We were awoken at an ungodly hour to the sound of laughter and chatting … the keenos of the Adventure Cycling group were up and at it early. Too early for us… for logistical reasons we were only doing about 45 miles today, so we were having a lazy day after yesterday’s miserable cold slog….
Let’s get this out in the open right from the start. We’ve clearly underestimated the physical challenge of cycling the TransAmerican. The Appalachians are a major hurdle, the largest chain of mountains east of the Mississippi extending from Canada, all the way to Alabama. We’ve been cycling through them for well over a week now…
Today had it all, rain, wind, hail, a sudden dog attack and finally camping down in a town packed with Appalachian hikers. After being holed up yesterday peering out the window at the rain from our motel room at Fort Chiswell, Terry was keen to get going as early as possible this morning. I’m not quite…
By Terry Last night’s life saver turned up trumps again this morning … fresh coffee and egg ‘biscuits’ (‘rolls’ to us Brits) made to order. Fab. And they had those rare and elusive items: a butane canister and some non-meat noodles. Now we are cooking with the proverbial! Well, we at least have the option…
93. It’s a number that’s been very much on our minds today. It’s not our planned mileage. Nope, it’s the temperature. The heat wave in Virginia is continuing to sweat it out and it’s doing its best to knock us for six we continue climbing the Appalachians. The apparent wind of cycling does cool you…
It’s Terry’s better half, Liz’s birthday today and he was determined to yell it from the mountain. So it was a good job our task today was to climb the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and search for the lonesome pine in the pale moonshine etc. It wasn’t quite night-time when we left the Cookie…
By Terry Even after last night’s Subway and sugar fest we were still slightly peckish this morning, so we took full advantage of the hotel breakfast before setting off … to buy more food. Then historic Charlottesville beckoned for a quick look-see and a coffee in wonderful Mother’s Day sunshine. It was an interesting place…
Today’s blog is different in at least two significant ways; one is that there is a guest editor (Paul evidently only does Mon to Fri) and another in that it will also be a lot shorter (due to our first rain which meant we didn’t get to see much for about thirty miles) After the…
Last night we stayed in a church, tonight it’s a fire station, courtesy of Mineral Fire Dept, Louisa County. We ended up cycling 80 miles today, due mainly to a map-reading malfunction. To explain, the Adventure Cycling Association provides excellent maps of the entire TransAmerica route. Yesterday we did two and a half maps to…
Have you ever heard of Trail Magic? Nope nor had we – but by nightfall we’d know exactly what it meant – and it has already sprinkled its dust on the bestbybike duo. The day didn’t start as planned. We made the classic mistake of leaving late – and after a few hundred yards we’d…