Bike problems, New Cyclist Friends, Rain, and Carrot Cake

Rise and shine

I set my alarm for 4 AM in hopes to avoid some rain today. I’ve sliced my breakfast prep time in half by dumping three packets of instant oatmeal into my cooking pot and pouring cold water into it the night before. Overnight oats, if you will. This prevents wasting time in the freezing cold waiting for water to boil, etc. I don’t care how cold it is, I only eat for the fuel. By 5 AM we packed up and headed for Brian’s coffee, which was when it started to gently rain. About 3 miles in we experienced an amazing double rainbow, and life was good. Until my derailers started acting funky and shortly after my chain got locked under my cassette, badly. It stopped me right in my tracks, on a hill of course. This was my first serious bike-related issue I’ve run into, and is likely not the last. We had to take every bag off and flip the bike to work on it. With enough finagling and rain dances to the cycling gods, I was able to rip out the chain, leaving zero known harm to the spokes and/or chain. I got lucky. The closest bike shop was 12 miles away and I rode in a uncomfortable gear the whole time. The ride was so painstakingly nerve wracking as I was extremely cautious about my chain popping out again.

McDonald’s

Of course the bike shop didn’t open until 10AM, so we had 2 hours to kill at Mcdonalds. Not a bad place to rest, just would have preferred banging out mileage earlier in the day and resting towards the latter. I grabbed a couple of joes for Brian and I, and ate a small snack, half a bag of granola. McDonald’s has really got their style together, and I was impressed with the luxuries they offer, plus their cofffee wasn’t half bad. Brian made his way up for more coffee, and being the suave guy he is, managed to be offered a free ‘mess-up’ fruit smoothie. Being on a low-carb diet, he generously passed it on to me. Yeah, we all know my history with fruit smoothies on the trail. Gone within 3 sips. I wish I had another now. Finally made it to the bike shop, New Wheels, in Radford and was assisted by the owner. He was a cool dude, and was able to allow my trip to continue with a few minor derailer adjustments. If I didn’t have access to him, I would still be walking my bike up hills, and ain’t nobody got time for that when you’re a hungry hippo.

Draper, Virginia

As we left for Wytheville, we happen to cross paths with three other TransAm riders! Bill, Eric and Mike started around the same time as we did. As we approached to greet them, Bill yells out, “you must be the kid”. Apparently he has been following Brian’s journal! Thought that was neat, riders following riders adventures while on route. We all decided to roll together, and head for some lunch. Riding with new friends was awesome, the miles flew by as we all talked about our experiences on the road. Eventually we all met in Draper at a fancy restaurant. I was informed that the carrot cake was homemade, and this was enough for me to redeem my faith in a good carrot cake. I ate the whole damn piece, everyone seemed amazed. We met the marketing director, who was very interested in hearing our stories and showed us around their neat cycling shop. We were all video interviewed and hopefully it will be posted soon; I’ll make sure to post it when I find it.

Wythville

We made it to town, but along the way we encountered another couple, Judy and Eric, from Illinois biking the trail! They were really nice people, and I hope to see them again. With how crappy this day has been, it really made my day meeting new riders on the road. Knowing there are other crazies out there settles me. We rolled into town and setup camp at a local park. Luckily this site had a pavilion, because an hour after we set up the rain came, hard. We were dry and warm, so we just ignored the rain, and we’re thankful to be done for the day. We hadn’t showered in a few days, so we washed ourselves down in the bathrooms. You wouldn’t believe how relieving that felt. I threw together some dinner, which for the past few nights has been all canned food. I’m greatly looking forward to vegetables soon. The weather was warm enough for some coyboy camping, which means no tent, just sleeping pad and bag. I layered up quite a bit just to assure I was warm enough, and drifted to sleep very easily. It seems to be easier sleeping outside now, only because of how exhausting this day has been. I’m loving life. Thank you ALL for the support. It’s so nice hearing from you.

Stats

Start: Christiansburg, VA End: Wythville, VA

Today’s mileage: 57 miles Total: 442ish miles

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