Part 2: Day 1, Berea to Springfield KY

79.8 miles, 6:41 riding time, about 10 hrs clock time

11.9 mph avg, 4065 ft ascent

The day started at 0600 when a friend of Steve H’s named Shunnan arrived at Steve H’s house to ride with us,  Steve’s wife June drove us from Lexington to the same place in Berea where I left off last year (yes Rob, no gap!)

The ride west from Berea was very green with rolling hills; much like riding in Maryland or Virginia.  This part of KY is about horses and farming.  The contrast with Eastern KY is striking; I did not see any billboards for rehab centers and the houses were very suburban until we got a ways from Berea, and even then I did not see the signs of dire poverty I saw in eastern KY.  

I had beeen e-mailing a fellow Westbound TransAm rider named Duane who started his ride on 16 June.  I knew he was in Berea on the 4th of July so I was hoping to connect up with him.  At one point Steve, Shunnan and I missed a turn and as we were riding up a hill along come two cyclists going the other way.  They had missed the turn as well, and one of them was Duane...what a coincidence!  The other was a fellow TransAm rider named Andrew.  

The group was now 5 and we were riding along and came across this shelter that was set up specifically for bicyclists.

There was a small shelter with water, snacks, a bicycle pump, a solar cell phone charger, and even a shower with soap and towels.  It is nice that some people appreciate and support bicyclists.

The ride started with clear skies and temperatures for the first part of the ride were in the upper 70’s with hills that were not too steep; but that changed as the hills got steeper and the temperature climbed up to just over 100F over the asphalt road surface.  I sweated so much that I was wet from head to toe, including my gloves (I could wring them out, which is kind of gross to be honest!).  Monitoring hydration and calories is a big part of bicycle touring.  I try to drink one water bottle per hour and supplement with Gatorade when it is very hot.   At about mile 50 I started to cramp up.  I think it is difficult to maintain the correct electrolyte balance when sweating so much.  I bought 2 quarts of Gatorade and that helped, along with stopping to stretch the cramping muscles.  The only times I ever have trouble with cramping are long, hot rides, so it much have something to do with profits sweating.  I am very glad I modified my bike to lower the gearing because I used the lowest gear many times today.  I think it was more because of heat and exhaustion than the steepness of the grades, although there were some doozies.  

We were chased by 4 dogs today.  Two were Type 1, came out to the street with a lot of barking but no ill intent.  One was Type 2, chasing us for the sport of it.  When I yelled at that one s/he stopped the chase and had a befuddled look.  The last one however was a Type 3, the mean-ass Hienz-57 junkyard dog.  It came after Duane, who was ahead of me.  He moved left to avoid the dog, who was about 3-feet out into the street, and suddenly a chain stopped the dog in its tracks and spun him around.  This didn’t even phase him as he redirected his attack at me, once again hitting the end of the chain.  I suspect this is not the first or last time he has hit the end of that chain...not too smart!  

Steve H and Shunnan took a wrong turn that added 10 miles to their total.  We reconnected in Harrodsburg where Duane, Andrew and I stopped for lunch.  The heat had taken a toll on all of us, which led Steve H and Shunnan to call for a ride home and Andrew to stay the night in Harrodsburg.  Duane and I continued on for another 31 miles to Springfield, where we checked in to the Springfield Inn.  There is nothing like a cool shower after sweating all day!  Our plan tomorrow is to get up at 0500, hit the road at 0615 and get a lot of miles in before it gets too hot.