June 12 Crossing America

Hindman, KY – Booneville, KY Distance 64.7 miles

Alright today is going to be a good day as got a good night sleep on a sofa in the basement of the First Baptist church even slept in 5:50 AM.  Since didn’t  have to tear down a tent and all, I was on the road by seven.  Thrill, thrill as I rolled my bike outside discovered there was a light rain.  Just like the postman, rain or shine we ride so threw on a windbreaker and headed down the road.  A good surprise the terrain was relatively flat to even downhill for a change of pace.   About five miles down the road, I heard someone call to me.  It was Ike, our early to rise first to leave every day rider.  He had sought shelter
in an abandon building to wait for the rain to end.  After seeing me, he decided what the hell if I was riding in the rain so would he.  Worked out great we were drafting each other with the easy terrain and set a 20 mph pace for the next 13 miles.   We stopped to check our map as we had not seen the marker for SR 476.   Turns out we were on 476 but about 3 miles too far south.  Got lucky though as we stopped at an intersection which allowed us to cut back up to the correct route.  It did cost us an extra mile, all uphill of course.  Add to that the next mile and half was on a steep uphill, too.

At the water break in Hazard, George and I tried to adjust the shifter on my S-Works without success, what’s new there.  Thus I had to switch to Spirit for the remainder of the day which was good and bad as it is great at climbing but slow for keeping up with the group. Sure enough hills began coming at us one after the other near Buckhorn State Park.  The hills here in the Appalachians average a gradient of 500 feet per mile which is quite steep.  Think about this at 500’ per mile I can only pedal between 3-4 mph, if a hill is 2 ½ miles in length that means I’m pedaling very near my maximum physical exertion rate for 40 to 50 minutes for each hill.  Today we had at least a dozen hills with a 500’ gradient.  I’ll let you do the math.  This Old Guy is thankful he’s been blessed with the ability to sustain a higher heart rate than most folks my age.  Compliments of a lifetime of
aerobic exercising and activities, as the cardiologist said I have the body of an obese athlete similar to football lineman.

Did I have fun today?  Yes and no.  Yes, because I did complete another day.  No because too many miles to be enjoyable.  The group of folks I’m riding with are nice and supportive of each other but I’m thinking I should have gone with my original plan to solo from  corner to corner setting my own pace.  The flip side I wouldn’t have been able to rely on the support vehicle and the luxury of having a backup bike to ride when one breaks down.

Ate dinner at a small café in Booneville our overnight town and was pleased to meet an older couple, Tom age 64 and Betty age 69, who are doing the Trans-Am route totally
self-contained.  They are seasoned touring cyclist as they have done both the Northern and Southern Tier crossing as well as the Great Lakes route.  Their opinion, the Trans-Am has been the hardest of all the crossings.  They left Yorktown, 3 weeks ago today.  They only travel 30-50 miles each day depending how they feel and the difficulty of the terrain and plan to complete the crossing in 75 days give or take.   A very interesting couple, by the way each is married but not to each other.  Neither of their respective spouses are interested in touring but are supportive of allowing their spouse the freedom and trust to do an annual summer tours.   Found myself tempted to hook up with them for the rest of my crossing.  However, I won’t bale on my new friends with the Bike the US for MS group as they need me or at least my vehicle and I need their support as well.

Despite the challenges, life on the road is good.  There you have all the news that’s not from the Old Guy on the road to fulfilling a dream.

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