Part 2, Day 2 Springfield to Rough River KY

96 miles, 7:42 riding time, about 11 hours clock time
12.44 mph average, 3753 feet of ascent
Today we tried to get an early start but they didn’t start serving breakfast at the Springfield Inn until 0600.  We finally got rolling at just before 0700.  The route for the first part of today was through a valley with rolling hills and fields of corn. 



The corn looked healthy and was about 7 ft high, so although KY has had a lot of rain recently, they do not have the flooding that the farmers in the Mississippi River valley do.   The temperature was in the 70’s for the first few hours, which was ideal, but it gradually worked its way up. Into the 90’s again.  
A common sight in KY are barn quilts, which look like quilts mounted on the gable end of a barn.

I saw a lot like the one shown above (the photo is not very good because it was just starting to rain). I came across an interesting variation. 

I was chased by 9 dogs today. Twice they were groups of 3, so I am not sure if that counts as 5 or 9.  For all but two of the chases I was going uphill so I had no option but to stop and talk to (yell at) them.  They were Type 2 so that was enough. For one group of 3 I was on level ground so I outran them, but boy were they fast!  If they had been Type 3, it would have been pepper spray time. When I don’t see them coming early, there is a big adrenaline rush. 

As I was riding today I noticed signs like this in people’s yards. I am not sure you can read it, but it says “Just be kind”. I later learned that a boy handmade the signs and started selling them as a fundraiser for local families in need. Apparently the demand for them exceeded his ability to make them. 


About 70 miles into the ride, and at the hottest part of the day, I came across the STEEPEST hill I have encountered on a tour!  I hand to stand in my lowest gear to get up it. I was barely going 3 mph.  I know that because my Garmin kept going into autopause. It was more than 15% (for the ABC folks back home, it was steeper than Illchester). Going up took a lot out of me and it took a lot of miles to recover. I don’t know how many bottles of water I drank today; I lost count, but it was a lot!  Managing hydration is turning out to be a challenge on this tour. I sweated so much I was wet from head to toe all day. Of course riding in the rain didn’t help with that. I thought it would cool me off, but as soon as the shower passed and the sun cmae out it was like a steam bath. 
We are camping by a lake tonight. I am hoping it will cool off over night. 


Comments

  1. SteveJuly 8, 2019 at 10:26 AM

    I'm glad you got to experience that "little hill" and verify that it wasn't just my imagination from last year :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarkJJuly 8, 2019 at 11:37 AM

    I never you were such a dog person Steve. Sounds like you're attracting and making canine friends throughout Kentucky.
    Best of luck riding and stay safe -MarkJ

    ReplyDelete

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