. A person in Berea told me that Booneville is near an old coal mining area. Since strip mines have taken over, these old coal mining families are screwed and bitter.

(Another thought about doing chemical warfare with loose dogs: I have ridden past a half dozen gun shops, most of which displayed signs advertising AR-15 style semi automatic weapons. Gulp. My wife’s uncle Terry lives in southern West Virginia. When you drive onto his property there is a sign that say’s “You are in range.” Terry’s a pretty funny guy but I’m not entire sure he’s joking. And he isn’t economically distressed like these Kentucky folks. (I’m pretty sure Terry doesn’t have an AR-15 but

So I get to Berea and I have a choice. Do I continue on by bike in a totally stressed out mental state? I took two Advil PMs last night and still didn’t sleep a wink. I am physically and mentally exhausted. The dog problem is supposedly no big deal west of Berea but I really, really, really do not want to deal with them anymore. It was time to call it a tour and head home.

So I investigated my options. I can fly for free on Southwest with credit card points so I checked to see where the nearest airport was on Southwest’s route system. It was Louisville, about 160 miles by bike. Not gonna happen. I called U-Haul in Berea. They only had a 15-foot truck which would have cost over $500. Nope. However, the U-Haul guy said to talk to the car rental agency in Berea. Maybe there was something we could work out.

So I went to the car rental agency and talked with Chelsea, a very intelligent and personable person. She said it was indeed possible to do a one-way rental. All she had to do was talk to someone up the corporate food chain. That person freed up her software to allow her access to interstate one-way rentals. So we closed out my rental agreement from Hazard and opened a new one. Recognizing that I had been needlessly charged for the Hazard to Berea rental, she marked down the price of my trip from Berea to home. Chelsea is the best,

So for the cost of having someone pack and ship my bike, I hit the road in a sports car, driving over 500 miles from Kentucky to home. Google Maps has a sense of humor. It routed me through central West Virginia on two-lane mountain roads for about an hour.

Now that I’ve had a day to mull it over, I can’t exactly call this a failure. After all, I did end up riding 840 miles which is more miles than my 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2015, and 2016 tours.

That said, I have to admit that my last two tours have been a mental challenge for me. I love the riding parts of the tours. I won’t soon forget the fantastic ride to Damascus on this tour, for example. But I can really live without church hostels, campgrounds, Warmshowers homes, hotels, lousy GSCS food, etc. As my toddler son used to say over 25 years ago, “I want to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed.”

My advice to anyone who is planning to do the TransAm is: don’t. It’s glory days are long gone. The dog situation in Kentucky is just one example. Many of the towns in Kansas on the route are virtual ghost towns. The traffic in eastern Oregon is godawful. The legendary bike accommodations in Guffey CO are dreadful.

When the TransAm was designed in the mid-1970s, touring bikes were heavy and had ten-speeds and only rear racks. I can’t imagine how the first riders did the whole 4,000+ miles. (A friend who participated in Bikecentennial, the 1976 event for which the TransAm was established said that she was doing fine until Kentucky. Her knees were trashed when she finally left the Appalachians.

There is a new alternative to the eastern half of the TransAm. The Eastern Express goes from DC to Colorado in a more or less straight line. It was designed specifically to avoid the dogs and hills of Appalachia and the Ozarks. Or design your own route as I did in 2018.

And for a two-week tour, Yorktown to Damascus isn’t bad idea.

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 18 – Hazard to Berea by rental car

I talked to the hostel host in Booneville, my scheduled stop for tomorrow. She gave me alarming info about the extent of the dog problem between Hazard and there. She said some dog owners have been known to sic their dogs on bicyclists. She recommended that I buy either wasp or bear spray and to not stop.

No mas. As luck would have it I’m next door to a rental car place. I decided to rent a car and drive to the next city on route that will accept a one-way rental. This happens to be Berea, the next town after Booneville.

I have always criticized bike tourist who shuttle past difficult sections on their tours but this is different. This is a very dangerous situation.

I will miss about 115 miles of riding but I will sleep well tonight.

I’m hoping the car agency has the vehicle I need. I reserved an SUV but I may have to settle for a pickup or something else.

It’s possible that the car rental place won’t have anything I can use so I’ve reached out to a local Warmshowers host to see if she can help.

Update: Warmshowers host can’t help. She recommends throwing treats to the dogs as did my wife. Someone earlier in the trip recommended soaking doggie treats with a laxative.

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 17 – Hindman to Hazard area

I neglected to mention an interaction with three old guys at a filling station. I stopped to buy a cold drink but this was an old fashioned filling station. Just car repairs and gas. The old men spoke mountain English. Fortunately I could understand most of what they said. “There’s a Faniky Dollar just up the road.”!one of them got up and fetched a cold bottle of water from his pickup and poured it into my empty bike bottle. Nice guy.

I should also mention the ten-year-old boy who helped me take my things up the stairs to the hostel.

I hung out in the hostel playing word games on my phone and trying not to think of steep hills and aggressive dogs. I skipped breakfast because mass quantities of pizza were still working their way through my tummy.

The hostel room is up some stairs from the street so it took some time to get started. I hit the road around 9:30. Two miles later I came upon this.

A bridge was being replaced. This area of Kentucky was devastated by severe flooding in 2022. This bridge was one of the victims.

There was a steep, narrow dirt path on the other side of the equipment. At best I could get through in 15 minutes; at worst I could tumble over the side and die a quick death in the river. Now that I think about it, maybe I have that backwards.

I looked at Google maps and decided to improvise a detour. I backtracked to Hindman (just a couple of bored old dogs along the way). I headed over to Kentucky state highway 80, a four-lane road with very wide shoulders and rumble strips.

One kind of rumble strip was narrow and deep. If you hit them at speed you have to stop and pick up your filings. In Kentucky these strips are continuous, only broken when a side road intersects with the highway. That means you can’t cheat by using the travel lane then cutting through a gap in the rumble strip to safety.

The other kind of strip was quite shallow and spanned the entire paved shoulder (which was often 20-feet or more wide). I preferred the latter. It was no bumpier than the backroads.

After a long climb I came upon a detour sign that indicated I could return to my planned TransAm route. Nope. I like this four lane just fine. The only dogs I heard were caged at an animal shelter I passed.

Highway 80 – like riding out west. Note the deep rumble strip on the left.

The highway cut through the tops of mountains that came about one mile apart. The climbs were significant but not very steep. No walking today.

It’s a good thing today is another cool day because there was absolutely no shade on the highway.

After about a dozen of these hills I saw a sign for WalMart. I knew there was one across from my hotel but I wasn’t expecting it yet. Sure enough my hotel was only a quarter mile farther.

The Walmart was part of a shopping district on the top of one of the mountains. I’ve seen this in West Virginia.

There are several eateries in this flattop complex. I chose Wendy’s for lunch. A chicken wrap really hit the spot. I lingered to kill time until check in.

There’s a rental car agency next to the hotel. It has dozens of shiny cars. So tempting until I googled a return route to home. THERE’S NO WAY OUT OF HERE!!!

Tomorrow is a long, hilly one with more dogs and a possible flood-related detour.

Miles today: 22

Tour miles: 840

Final note: Today is my 36th wedding anniversary. Wife and me: 36. Trump felony conviction: 34.

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 16 – Breaks Interstate Park, Virginia to Hindman, Kentucky

This was a day that had it all. Which is not necessarily a good thing.

I slept poorly despite the lovely accommodations. I was groggy for the first ten miles. This is not a good thing because the road conditions here are bad. The shoulder of backroads often is a drainage ditch. Also, there were countless places where flooding broken off the edge of the road.

The day began with salad for breakfast because the park restaurant was closed. And because the salad would not have lasted much longer in my front left pannier.

I rolled out at 8 headed for Hindman, over 70 miles away because the small towns that used to offer shelter to bike tourists stopped doing so. No idea why.

I descended into the town of Breaks where I met a big floof of a dog at the side of the road. He seemed harmless and let out a WOOF then I started past him then he started growling. He began to chase me. In no time at all he had sunk a tooth into my right rear pannier. I was pissed! I stopped and, with the bike between us, confronted the dog. His face said,”Uh, oh.”

Then I began stalking him in a short green space along the road. He was totally freaked out. Where do I go? What do I do?

My actions caused him to completely disengage. Lesson learned.

I descended into Kentucky and came to the town of Elkhorn City.

There was a proper sign a mile with the Governor’s name on it later but this one sufficed.

I had decided to put my dog whistle in my mouth. A dog started trotted down a side road from a county building. I blew hard on the whistle and the dog seemed to say “fuck it“ and went back to the building. The problem with the dog whistle is that it is metal and rough on the teeth when bouncing along bumpy roads.

The country roads for most of my route passed homes, about half of which had a dog. Every so often I’d see a loose dog running toward the road. I tried my horn but discovered that it doesn’t work well when it’s not held vertically with the horn on the top of the gas cylinder. It did deter one dog, however.

Later two dogs started to give chase. The horn was peeking out and of my handlebar bag attached using Velcro. I hit the horn button three times and the dogs disengaged. Not bad.

Still the idea of waiting for a dog to be in full flight seemed like a bad strategy. So every time I saw a dog or dogs running toward the road, I stopped. This did away with panic pedaling with a dog snarling along side me. Instead the dogs chase instinct was short circuited. I still had to get past the dog but at least I now had some control over the situation. (When I watched a YouTube video describing this technique I thought the guy was insane. He has it right.) Of course, doing this slows my progress but after the dog disengages I’m much less stressed out.

One time a dog came off his porch and ran straight at me on a walkway perpendicular to the street. I stopped at the end of the walkway and told him to “Get in the porch” and he did.

Later I was chased by three small dogs. One of them was an old dachshund bitch that just wouldn’t disengage. I pulled out my mace and gave it a shot but she had pivoted in response to her owner and I only sprayed her butt.

The last dog was a somewhat muscular looking mutt. I stopped and yelled. There were kids and parents hanging out on a lawn about 50 yards from the road. They clearly didn’t give a shit about my predicament. After five minutes of my pleading with them to get their dog, they sent a ten-year-old girl to get it. The dog eluded her and kept harassing me. I appealed to the adults on the lawn but they didn’t budge. “He won’t bite you.” It took a good ten more minutes to gradually escape the situation with the help of pickups coming in both directions.

Dogs around here don’t chase motor vehicles. It’s something about the sound of a bike that sets them off.

There were five steep climbs on the route. I walked part of four of them, probably for a total of five miles. It sucked.

Backroads were pretty but the dog attacks ruined any ability to enjoy the scenery. Whenever I passed a building within sight of the road I went into scan mode.

The route did feature some fun downhills. One dog tried to give chase when I was hauling ass down one of these and the dog seemed to realize that he couldn’t catch me and stopped running.

I was on highways a couple of times. They were flat and had decent shoulders (marred, however, by rumble strips). It’s fun to cruise along at 15 to 18 mph and not have to worry about dogs.

I’m staying at another church hostel. These are big community rooms that have limited amenities. This one has a shower and a washer and dryer. There’s a take away pizza place across the street. I ate a medium all by myself. It was mediocre, a step above the Hunt Brothers variety on sale in every GSCS.

See. It’s pretty. Note the absence of dogs or an old man pushing a bike up a steep hill.

Mikes today: 71.5

Tour Miles: 818

Tomorrow I have the choice of a 60+ mile ride to a camping hostel at a church in Booneville or a semi-rest day of 20 miles to a hotel in Combs. I’ll decide when I wake up. Right now my back hurts and my hamstrings are so tight that I fall backward when I stand.

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 15: Elk Garden to Breaks Interstate Park

Lights went out at 9 last night. Before turning in I raided the fridge for a small frozen Salisbury steak dinner. This was after I ate a bowl of beef soup and downed an Italian sub. Gimme protein or gimme death.

In the morning, after eating some prefab oatmeal, I hit the road, headed north to Honaker on rolling roads.

I saw some trash along the roadside after Rosedale. I counted five syringes. I’m in Demon Copperhead country where the despairs of daily life are eased by a shot of death.

In Honaker, I stopped at a GSCS for second breakfast: a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, a day old banana, and some chocolate milk. It was a good thing too because I had the lame idea that today would be flat-ish until the finish.

After Honaker, I encountered a 1,000-foot crusher of a hill. No worries. I biked what I could and walked the steep part in the middle. Peter from LA caught and passed me. After the hill I enjoyed a fun downhill, followed by a good 16 miles of relative flat roads.

I saw a fairly large ranch house down the hill to the left of the road. Two boxers sensed my approach and started barking. Then they started running. No way they going to run up a 100-foot hill on a 1,000-foot driveway.

Way.

They came after me barking up a storm, one on each side. I tried to use my air horn but had trouble getting it to work. The alpha dog was at my left, a foot from my pedal. The beta dog was just off my right rear pannier. I sped up and started yelling maniacally like Fay Wray.

Alpha dog backed off momentarily, then came after me again. I swerved at him trying to hit him with my front left pannier while accelerating up a mild grade.

Thankfully the dogs lost interest after the longest 30 seconds of my life. I don’t think that they would have bit me, but you never know.

I resolved to stay more vigilant in the future. I’m also going to put some stones in the concave dent in the top of my handlebar bag.

In Davenport I stopped at a grocery store. There was Peter having a nosh and having his ear bent by a local man. As soon as he was finished with his sandwich, he took off. Cant blame him. I followed with neither the intention nor the physical capability of catching him. He’s way too fast.

Ahead await today’s main event: three short, steep hills in rapid succession.

Hill number 1 was just outside Haysi. It was well over 10 percent in spots. I rode about 3/4ths of it, pushing The Mule for the rest. After an entertaining descent came hill number 2. I climbed it without stopping. Dang. Hill number 3 put the hurt in me. I walked the steep bits.

This county is where Ralph Stanley, bluegrass legend, lived

I was expecting the entrance to Breaks Interstate Park to be a few miles beyond the summit but it was to my left just at the peak, a couple of miles early. Happy face. The road to the lodge where I am staying was laughably steep. I hoofed it.

I arrived at 1. My room wasn’t ready so I had me some all-you-can eat Sunday buffet. One man with an enormous belly demonstrated amazing skill at balancing fried chicken on a plate. His gluttony kind of turned me off so I had pot roast instead. And green beans. And a roll with butter, and a big salad on a separate plate. There was fruit salad and ice cream for desert. So good!

After lunch my room was ready. It’s huge. It has a balcony in the trees. It has a hot shower, my first since Whytheville. Life is good.

Tomorrow will be brutal. With no places to stay, I have to ride 70 miles to Hindman. Five climbs. Easily the most challenging day yet.

Miles today: 43.5

Tour miles: 746.5

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 14 – Damascus to Elk Garden

The hostel was quite cold last night. And my knees were aching from yesterday’s hill fest. I didn’t sleep well.

At 8 I walked the block to the Damascus Diner where I ate dinner last night. I ordered “The Hogg” and I felt like one after eating it.

Before leaving town I stopped at a bike shop to use their floor pump. Next I headed along rolling country roads to Meadowview. It was a net gain of 100 feet of elevation over 15 miles.

The next 5.7 miles are a descent of about 500 feet to the town of Hayters (rhymes with highters) Gap.

Shortly after the town came the 3-mile, wooded climb to the eponymous gap at 3,000 feet. Fortunately, no trucks are allowed on this road so it is relatively safe despite numerous switchbacks.

I made the first mile without much difficulty. I could tell the grade was increasing with each switchback. I decided to climb 1/3rd to 1/2 mile then rest. This worked well for a mile. I stopped to rest and put both feet on the ground. When I went to start pedaling again, I couldn’t get enough momentum to keep from toppling over.

So I started walking. I soon discovered that pedaling bike up a grade at 3.2 mph is much harder than pushing it bike up at 2.9 mph. So I walked the last mile to the top.

The descent was equally steep, so much so that I stopped twice to let my rims cool.

I stopped for the day at a United Methodist Church bike hostel at Elk Garden, 33.5 miles for the day.

I’m accompanied by Peter from Los Angeles who is traveling light and arrived from Troutdale.

Tomorrow’s destination is the lodge at Breaks Interstate Park. Their restaurant closes at 4 and doesn’t reopen until Tuesday so I need to get up and ride. It’s about 50 miles with some short, steep hills.

Miles today: 33.5

Tour miles: 703

The Mo Mo Tour: Day 13 – Whytheville to Damascus

Yesterday was the “I want my mommy” day of this tour. It ranks as one of the of the ten worst days I’ve ever spent on a bike.

Today was the “Who’s your daddy?” day. the last 20 miles are among the best I’ve ever ridden.

I slept in two to three hour spurts. Mindful of comments about my diet being rather inadequate to the task at hand, I had bacon and eggs with coffee for hotel breakfast.

Last night in a search to purge weight from my bags I found four BelVita packs and four apples. I decided not to grab food for the road from the hotel. Time to consume the consumables.

Before leaving I cleaned and lubed my chain and put a drop of lube on various places on my cables and derailers. Ready to roll.

I coasted downhill for a stop at WalMart then rejoined the route in downtown Whytheville. I didn’t feel very good but decided to continue anyway. On top of the brutal hills, I’ve been dealing with pollen issues for several days. Having sinuses filled with gunk makes me drowsy.

The route took me southwest on Lee Highway, US 11, the old main route through the Shenandoah Valley. Traffic was light and drivers gave me plenty of space. More importantly, the grade of the road was gentle, rarely exceeding 2 or 3 percent, despite what my map’s elevation profile said.

I seemed to be getting stronger by the mile. A light headwind didn’t seem to be slowing me. I came to Rural Retreat and stopped at an Amish-run bakery and coffee shop for second breakfast.

Note the sign at lower left that says “ Yoder’s”, an Amish name.

As luck would have it, today is National Doughnut Day. I bought a cup of coffee and was treated to a huge glazed doughnut. So much for my dietary improvements.

The best things in life are free. And big.

About a quarter mile later, I went into a grocery store and bought dinner, a big turkey and egg salad. My planned destination was a church hostel in Troutdale. There is no food there or in town so it’s BYOS.

According to the elevation profile, I had climbed about 200 feet to 2,500 feet.

I was now headed south toward Cedar Springs and Sugar Grove. Gradually I was gaining more elevation but I really didn’t notice. The wind was no longer on my face and I was locked in. I call it The Trance.

I was buzzing along on this two-lane country road, admiring the scenery and chatting with the cows and goats and horses grazing near the roadside. I look up and there are two cars coming toward me in the other lane. A third car starts to pass them in my lane!

The driver was an old lady with a permanent, white hair stacked up on her head like a helmet. She was taking her time. Coming right at me. No worries. I pulled off the road onto a mowed lawn. Old lady never blinked an eye as she drove by.

At Sugar Grove I started the six-mile climb through the Mount Rogers Recreation Area to Troutdale. The ride wound through a beautiful forest. The grade was gradual. I just kept buzzing along. A raging creek and wild pink flowering bushes running along the road. My legs never tired. I stopped at the top for a snack then flew down the two-miles to Troutdale. Big fun.

I arrived in Troutdale at 1:15. I’d ridden 38 miles, the weather couldn’t have been better, and my mind and body were ready for more. What a contrast to yesterday.

I was at about 3,500 feet before the descent to 3,000 at Troutdale. I decided to ride 23 miles to Damascus. More gradual climbing to 3,700 feet then a couple more short climbs. None of the climbs bothered me in the least. I was cookin’ with gas. And the scenery was perfecto.

I could have taken dozens more but I didn’t want to spoil my downhills

I had the option to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail for the last 13 miles into Damascus. I didn’t bother. The road was a total blast, gently winding this way and that down to Damascus at 2,000 feet.

I’m staying at The Place, the first hostel to cater to hikers on the Appalachian Trail. It has been welcoming TransAm cyclists since Bikecentennial in 1976.

This must be The Place. The Mule abides.

I am two miles from Tennessee. I’ll save that state for a Natchez Trace ride in 2025.

Tomorrow is a short ride to a church hostel in Rosedale. The midway climb over Hayter’s Gap is 1,500 steep feet. These boots are made for walkin’.

I’ve booked a room at the lodge at The Breaks Interstate Park on the Kentucky border for Sunday.

Thanks to all the readers who bolstered my spirits after yesterday.

Miles today: 59

Tour miles: 668.5

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