The Thin Blue Ride - Part 2 Day 85 - Christiansburg, VA to Buchanan, VA

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Ride Report:  62 Miles, 3,928 Total Miles, 16.2 Avg. mph, 3,432 Ft. Climbing, 5,102 Calories.

It was a fun day today.  While there was plenty of climbing, much of the course trended downhill.  It works like this - the crest of the next hill isn’t quite as high as the one ya just topped.  There were exceptions to this rule, of course, but it generally remained true.  As evidence of same, check out the average speed for the day.  Dunno that it’s ever been over 16 mph with that much climbing.  So - as I said - this made for a fun day.

As to the more esoteric aspects of today’s ride, the scenery was to die for.  This tailed off a bit in the final third of the ride, but the first two thirds of the ride were absolutely gorgeous.  On one occasion I happened to catch up with The Rig and it was stopped in the middle of the road.  I suspected the Teamster was up to taking more narrow road pics.  But when I got there, she had just stopped to talk to a local out checking her mailbox.  Susan wanted to let her know how beautiful the countryside was here in Virginia.  The local agreed.  So - the attentive reader will note that shots of the countryside figure prominently in today’s post.

And if’n ya wanna move here after seeing some of these pics, I can’t say as I’d blame ya.  Here we go...

This came into view right out of the gate this morning.  At (or near) the bottom of a 2.5 mile descent.  I slammed on the brakes for a pic.  That's a mist shrouded highway bridge transiting the valley in front of me.

And for you JD'ophiles, these two green tractors sitting in a mowed field of grass with the misty mountains in the background can't be beat.

Sig got this shot of the second low railroad overpass of the morning.  The first was in Christiansburg and I called to tip Susan off before she got out of the church parking lot.  Needless to say, she took a different route.  As a result of her detour, she didn't have to deal with this one - only 10' clearance according to a later sign.

OK - you all should be paying me for this.  This is so cool.  Pasture in the foreground, mist, mountain, cloud - or is that another mountain?  Wow - just...wow!

AMAZING!  This is the stuff motivational posters are made of.

Every time I came around a bend in the road something else beyond description appeared as if by magic.  The countryside here is stunning.  If you're ever looking for a place to vacation because you enjoy the scenery - this would be it.

And then there are these cool little distractions - like original log cabins, now abandoned.  I saw several of these today.

This is Susan and Kendra.  When I made it to the first break 15 miles in to the ride, Susan had already talked with her (imagine that...) and she knew we were from Manhattan.  She also knew where Manhattan was!  Her husband is an ag-econ guy and makes trips to Manhattan - what with KSU being the holy grail of ag-econ.  Readers should note the covered bridge in the background between the tree and the white post.  Kendra and her husband built it over a small creek so they could access their cabin up on the mountain behind their place.

Shortly, I caught these two jokers sneaking thru the fence to jump on the kids' trampoline.  After a stern lecture about the weight limits of the trampoline (I had to show em a warning label to convince em.) I think I got em to go back to doing regular cow stuff.  Ridiculous - apparently the farmers around here are raising irresponsible cows.  Next thing ya know they'll be chasing cyclists and mooing at them.  (Do they make cow spray?)  Or - worse yet - leaving cow pies just around the corner of hairpin curves on steep descents.

More countryside - and a first here at The Thin Blue Ride - a profile shot while riding.  Listen, it's not as easy as it looks.  But in deference to input from the Work Safety Department, I'm keeping my eyes on the road.  The Work Safety Department was impressed...

...until she saw this screen shot.  It was apparently taken accidentally in the process of putting my phone away after taking the previous pic.  I've no idea how this happened.   The Work Safety Department's immediate response?  "Why are you riding on the wrong side of the road?"  Crap!  But being quick on my feet, I claimed it was due to the Coriolis Effect.  (Google it)  That seemed to confuse her long enough for me to delete the pic.  Now in another first here at The Thin Blue Ride, I can claim ignorance.

Holy Cow Batman - more great scenery!

OK - this is just getting crazy now: cows along a meandering creek in the bottom of a narrow valley viewed from the road about a hundred feet higher.

These two are Rico (he's got the problem with his thumb) and Michael.  Rico is from Germany and Michael from New York.  We found each other at the top of a hill - which is a great place to stop and chat because everybody gets to go downhill afterward.  If I understood correctly, they just met up about a half hour ago and both happen to be headed to Santa Monica, CA with the goal of arriving around the end of October.  Since they just met, it's still up in the air as to whether they combine forces for the trip or not.  A lot goes into a decision like that: riding styles, personalities, early bird vs night owl, etc.  Regardless, good luck to both of them. 

I think I crossed railroad tracks 6 times on the final run-in to Buchanan.  On the last one, this guy rudely interrupted my ride.  Hmmm...  bike vs. freight train - nothing for it but to wait, I guess.

Susan and me at our digs for the night next to the Railroad Inn.  It's aptly named for two reasons.  One: the old passenger car in the background of this pic.  Two:  the tracks are about 100 ft. to the left of where The Rig is parked.  Should make for an interesting night - we'll turn the fan on high for some white noise.

And just so the reader won't be surprised, today was the last 60+ mile day of the ride.  When we evaluated our arrival date at Yorktown a little over a week ago, it was apparent that we were slightly  ahead of schedule.  As a result, we elected to shorten up the days a bit.  The next two days will be in the 40+ mile range - largely due to Vesuvius, as discussed yesterday.  After that, mostly in the 50+ range with a 40+ or two mixed in.  We're still on schedule to arrive in Yorktown on September 8th, absent input from Hurricane Dorian to the contrary.  I haven't checked the cone today yet - we shall see.

This just in here at The Thin Blue Ride...

In yet another installment of the kindness of strangers...  After I originally published tonight's post, this gentleman came to The Rig bearing dinner for us.  He had stopped by the local BK and snagged us a couple of burgers.  His name is Dennis.  Susan walked up on to his porch and introduced herself to Dennis and his wife Jean when she was out scouting the best way to get The Rig out of town tomorrow.  (The RR tracks here are quite steep on both sides and can cause our trailer problems if it drags.)  They told her then that they were gonna bring dinner by.  We talked in The Rig for a bit and he gave us some excellent advice on getting The Rig up to The Blue Ridge Parkway.  I think we both feel a bit better about that now.  I also asked how steep the grade was.  He replied that it was steeper than the road that goes past his house.  So - in the morning when I leave town, I'll make a point of riding his street to see how steep it is, thus having at least a hint of what I'll be facing when I do the Vesuvius climb.

Till next time