Steve's TransAm Adventure

On 5 July I fly to Lexington KY to resume my TransAm journey.  It has been just over a year since I completed Part 1.  My goal for Part 2 is to reach Pueblo CO, which is just over 1400 miles.  My companion from Part 1, Rob H,, made it to Pueblo in 18 days, averaging 80 miles per day.  I don’t know if I can average that many miles per day; it will depend on wind and weather.  If I average 65 miles per day I will likely end Part 2 in Wichita KS, which is about 1000 miles.  I am apprehensive about riding for hours on a flat, straight Kansas road into a headwind.  My cycling strength is in climbing hills; I am not as strong on the flats.   Based on my experience crossing the Appalachian mountains in Part 1 I made some modifications to my touring bike, which I have named Rhaegal after one of Daenery’s  dragons in Game of Thrones, to obtain a lower climbing gear.  There is no worse feeling when climbing a steep grade than to downshift and realize you are already in your lowest gear.  My lowe

Lodging:   Stayed in 2 public parks, 2 hotels, 1 BnB, 1 hostel, 1 cabin, 2 churches, 1 pavilion behind a church, and 1 firehouse Equipment:   One broken spoke, no flat tires, gearing of 22-26 was not low enough for the steepest grades…had to do the weave up one particularly steep grade.   Rim brakes/pads were not enough to control speed on steep descents without significant hand cramping. Highlights:   Meeting two great guys and sharing Part 1 with them...priceless!   NOTE: Both Steve H. and Rob went all the way to Astoria OR.

I had another close call with dogs today.   I was coming down a gradual decline out of a wooded area and into an area of open fields. The road curved gently to the right as it entered the fields and there was a house on the left just beyond the trees and offset pretty far back from the road.   I saw two large black dogs behind the house, and they saw me.   They started a full spring towards the road as I started my spring to outpace them.   They were smart and set their course to intercept a couple hundred yards down the road.   At this point I had reached full speed, and yet they were gaining on me!   I was amazed at their speed and endurance.   I narrowly outran them.   I will never know if they were type 2 or 3.    Today I kept count of how many loose dogs gave chase and by 9:00 am there were 17!   The final tally for the day was 22.   This was only the ones that gave chase; it does not include all the loose dogs that didn’t pay us any mind, or the Type 1 that were just curious.  

We got an early start and put some miles behind us before stopping at the Circle T for breakfast.   We were joined by fellow TransAm cyclist Brian, who is also a professor.   Those in academia are fortunate to have the time in the summer to pursue a journey like this.   More hills and steep grades today, and more loose dogs.   There are 3 kinds of dogs in KY, the ones that run out just because they are curious, the ones that chase you for the sport of it, and then there are the mean-ass Hienz-57 junkyard dogs that want a piece of you.   After one long climb I ran across one of the latter at the top of the hill.   Steve H. was just in front of me and there was no out-running this monster.   I quickly grabbed my pepper spray, which I kept hooked to that outside of my handlebar bag.   He came at Steve H., growling with his ears pinned back and a snarl full of teeth and fury.   I am sure Steve’s heart was racing as the adrenaline kicked in, but the monster backed off and let him pass…the

Today we entered into KY coal country.   There are lots of narrow valleys with steep walls and the roads typically cling to one wall of the valley.   We spent the whole day riding between rocks and rails.   There are also a lot of coal trucks, but they are good drivers and we did not have any trouble with them.   The other thing you see a lot of are loose dogs, bars on windows, and KEEP OUT, BEWARE OF DOG signs.   Apparently this area has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.   It is common to see trailer homes and shacks perched on a flat carved into the uphill side of the road.   I set a new record for maximum grade of 11.4%.   That is the grade that my Garmin Edge 820 recorded using GPS data, but is not actually the max grade because it does not take data frequently enough to capture short, steep climbs.   I suspect some of the steepest grades were upwards of 15%.   Our goal today was the Baptist church in Hindman.   When we got there we found an Adventure Cycling van and trailer

The proprietors of the Woodchuck served a nice breakfast in the morning and we got a chance to talk with some of the AT hikers.   One hiker in particular was suffering from shim splints and had been at the Woodchuck for days.   There were a lot of big hills between Damascus and Breaks, which was our goal today.   After about 20 miles of riding we came to Hayters Gap (aptly named). It was 2436 feet of straight up ascent in about five miles with 9-10% grades. It was rough going, foggy, and the roads were wet as we approached the top.   I set a new max speed record for this tour of 41 mph and a new single day ascent of 5860 ft, which is about 1,000 ft more than the day we climbed up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway!   I thought Afton Mtn would be the hardest day; today was a lot harder but after 9 days of riding my legs are feeling strong.   When we finally arrive at Breaks Park, which is right on the VA-KY border on the VA side, I was beat.   There was a nice lodge and we decided we had ear

We went to a local diner for breakfast and then re-joined the route.   We had barely left the restaurant when we came upon a ridiculously steep (but short) hill.   I actually got off and walked the short distance to the top…it was way too early in the morning to be pushing that hard on the pedals!   On the way into Damascus there was a gravel trail called the Virginia Creeper that appeared to be very popular.   I had lost track of Rob and the weather was nice (as far as I could tell being in a valley surrounded by trees) so I decided to ride the trail….bad idea!   A couple miles down the trail it started to rain….hard!   I could barely see anything and my bike was getting covered with dirt.   My brakes scraped like crazy and barely worked.   After it stopped raining I looked for and found a way to cut through the woods and return to the road.   I had enough of the Virginia Creeper.   In Damascus we stayed at the Woodchuck hostel, which is basically a hang-ou   We met up with by broth

The problem with camping in the Middle-Eastern part of the country in the summer is that there is always dew fall.   We woke up to wet tents even though it did not rain overnight.   Breakfast and lunch were nothing special.   We decided to aim for Wytheville as our destination.   According to the ACA maps, there was a city park that allowed camping. We rode into town and headed to the town visitor center, which was at the top of another long steep hill…it figures!. The ladies confirmed that we could camp in the city park and told us about the town aquatic center (which we rode past on our way into town).   We   rode back down to the park and set up our tents in the park on a covered wood stage and then rode back uphill to the aquatic center, which was very nice.   For a fee of $6.50 we had the use of a hot tub, water slide, pool, and shower. I took advantage of the nice bathroom to wash some clothes in the sink.   Afterward we headed to The Log House restaurant, which was a very uniq

The room rate for the Wattstull included breakfast, which we found was actually a room behind the motel that had coffee, juice and about every packaged high sugar, high carbohydrate breakfast item you could imagine.   Some of the items were good snack food for the road, so Rob and I stocked up.   Rob and I developed a routine; he was much faster on the flats than I was so we would agree on a place to stop for a break or lunch and he would go on ahead and meet me there.   Our goal today was Christiansburg.   According to the ACA Navigator app the town allowed camping in a city park.   Rob asked a cop and he   verified that we could camp there, and told us that adjacent to the park was an aquatic center.   We set up our tents in the city park and headed to the aquatic center, which was big and modern with pools, slides, a hot tub and showers.   I really enjoyed the pool and hot tub….what a relief after a hard day of climbing. We met some of Rob’s friends that drove us to a restaurant f