Day 9-10 - 5-28-14 & 5-28-14
Fremont WV to Barboursville WV
The team had a couple difficult days back to back. On
Thursday day 9 we traveled down a bumpy dirt road that was part of our planned route.
The road was tough riding with some hills and unstable sandy conditions in a couple
spots. About five miles into it we came upon a swollen brook that consumed the
road. Our dirt road journey was over. We had to traverse that crummy road again
and reroute.
Gravel roads are bad enough with a heavy bike doing them twice
just plain sucks. The constant bumps and jarring is tough on the bike to body
contact points. Mostly for Tim and Ken
it was their hands and wrists. They have
already been worked from the previous eight days of riding. Even Joe’s palms
are tender now.
Again for us there were no shortage of hills either. In the
past 10 days the Team has endured 58,000 feet of climbing! Most are short steep climbs which for a
cyclist are the worst. One thing for
sure we are getting stronger as the hills are hurting less. Remember our bikes are all over 70 pounds
with gear. It is like having a 10 year old
along for the ride that does not help with the pedaling chores!
The end of riding day came at 7:30 pm when we rode into
North Bend State park where we had reserved a cabin for the night.
Oh and what a cabin we had! What a nice surprise after a day
of suffering to see this beautiful monster cabin that we rented for $140. Ken
was hoping it would be pouring rain in the morning so he could suggest we just spend
an extra day here.
By the time we unpacked, mapped and hit the sac it was already
midnight the alarm goes off at 5am.
Friday we woke to what looked like a perfect day. Sun and temperatures
slated to be around 80.
We knew we had a long day in front of us the next planned sleep
spot was 100 miles away. And let’s not
forget the hills they are still with us. Again we have a gravel road on our
route. And again this gravel route will
bite us in the butt! After another bumpy ride down a lousy road we reached a
dead end. No warning, no signs
nothing. Just come around the corner and
bingo the show is over. Turn around and regroup.
We did come across a few long dark tunnels to go through
again. These are unlit and eerie to go
through.
Another kick in the chops for the Team on what was already a
long day and after a beating from the day before. Nobody complained or wined because
we knew it would not do us any good. We wanted
to complain but to who? For what? We still have to ride that terrible road
again.
Once back on the pavement we tried to make up for lost time
only to get beat up again. The road we
were on had just been scraped for re-pavement! For us it was like riding a bike
down a never ending rumble strip. Our
bodies and bike were being vibrated to death.
Our already tender hands were getting punished.
We arrived 123 miles later at 9pm feeling like we had be hit
by a freight train. Another night we did not get to bed before midnight.
Weather 80 degrees
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