The Thin Blue Ride - Part 2 Day 84 - Wytheville, VA to Christiansburg, VA

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Ride Report:  58 Miles, 3,866 Total Miles (this straight from the Accounting Department), 14.1 Avg. Mph, 4,042 Ft. Climbing, 4,685 Calories.

Wow - that’s a lot of climbing given that there were no mountains on the elevation chart today.  However, there were constant hills.  I was either going up or down all day - there was no “flat”.  The steepest hill I saw today was 13%, but it only lasted for maybe a quarter mile.  Outside that nothing too difficult, tho in all honesty my definition of difficult has changed considerably since the beginning of the ride.

And as a bit of an aside, the curious reader may wonder why the ACA looped us down near the Tennessee border before heading us all the way North to pass North of Richmond, VA.   I think part of it is scenery and part of it is safety  They wanted to get us to Damascus (near the Tennessee border) because of all the trails that pass thru that town - that explains the move South. And they want to get us on the Blue Ridge Parkway - more scenery.  So far as safety is concerned, it appears they’re making every attempt to take the route less traveled, even if it means more miles.  And less traveled routes are getting increasingly hard to find as we work our way toward the coast.  Plus, passing just North of Richmond puts us in an excellent position for the final miles toward Yorktown.  We’ll see how it all shakes out.

The cool weather has passed - at least for now, and it appears temperatures have returned to normal  for this time of year - this according the the ACA maps, which include a handy weather averages chart.  Don't get me wrong, it's nothing like the misery we experienced in Missouri and early in Kentucky, but it is warmer.  So, while today was a good bit of work, I wouldn't classify it in the top ten for the trip. 

As far as I'm concerned, only one day has a shot at the top ten for the remainder of the trip: Vesuvius.  Vesuvius is actually a small town low on the side of the mountain leading up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We'll overnight there the day after tomorrow having done a small part of the climb to get there, then tackle Vesuvius the following morning.  Anyway, as time has passed, T/Aers have begun referring to both the town and the climb as Vesuvius.  That the town (and hence the climb) are named after a smoldering volcano in Italy which wiped out entire towns in 79 AD is not lost on me.  Susan and I had the foresight to make Vesuvius day a short day at only 48 miles.  So if ya only read the occasional post: first, shame on you; second, tune in for all the action on September 3rd.  Kinda like only watching the final day of the Tour de France, but at least you'll know who won - me or Vesuvius.  (It was an analogy.  If ya wanna know who won the Tour, Google it.)

Enough of my blather, here's today's ride...

As the reader can see by the pic there was some low lying fog in the valley this morning.  We were fine in Wytheville and unaware of this fog till we saw it from above.

On the way to the fog, I saw these two horses and thought it was a great scene - so naturally, a pic is the result.  Ignore the horse on the right with his tail up, nothing is happening...yet.  This was the horse version of snapping a great pic across lanes of traffic right before a car passes thru the scene.  (Another analogy - if ya don't understand ask someone who grew up around animals.)

Some of you readers may know that one of the things on our post ride list is traveling to the Northeast coast and looking at lighthouses.  Think coastal Maine.  If the weather is still cooperative, that's our plan anyway.  If not, I snapped this pic for Susan just in case.  I'll inquire of the Accounting Department to determine whether seeing an actual lighthouse is preferable over saving the cash and looking at this pic.  Me?  I'm all for seeing the real thing.

The blue sign proclaims that Pulaski County, VA welcomes T/Aers and gives a phone number to call if they want anything from side trips to showers to places to sleep.  A big thumbs up to Pulaski County.  I've not seen anything like this elsewhere along the route.  The phone number is probably answered by the Tourism Director at Mouth of Wilson...

This is a pretty typical shot taken by Sig.  Little did we know that when we hit the crest of the hill at that small gap in the trees in the distance...

...this was the scene we would be greeted with.  I immediately slammed on the brakes (not a big deal at the crest of a 9% hill, BTW) and stopped.  I think we stood there 5 minutes just soaking up the view.  As we did so, a small car came up the hill toward us and pulled to our side of the road.  It was an old, local guy who asked where we were from.  When I said Kansas, he responded, "Well I'm not!"  We then had an all to brief conversation in which I assured him that they had some awesome views here in Virginia, but that the hills made ya work for the views.  He agreed and went on his way.  This more than made up for the idiot in the small car later who, as I was going up a hill, shouted "Get off the road." as he passed.  As luck would have it, I was near the crest and right after going over the top, there was a stop light.  I pulled up beside his open passenger side window and we exchanged pleasantries - during which I reminded him I was on a state sanctioned detour from what would be my normal route.

This was the detour on which I met the obnoxious Virginian who shouted at me.  (It's true - I was the victim of a drive by shouting.)  A bridge was out, hence the detour.  Many times a cyclist can get around these "out" bridges.  There was no work crew today what with it being the holiday weekend, so I inquired of a couple of locals.  Neither knew the exact stage of the demolition of said bridge.  So - it was 1.5 miles downhill to check it out on the chance that I could cross.  But if not 1.5 miles back up the hill and then the additional detour miles.  One of the locals assured me the detour would only add 1.5 miles to the route.  I decided not to take the risk and just went with the detour.  It added 2 miles, so he was close.  Really, after 3,866 miles what are two more?  The Accounting Department says 2 more miles is .0517% more miles.  Accounting Departments struggle with rhetorical questions...  

On the up side, I met these two on the detour route.  Say hello to Sue and Matt Cook.  They've been married four years and Sue is training to do her first triathlon.  Matt has already done four.  Since this is her first time, they decided on a shorter "sprint" triathlon in which all the distances (swimming, cycling and running) are reduced.  I hear from those who've done them that they're a good way to get into the sport.  Not for me tho - the Doc says no running with the fake knee - thank God.  I hate running.  Interestingly, Sue was riding a Specialized Sequoia - the exact same bike as Sig.  When I asked she said hers was 12 years old and she had rescued him on-line.  Hers was the exact same color and had the same set-up Sig came with when he was born.  She asked how old Sig was and I told her he was 14 and had probably 27k miles under his belt as a result of this trip. They both seemed surprised.  Sig took this well, believing they must have thought he looked in pretty good shape given his age.  I said nothing.  

This is a shot of me pulling in to one of today's breaks.  Susan says she liked it because of the mountains in the background.  I'm pretty sure it's the spandex shorts.  I checked with Sig.  He said nothing.  Curious.  (Used by permission of Susan Schoen Photography, LLC.)

This is the parking lot where said break took place.  Church parking lots have "saved" us (if the reader will forgive the play on words) since leaving the mountains.  But if you're staying in one Saturday night, be sure to vacate the premises before the faithful arrive Sunday morning, or ya might not be able to get out till after the service.  This is not a problem for us since we're hitting the road NLT than 0730-0800.  They've all been very gracious letting us stay.  I don't think a single one of our requests to overnight at a church has been denied.

The New River - which is a surprising name since it is apparently tied with two other rivers as the third oldest on Earth.  Here in Virginia it's much calmer than the New River in West Virginia, where my lovely bride famously attempted to shoot the rapids in an inflatable canoe.  It didn't turn out well.  I tried to talk her out of it.  She said, "If I can drive the big rigs, I can paddle an inflatable boat down a river."  Yeah - I'm pretty sure that's what she said.  Ask her about it some time.  All I know is that our tour guide was surprised she could hold her breath for so long.

A better shot of the New River from the bridge over same leading into Radford, VA.  Note the groups of people drifting lazily down the river with the current.  This reminds me of float trips we saw on the Niobrara River in Nebraska when Susan and I did the Tour de Nebraska on our tandem several years ago.  It appeared those trips were mostly an excuse to guzzle beer.  Note the cool old railroad bridge in the background.

Also in Radford, the T/A route went thru this cool City Park for about a mile.  It's the only bike path I've been on that wasn't crowded with walkers and yappers, or walkers with yappers.  I loved it.

Well readers, Christiansburg represents the end of Section 11 of the ACA maps.  Only section 12 remains.  We start on it tomorrow.

This was the route for Section 11.  The reader can make out the bend South to Damascus, VA and the beginnings of our move to the North.  More on this as it develops.

I thought I'd throw this in just for kicks.  The blue dot is us.  I think I did this way back when we started the trip.  If not, it's a great idea and I should have.  Not far to go now.

Till next time.