I don’t know how much I can keep up my blog. I don’t get much downtime at the end of the day. And if I do I’m so tired or hungry I just eat or go to sleep. There were a couple times in the last couple days that were really tough. The terrain has turned mean and sometimes for hours it’s hill after hill. The worse ones are the ones with bends you can’t see around. When I get to the turn after climbing straight up I hope that it goes down or flat. But nope it goes up and up. My parents keep asking how I feel. It’s hard to explain. Physically I feel better than I thought I would. My shoulders were sore for the second and third day but yesterday and today they’re great. My butt doesn’t hurt as long as I can stand on my bike every 25 minutes or so. What hurts is my brain. Everyone who told me that biking across the country is 10% physical and 90% mental (Mentally insane haha). But yeah they are 100% right. I’m developed an attitude that there is nothing else to do but climb this hill so I might as well keep going. It has to end eventually. Going down can be just as worse. Sometimes it gets really steep and since my 2 companies are riding tandem (2 seater bike) they can go way faster than me. Who are my companions you ask? Well it’s a father and daughter pair: Mark and Jolee. I feel so out of shape compared to them since Mark is 46 and Jolee is only 13! I can’t believe that. I don’t remember what I was interested in at 13 but I can’t bet you I would have never thought about biking across the country. We picked up another rider today: Evan. He’s from Hawaii and is entering his junior year at Harvard. A couple places we have stopped at have guest books for us to sign so the shop keepers and see how many people go through the town. It seems like there is a couple of people just ahead of us. It’s really neat to meet people.

A quick summary of the last couple days starting from day 2

Day 2: June 14

Got up and 7 and left Willis Church by 8. The terrain was nice and flat. The occasional hill wasn’t a problem because they were short. You can see them coming so we just put on speed and coasted over them. For breakfast we went back to the Citgo gas station where we got ice cream the night before.

A couple miles later I saw a beekeeper tending to his bees so I gave him a shout and waved. He or she (you can’t tell with the protection outfit) waved back and gave us a thumbs up.
The day was pretty uneventful. We rode 80.1 miles total to Mineral, Virginia. My aunt was thinking of dropping by to say hello but the timing didn’t work out as I wanted to go to bed. I ate some ice cream at the local shop. And even though the owner gave me the wrong flavor it was still delicious. After getting ice cream we walked back over the the fire station where we were allowed to camp for the night. There were two other cyclists: Paul and Cindy there who were eastbound so they were almost done. They actually will probably be done tomorrow now that I think about it. The gave me some hope because they were well into their 60s with multiple knee and heart surgeries. There bikes weighted more than double compared to mine as well. If they can do it so can I!

Day 3: Mineral to Lexington Va

Got up late 7:45 on the road my 9. I saw an interesting street name called ‘Beer Can Alley’. I didn’t stop to take a picture of it cuz we were on a roll but now I wish I did stop.
We kept seeing these huge trees with giant white flowers and we couldn’t figure out what they were called. Finally we said the next person we see in their yard that has the tree we will flag down and ask. Sure enough a couple miles later we saw the tree and a guy walking to get his mail. He informed us it was a magnolia tree. I almost didn’t understand him due to his thick accent.
For lunch we stopped at EW Thomas grocery store had Mac and cheese, dry potato wedges and green grapes. After lunch we decided it would be a good idea to get to Afton, Va to get a head start on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’m glad we did but the last mile was steep and I had to push my bike several times. We stayed at the Cookie Lady house which was open for passing cyclists. Although it didn’t have running water it did have electrically so I could charge my phone. I want to describe her house property so I’ll dedicate a post to her later.
Total miles: 74.8 miles

Below are some horrible pictures of part of the cookie lady house. Every inch is covered in tokens people leave for her!

Day 4: The Blue Ridge Parkway

Things happened on this day that I won’t post about until the trip is over. To describe the climb up the parkway in one word would be brutal. Although it was cool to ascend above the clouds. At times I could reach out and touch them. The view really gave me the motivation to make it to the top. I will say that I wrecked twice. The first time I cut my knee and forearm enough that I was bleeding. I’m fine though and it’s not stopping me from biking. Most of it is starting to harden to scab over. The trick is keeping the scraps dry. The second time I just rolled with it and escaped intact. I stopped at Gertie’s Country Store in Vesuvius county where I ate the best BBQ sandwich of my life. You can sign the wall if you’re biking. It was hard to find an empty spot among the thousands of signatures.

I also got attacked my butterflies when I stopped for a break.

Day 5: Lexington to Troutville Va

It’s getting late so I’ll end my blog a day behind. We only went 39 miles today. We took an easy day to recover from the parkway climb. Tomorrow we are kicking it back up with an 80 mile day. Evan joined us in the morning and it’s great to have another rider along. Today was probably my favorite day. We deviated from the maps to take a rainy, 6 mile climb to visit Natural Bridge. It was incredible and totally worth it!