ROUTE:
Lebanon to Wytheville, VA |
DISTANCE:
76 miles |
TOTAL CLIMBING:
7,715 ft |
Click here for
Garmin daily ride data
Click
here for Summary Data sheet
(This is cool
if you like lots of data! It may take a few seconds to load but you can hit play
and time compress our ride. )
DAILY REPORT: Weather
-- The weather front passed through during the night and the morning was clear
and sunny. The roads were still wet. Good chance of a thunderstorm later in the
day. Starting temp - 69 with expected temps in the mid 80's again.
I am starting on this a little late so I doubt it
will get finished before I have to call it quits. We have a presentation to give
at the Roanoke Boys and Girls Club tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM. Thus we need to
leave early enough to get there on time. Plus we are expected the end of day
traffic will slow us down a little since it looks like the club is down town.
Last night I was studying the TransAmerica route
and bouncing it against Google maps and decided to modify the route to save some
time today. We shaved off nearly 25 miles and saved ourselves from a major
climb. In retrospect it worked out very well. I have done something similar for
tomorrow's ride but I am getting ahead on myself.
We left in the morning w/ the roads still wet from
last night's front that passed through. I watched several fronts on RADAR and it
looked like we would be fine in the morning but later on in the afternoon we
might get hit with a storm.
The morning ride was very enjoyable. We started
out with in the first 10 miles having a major climb to get over a pass. We
normally like to take the first 10 miles and warm up/stretch but not today. I
was able to take a couple of cool shots of the low clouds over the tops of the
mountains.
At our first break we met a couple (Bonita &
Al) who were SAG'ing for two riders coming from Southern CA (Brent &
Dwight). We had a nice chat and said maybe our paths would cross. Well sure
enough just as we were finishing lunch 25 miles down the road we met Brent &
Dwight coming into the town of Marion. We compared stories, routes, etc. Turns
out they ended up taking my advice that I had left w/ Bonita and took this
alternate route which shaved off 25 miles and saved several thousand feet of
climbing. Dwight is keeping a blog
as well if you are interested in their trek. Interestingly they started the same
day we did on 28 Jun and are expecting to finish on the same day of 9 Aug in VA
Bch. Although they will have travel several hundred miles more. All the best to
you guys!!
We
had a nice afternoon ride into Wythesville that was until John stood up to ride
over a hill and we heard "ping!" We pulled over and he had a broken
rear spoke. Unfortunately those are the most common and the hardest to fix while
out on the road. We removed the broken spoke and adjusted the rear brake so John
could ride the bike to remaining 10 miles or so to the hotel so we could fix it
there.
So as we are entering the town of Wythesville we
can see dark ominous clouds moving in.
The race is on to get to the hotel room before the skies open up. We stop at a
gas station to get direction. It is starting to spit and the wind is howling. We
can see a wall of water heading our way. We stop and put on our rain jackets and
just then a wall of water hits us. It is a torrential rain fall. We take shelter
about a 1/2 mile up the road but by now we are soaked to the bone. A quick
inquiry inside and our hotel is just a 1/2 mile down the road so we jump back on
the bikes for a soggy ride to our Super 8 Hotel.
Super 8 was nice enough to give two rooms to the
Riding4Hope Team. Thanks, you guys are the greatest!!
After
dinner we spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the bikes and repairing
John's wheel. We have a spare front and rear wheel; so John changed out the rear
cog and used the spare wheel. Tomorrow when we are in Salem we'll find a bike
shop to replace the spokes and true the wheel. Also tomorrow we will be stopping
by the Roanoke Boys and Girls club to meet with the staff and youth; should be a
great time!! I expect we will have lots of pictures.![](images/d39_rain.JPG)
Thanks for joining us.....ride
safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
www.riding4hope.org
(David, John, James & Skip)
Signing out 8/7/09; 0030
YOU DON'T
SAY:
John - after
stopping to investigate the problem with his bike which turned out to be
a broken spoke "Well, I never heard that sound before!"
Skip - As we
arrive at the hotel in the downpour and we show up at our room "So
I see you didn't make it before it started raining." Really?
David - After we
got to the hotel "I had only one goal today and that was not to get
rained on and we failed!"
John - At dinner
"It was kind of fun riding in that rain storm."
James - at dinner
while talking about departure times so that we can make the 4 PM Boys
and Clubs meeting; "Oh yea we can leave by 0700, no problem."
May I remind you these are teenagers who can barely get out of bed in
the morning!
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DID I REALLY
DO THAT?
James wanted to
have a beard growing contest and is showing off his burly beard after 40
days. What you can't see it? We agree! I doubt we will see much difference
in the next 4 days!!
![](images/d39_chin.JPG)
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY |
Our new friend - Tin man!!
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Made it to the top of a huge climb. Oh yea!!
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A great view of clouds settling in between the mountains.
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That looks just like my bike from 30 yrs ago how did it get up there?!
Or maybe it is bike art!!
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Yep the car was in the recycle bin. No doubt a rebate recipient for the
clunker program!!
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John, swapping out his rear cog and placing it on the spare for
tomorrow's ride.
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More
photos on Facebook Album
Yesterday
Tomorrow
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