Saturday, June 6, 2009

Thursday. 60 miles, wet, windy, cold. Terrain remains gentle with large farms and beautiful horses grazing. I don’t think the temperature reached 60. I carried a vision of my mother all day. I imagined the scrunched up look of disbelief she’d have on her face when I explained that I had just pedaled a bicycle in the cold pouring rain for 60 miles. For some reason I don’t think she would really have gotten it. We’re sleeping outside in a covered pavilion. I already know that my sleeping bag will keep me nice and toasty. Well Thursday night proved troubling. Around midnight I woke up with head ache and nausea. I got through the night and rode 83 miles on Friday feeling really rotten. The weather cleared, but it was still a struggle. This was a personal record for distance. Previously my longest day was 72 miles last week. To put 83 miles in perspective it’s within a few miles of the distance between ami and andy’s house in new jersey and our house in newtown. It was our first overnight in a fire house. Brand new and a very nice facility in Utica, ky. I spent most of the night on the toilet. I will spare the details. I guess I could have ridden if my life depended on it, but I decided a day off was best. So instead of 4250 miles I’ll only ride 4180. I can live with that. I rode in the van to marion, ky and immediately rolled out my sleeping pad and slept for a few hours waking up feeling much better. If I had pedaled today I would have reached the 1000 mile mark so I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. We have two moderate days coming up and the a layover in Carbondale, il. I’ll have to look for some salukis there. Carbondale has some good bike shops. I have to find some better tires and tubes. I’ve had flats the last three days. my bike also is in need of some professional adjustments.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Uneventful day. A gentle 47 miles through landscape similar to yesterday. Much cooler today with rain off and on. Severe thunder storms expected tonight. Scout tom found a motel charging $49 within a mile of the camp ground. We’ll be dry and safe. Cleanest room I’ve ever seen. Wow! Indoors with a bed two nights in a row.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Nice ride today. Fewer hills, fewer dogs, fewer trucks. We rode 50 miles to Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Pedaled through gentle rolling hills and large farms. This is the most prosperous looking area of Kentucky that we’ve passed through. Today was definitely the hottest day we’ve experienced, low 90’s. when it gets this hot it’s hard to replace the fluids lost to sweat. We were supposed to stay at a ymca with showers 3 blocks away at a chuch. The Y was running a day camp and wasn’t going to be available until 6:00pm so we sought alternative accommodations. Worked out great. We’re staying at the Beaumont Inn which is a beautiful old hotel. It’s in the national register of historic places. This is obviously a big splurge, but we are allocated per diem amounts for food and lodging. Right now we’re under budget so this turned out to be a nice surprise. We won’t be able to cook here so gosh darn we’ll have to go out to dinner. Found out how reasonable the cost of living is here. Got in so early I didn’t eat lunch on the road so asked for the best buger in town and tom and I road about a mile to the restaurant. Burger, fries, ice cream. The check was $7.70. we assumed that was per person, but no it was the total for both lunches. What a deal.

Beaumont inn our home for tonight include full breakfast


first occupied train crossing


Monday, June 1, 2009

Back to civilization. We’re on a layover in Berea, Kentucky. There’s internet real restaurants and a very quaint college town to wander around. Yesterday when we arrived I called caryn to let her know I’m safely in camp and asked her to post a quick message to let everyone know that I would catch up today. Little did I know she would get all sentimental and philosophical on me. Once again I’m reminded of her undying support and enthusiasm for this adventure. Actually I just think she’s worried that I might come home early and screw up her very busy summer schedule. On Thursday we had a very hilly ride, but only 42 miles ending up at Breaks interstate park which is a huge state park partially in Virginia and Kentucky. Sadly we lost another member of the troop this day. Ollie crashed on a long steep down hill. He is one of our most experienced riders and no one really knows what happened. The first people on the scene found Ollie crumpled in the ditch. He was dazed and probably with concussion had no idea what happened. The best we can surmise is that he was simply going too fast and hit a crack or something else in the road and lost control. He was taken to a hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee. It turns out he has several broken ribs which punctured his lungs and required surgery. His wife pam flew in and reported that the surgery went well and Ollie will be fine. We have all been devastated by his accident and are all now being very, very cautious down the hills. I’ve set 25 m.p.h as my personal speed limit. The night at the breaks interstate park turned out to be fantastic. In the middle of the night we got a sound and light show that was amazing considering my only separation from the elements is the flimsy 5 one thousandth of an inch material of my tent. With the added noise of the pounding down rain it was really something. My tent has become my secure dry cocoon. First thing Friday morning we crossed our first state line. One down nine to go. Long day, big hills, 70 miles, coal trucks, loose dogs that live to chase bikes. No one could have prepared me for the desperate poverty that we saw all day. It was not fun. The we got to the end of the day and pulled into the 80 motel all excited that we’d be sleeping indoors with plumbing. Unfortunately this place would make the bates motel look like the ritz carlton. There is no way to describe the place and the people hanging that would give you a realistic idea of this place. Conditions improved somewhat on Saturday. 65 miles with about 4000 foot total ascent, but no trucks because it was the weekend. Some chasing dogs but I worked out a pretty good routine. I would constantly scan both sides of the road looking for the lurking beasts. As soon as I saw one I would accelerate as hard as I could and try to go faster than them. I didn’t realize that a dog can run at close to 30 m.p.h. the system worked because most dogs were lying on porches some distance from the road. The bike being a stealth vehicle allowed me to vector past the point a racing dog would typically meet a furious pedaling bike. So far the whole group has survived unscathed from the dogs although alice had a dog either run into or bite at the rear portion of her bike, but she was able to escape. The camp Saturday night in Booneville, Kentucky was quite interesting. It was a church hostel. The camping is free, but we leave a generous donation. There was a big grassy area behind the church for our tents. Cold water shower, cold water only sink, and porta potty. Yesterday was a treat. Out of coal country and into rolling hills with beautiful farm land. We rode 58 miles with only one commercial establishment. We rode a stretch of one lane road and went for 30-40 minutes without seeing a dog or car. Enjoying a very relaxing day in Berea. We’ve met several cyclists following the same route. This is very common because of the popularity of the transom. We typically see the same folks for a few days and then either we or they take a rest and we lose them. A kid named matt riding alone on a bike that loaded I couldn’t pick up. He just graduated from the citadel in Charleston and is riding the route to honor his dad who did it in 1976. Nice kid, I hope he makes it. Then there’s Vicky who talked too much for me to get very close. Understandable as she’s been riding alone since last year so any human contact turns her mouth on. Ted and lisa are riding mountain bikes pulling a trailer call a bob. (see picture below) they are from Molokai. Hawaii. He accrued 90 days of vacation and she has a partner who’s running the business. Our trip is sponsored by Adventure Cycling Association. It was founded in 1974 as a cycling advocacy group. They’re based in Montana. Their main mission has been to lay out and produce maps for safe cycling. To date they have completed over 38,000 miles of routes all over the U.S. to put this in perspective there is aprox. 41,000 miles of interstate highway. The ACA maps that we are using have great detail and turn by turn narrative. It’s kind of analog gps. They provide the van that used for support and our two leaders, andy and dave. They,ve made all of the overnight reservations and take care of all logistics. On an alternating basis one rides his bike each day and the other drives the van. There are just enough rules to keep us safe without the whole thing getting too regimented. Between them keeping track of us all on the road each day is a daunting task. Even with the great maps a few go astray every day. I have been very careful to stay on route so I don’t waste any energy. The daily ride is enough without adding mileage. I’m going to suggest to ACA that they should provide each bike with a GPS locator and have some kind of base unit that would show each bikes location. I think the saved gas for the van would cause this to pay for itself in a very short time. Enough for now.

hard to see, but that's a layer of coal in the middle


scruffy biker


one down nine to go


bikers best friend minus the truck


Sunday, May 31, 2009

From the Wife

I've heard from some of you great BikerJoe Followers that you're a bit concerned - no word from the man since Wednesday. Not to worry. He's just fine but has been camping in spots where there is no intenet (not to mention hot showers, decent facilities or 21st century lodgings).

But today he's in Berea, KY, will have access to the internet, and asked me to let you know he'll put up a post this evening or sometime tomorrow. I'm sure it will be quite a post - filled with stories about cycling in Kentucky - more adventure than Hans Solo ever faced.

Let me add, before I leave you, that today I was driving on Boggs Hill Road on my way home and came upon a group of cyclists whose destination was most likely not Oregon, but a destination of their own choosing. They looked so happy; filled with life, energy and joy that my
mind flashed to BikerJoe and the experience he is having at this very moment. I'm so thrilled for him and proud of what he is doing. We all seek to grow. We should all be testing our limits. Joe, this is what you are doing now - what a role model you are for us all.

Caryn