Part 1: Day 5, 30 May 2018 –Love VA to Buchanan VA, 63 mi, 3773 ft ascent, 7.9% max grade, 11.7 mph avg.

Last night an animal (which we later learned was a bear) banged on the front door of our cabin and really startled Steve H, who was sleeping in the Living Room.  The irony was that Steve H had left his bear spray on his bike, which was parked on the front porch.  Unfortunately Steve H’s stomach distress finally got the best of him and he decided to take a rest day at the cabin.  It was hard leaving him behind, but better that he get well before continuing.  As we left the cabin it was foggy and drizzling.  There wasn’t much visibility on the way down the BRP.  At times there would be a partial clearing in the clouds, but most of the time I couldn’t see very far at all.


The route follows the BRP for awhile, and then turns west and drops precipitously down off the ridge to the valley below.  The road was wet so my rim brakes did not work very well.  I had to ride the brakes continuously.  My hands got so tired I had to stop a couple times to let the rest and relieve the cramping.  Rob was ahead of me, so when I got to Vesuvius I looked around for him but did not see him.  I did not see any services, so I decided to go on.  Later I found out that Rob was waiting for me at a restaurant in Vesuvius a half mile off route, which Rob used the ACA Bicycle Navigator app to find.  I did not want that to happen again so I downloaded the app and the data for maps 11 and 12.  The app shows services all along the route and is a great companion to the paper maps.  I reconnected with Rob in Lexington, which is the home of Virginia Military Institute and Washington-Lee University.  I had broken a freewheel-side spoke on my way up to the BRP, so I stopped at a Bike Shop to get it replaced.  It was a one-man shop and he told me it would take awhile, so I left my bike and went across the street to get some lunch.  Rob caught up with me at the restaurant.  I finished lunch, collected my bike, and we headed out of town.  Our destination was a motel in Buchanan that Rob found called the Wattstull Inn.  It was up on a hill overlooking the valley and had a great view and a restaurant nearby.  Rob and I got dinner, bought some beers and went to the pool for a swim while we watched a storm brewing in the distance. 

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