Day 1: Bowling Green, Ky to Hodgenville, Ky

May 29, 2022

84.2 miles; 7:25:00 Ride time; 11.3 Ave MPH

I’ve been eager to go! I got pretty anxious about the ride about a week ago. I have refused to read/watch/listen to any horror related media for a few months; my imagination does good enough of a job scaring my on its own, thank you very much. My anxiety, though, was mainly over my own capabilities.

I woke up at my usual 5am (I’m pretty strict about taking my thyroid meds at 5am everyday- sometimes I get up and stay up, something I lay back down and snooze for a bit…) and stayed up, wired, frantically organizing my gear and getting ready.

I rode out at 8:20ish and felt pretty confident from the get go! Sunday morning in Bowling Green means empty streets. I quickly made my way across town, and jumped over I-65 by Porter Pike to connect me to Bristow Road- I am in love with this road. The air smelled like clover and honeysuckle. Few cars passed and all were friendly. I couldn’t stop smiling.

I knew I could connect to the TransAmerica Route by riding through Mammoth Cave National Park and, after living in the park last summer, I am pretty familiar with the roads. I didn’t need to use my phone for navigation at all so I put it on airplane mode while I tested out how long the battery would last with Strava running in the background.

When I finally reached Mammoth Cave, I cut through the park on one of the gravel roads, hopped on the Green River Ferry, and just as I was escaping the flood plain I hear a car coming up from behind, hollering “LEVI!”

Mandy and Austin!! I was just hanging with these cool cats the day before! They were mountain biking with some other friends in the park. Mandy is the one that hooked me up with the bright yellow, blinking, vest (which has gotten me compliments 😌- thanks Mandy) and she mentioned it was easy to spot me. They handed me a very generous donation and went on their way. I should’ve taken a picture with y’all!

The ride stayed consistently pleasant. My energy started to drop but I wasn’t really feeling hungry so I didn’t eat much. I have to figure out how to properly fuel myself on this trip!

I spot the first two West-bound cyclist not even two miles after connecting to the TransAm. I spent 70 miles not seeing any other cyclist (besides motorcyclists, but I’m not ‘one of them’… then never throw that peace sign down for me🙍🏻‍♂️) so I really wanted to chat- I felt like a dog seeing his neighbor’s dog just a waggin’ my tail- they were friendly enough but seemed to want to keep on riding. I’m very excited to run into more cyclist and hopefully chat it up.

I’m EXHAUSTED by the time I finally reach Hodgenville. I brought all the stuff I need to make my own food but pizza was calling my name and you best believe I answered. I sat at Hometown Pizza-Hodgenville for an hour or so then headed off to find my campsite for the night.

My campsite was at McDougal Lake. I assumed I would pull up and just set up my tent, I instead had to travel down a single track for two-ish miles. It took me an extra hour to figure out where I was going or what I was doing in the woods.

It wasn’t until 9:00pm EST that I laid down in my tent. After trying to coordinate my next day of biking, I decided that I would give in to exhaustion and figure it out tomorrow.

Today was one of the best days of biking I’ve ever had. I feel proud of the distance I covered. Let’s see how I do tomorrow…

Mein bubs put on a photo shoot for me right before take off

Always a good time when you run into the Scenic Byway signs!!

Big Boy [image description: absolute unit of some type of spider; Levi’s tiny foot in shot for comparison]

Cheesin’ with some cheese in… my mouth [image description: me being very happy after running into you, Austin!!]

Today's ride: 84 miles (135 km)
Total: 84 miles (135 km)

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