Part 1: Day 10, 4 June 2018 –Breaks Park VA to Hindman KY, 70 mi, 4673 ft ascent, 11.4% max grade, 11.3 mph avg.

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 parked out front. We caught up with an assisted tour that left from Yorktown on May 1st. There are 20 cyclists sharing the community room floor and one bathroom.  We went across the street to a pizza place for dinner and Steve H. proceeded to eat an entire medium pizza by himself.  I guess he has to replace some calories he lost due to his illness.