Day 54: King Size

52.4 km

Not very eager to get up early, I finally dragged myself out of the tent at 10:00. Th sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, as most days had been. I sat at the nearby table trying to figure out where to end the day, and by 12:30 I was on the bike. I cruised lightly along the narrow backroads recommended by the maps before I ended up in Radford. The heat had been significantly higher today than the previous days, so it felt good to step inside in the A/C at a Mexican restaurant.

After a hearty meal, I rolled right across the street to a motel to check the prices. The extremely friendly and helpful Indian man at the lobby was sorry to inform me of the lack of available rooms, but directed me to a similar motel on the other side of town that he was the owner of. He wrote down directions for me and called the receptionist and told him to give me a king size bed for about 20% off. I biked over there, stopping only for groceries and spent the evening doing some writing.

Day 53: One Big Rest Stop

68.3 km

When I first started biking at 9:30, I felt incredibly strong and rested. I don't remember ever having such a feeling of being able to cycle any distance, loaded or not. The first 50 km went by incredibly fast and I was feeling very motivated. When I thought of the fact that it was no need for me to bike very far for the rest of the trip, it dealt a kind of demoralizing blow to my motivation. Because I had prior to the departure for Seattle set a fixed date for my flight home - paid and everything- I had always had this small bit of pressure to do the daily mileage or more, so that I can relax if an accident was to occur or if I needed rest days or even just to relax at the end. Now that I am at the end, without any accidents to make up for and have had more rest days than ever planned, I find myself in a position where I actually want to bike for a considerable amount of hours a day. I have gotten so used to the routine that I felt restless, even 50 km into the day. 

When I reached Max Meadows - a small town with a convenience store and a railroad cutting through, I spotted a pavilion under which I probably could chill out for some time. I went over to the store and got a cold drink and sat down in the shade, studying my maps. I was trying to decide wether I should push for Yorktown (the official endpoint of the Trans America Bicycle Trail), an option which included I would have to backtrack 150 km and be a little stressful, or just take my time, aiming for D.C. the whole time. 

After spending about 6 hours (!) on the same bench, reading a book and taking nap, I decided it was time to go. It didn't take me long to get to the next campground and after passing it to get a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant, I headed back about 2 km to the campground. I got there as little late due to basically the whole day being spent in procrastination, but I managed to get a sweet spot by the river just as the sun set behind the rugged Appalachians. 

Day 52: Layover in Marion

I realized I had a couple of days to spare so I decided upon waking up that this was a decent place to take a rest day. I spent the day biking into town to take a look around. I also bought some food, talked to home and generally relaxed in my  room. Not too much else to report from this day. 

Day 51: Another Day in The Appalachians

99.4 km 

Starting the day at the quiet park was a good way to prepare for those coming steep climbs. Within the first kilometer I arrived at what would be the biggest climb of the day, but gradients were slightly more humane than some of the other hills I had to traverse. Climbing up, I got a glimpse of the valley I had come through over my shoulder of the tree-covered mountainous terrain, with its lush beauty glimmering under the partially clouded sky. The descent from these climbs had been so much fun with winding roads and sharp corners to test your technical abilities on the bike. I had also heard stories of horrible accidents coming down from these hills as the excessive clutching of the breaks can generate intense heat. 

After a quick stop in Honaker where I made something to eat, I met a female, lone westbound cyclist warning me about some steep grades and shoulderless roads with heavy truck traffic. I returned the favor by giving her some information on the route ahead. 

I knew the day was going to be hard with several steep climbs of over 300 vertical meters followed by an immediate equal drop in elevation and after making my way through some really beautiful countryside, I arrived in Meadowview. Here I stopped for a lunch at a restaurant that appeared to be a little too high class for a sweaty, spandex-covered cyclist, but at least the food was awesome. 

The ride from Meadowview to Marion took place on a parallel road to the interstate and the intense headwind and the presence of fatigue from the strenuous effort over the days mountains, made me longing for the end of the day. I managed to find a dirt cheap motel at the east end of town after going to the supermarket to make sure I had enough fruit, bake goods and snacks to indulge in for the rest of the month. I spent the rest of the evening taking a shower, writing and doing some laundry. 

Day 50: Virginia!

69.5 km

After a good night's sleep, I woke up along with the other three guys that had spent the night at the baptist center. Right after the guys left, the woman in charge of maintaining the place stopped by along with 4 others. They offered me all kinds of foods and homemade candy and they even had a basket with free stuff that cyclists could take with them. These people were eager to give me all kinds of things but with the coming hills in mind, I tried to keep weight to a minimum, only helping myself to some toothpaste that I was running low on.

Within the first kilometer I hit the first big climb of the day with ridiculously steep gradient. In spite of being battle-hardened my the Cascades, Rockies and Ozarks, the Appalachian mountain range had until now been more tiring than the long steady climbs of the Rockies. I have a theory that some of these roads were laid before proper road making equipment was introduced, whereas the paved roads traversing the Rockies were made much later so that gradients were kept at a reasonable level. With the lack of that smallest ring on the crank, there was no regulation in the use of force to pace myself up. There was either give it everything you have, or come to a complete stop. 

After making my way to Elkhorn City, I stopped at a supermarket to get something to eat and drink and do yesterday's writing before heading into another couple of intense ups and downs. The ride today was very beautiful with scenic treats like Breaks - the greatest canyon east of the Mississippi. I also stopped to pick up a stick to ward off some dogs, due to the vicious attacks I had been met with and I to be honest I was getting pretty sick of it. 

By the time I got to Haysi, after several brutal climbs, I was so tired I couldn't tell up from down, so I sat down at a gas station for a bite to eat. I was accompanied by an older guy who had seen my bike and he shared amazing stories from all over the country. He had as a former truck driver been to all the lower 48 states and we both agreed on that the nicest people in the country live in the middle. He went on to explain how if you start at the middle of the country and make your way out towards either of the coasts, people are less likely to help you if you get in trouble. Although I personally find Americans to be generally nice all over, I find that if you ask for help or directions anywhere, people will try to help you but people are more likely to really go out of their way to get you what you need in the midwest. 

Feeling a little better, I headed out again towards Council,VA where I had planned to spend the night. After a while I got to a beautiful park with a shelters and a pool and I sat down on one of e benches trying to call a number to verify that it was ok that I spend the night. After having tried multiple times with no answer, I sat there relaxing a bit before an older guy came over and started asking about the trip. I told him I wasn't able to reach the number I had been trying, so he pulled out his phone and made a call and got it all sorted out for me. He was there to keep an eye on a kid in the playground who's parents were drug abusers and he and his wife had taken it upon themselves to help kids like him. We sat there talking for a good hour and I learned he had worked as a crew member on a surveillance plane in the navy during the Korean war and he had some very fascinating stories to tell. 

Day 49: Coal Country

114.5 km

We all woke up at 6:00 to a cool and cloudy morning. Ben and Phil were gone by 8:00 and had planned on reaching Council, a good ride from Combs. They were also planning on reaching the endpoint of the trip -Yorktown,VA within a week, so I thought I would have to let them go sooner or later and really start to cut down on mileages. I stayed at the motel until check-out time at 11:00 before heading off into the hills again. Before long, I caught up with Chris and Nathan going up a hill, two older guys doing the TransAm with a support car. They had only two weeks off during the summer so they rode the trail two weeks per year, picking up where they left off the last year. Chris had been clipped by a truck during a climb earlier in the day. The mirror of the truck had hit him in the back and his left arm thanks to a driver who was so blinded by the sun he didn't see the cyclist and Chris was obviously pretty shaken up. 

I stopped shortly after to commence the ritual of wiping and lubricating the chain, loosing touch with the guys. After making a short stop to buy some fruit by the side of the road, I stopped once more in Hindman to restock some food. Here I talked to a very pleasant guy who asked about the trip and told me stories of when the trail was first established in 1976 and hundreds of people from all over the world came pouring through the area on two wheels. 

Biking along one of the bigger roads that had been blasted through some of the smaller hills, it was fascinating to watch the layers that made up the hillsides with seams of coal slicing through. Coal mining was a huge business in Kentucky due to the large amount that could be found here. Unlike in the western part of the state, coal was extracted through huge gashes in the land, rather than through underground deposits but today the industry is developing underground as well. 

Slowly making my way over some of the steeper hills I have ever seen in my entire life, I finally got to Lookout, a place with seemingly nothing but a vending machine where I had planned on spending the night. Chris, Nathan and their driver Joel were already at the Baptist Center that had clearly once been an indoor basketball court. The guys invited me to dinner which they had prepared in the kitchen, but I had to decline due the rather large amount of food I was carrying. After a nice shower and some food, I got talking with Joel who was a college student being paid by the two cyclists to drive with them during the summer. He was very religious but very open minded and had some very interesting insights and we sat up talking until midnight. After having my safety and well-being been prayed for, we headed off to sleep on the open wooden floor. 

Day 48: Steep Hills & Bad Dogs

159.2 km

The high level of humidity and the comfortably low temperatures this night resulted in complete soaking of the rain fly. There were some really questionable people camping near my tent so I felt the need to keep the bike close and locked to the tent, but fortunately there was no problem. 

Just as I set off from the campground at 8:30, I ran into two young eastbound cyclists. We biked through Berea and into the countryside together. Ben was a mechanical engineer and Phil was still working on his degree in the same field with one semester left. They had met through bicycle racing and were very strong riders with this being their 32nd day from San Francisco and apparently I was the first cyclist they had met on this trip that was able to keep up with them for more than few kilometers. I had struggled a bit with motivation the last few days since I was well ahead of schedule but meeting up with these guys and riding at their pace was perhaps just the nudge I needed. After getting chased by a pack of 5 dogs that were so fierce they nudged Phil's bike, we stopped after 80 km in the town of Booneville, where people were a bit questionable. The accents in this whole area had been so thick that I really struggled to understand what people tried to communicate, but I took comfort in the fact that even Americans had trouble understanding it. 

The rest of the ride we encountered some very steep and long hills. I stopped to try to capture the steepness of these hills while the guys pushed on so I got to work really hard to catch up with them, but surprisingly I managed to catch them further up the climb. These roads were very steep, narrow and windy, going up as well as down with no shoulder or fence but all that made for some really enjoyable descents. 

We had also passed through some really depressed areas today that I had heard tales of from westbound cyclists. This part was known for some poor coal mining towns that hadn't done very well, rabid dogs and steep hills.

Apart from being chased a couple of more times, the rest of the ride to Combs went by with no incident. We had decided to split a motel room so when we got there, I hooked up to the wi-fi, googled up a pizza hut 2 km down the road and brought back a large one to the room. We spent the night eating and watching TV and Ben and Phil offered me a taste of a dessert they had been making throughout the trip consisting of root beer and ice cream.