Day 88
August 12, 2015
Miles: 71
Miles: 71
Newbern to Daleville
Wishing you a Happy Birthday Arthur - hope you have a fabulous day!
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We traveled the entire day on the TransAm trail today; the route took us on very beautiful, but rural roads. We encountered gorgeous scenery and very few dogs on the backroads of Virginia. As beautiful as it was, it was a tough ride - long and hilly! We climbed 5300 ft. in 71 miles. We arrived late at the hotel tonight; it was after 7:00pm.
Today was our sixth consecutive day of riding totaling 379 miles. We have just 324 miles remaining before making it to Yorktown. The next two riding days are going to be challenging given the terrain. The second day much more than the first because is when we cross the Blue Ridge Mountains. So we plan to take either tomorrow or the next day as a rest day. We are not sure yet. We plan to decide this in the morning.
Today was our sixth consecutive day of riding totaling 379 miles. We have just 324 miles remaining before making it to Yorktown. The next two riding days are going to be challenging given the terrain. The second day much more than the first because is when we cross the Blue Ridge Mountains. So we plan to take either tomorrow or the next day as a rest day. We are not sure yet. We plan to decide this in the morning.
We woke this morning at 6:30a and were eating our first breakfast by 7:00a. Fresh fruit, oatmeal and bagel and egg omelet. We then picked up gatorade at the corner gas station then hit the road. It was about 8:30a.
After riding for about 11 miles, we stopped at the post office in the town of Radford. Steve wanted to lighten his load - about 6 pounds. Shedding some weight before the upcoming climbs was a priority this morning.
By 10:30a we were hungry again so we decided to have a second breakfast, or perhaps a first lunch. We stopped at Arby's; it was our first time. Surprisedly the turkey sandwich was fabulous! Steve and I both like spicy mustard on our turkey and they had some. Most places have yellow mustard but not spicy. We were both happy they did.
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| Yummy |
Today's scenery ...
We saw lots and lots of beautiful horses today. Here are just five that we saw.
The two horses below on the right were big and strong looking compared to the other two. When I saw them they reminded me of the this year's triple crown winner - American Pharaoh because they are the same color.
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| Steep climb |
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| Tunnel Vision |
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| A road less travelled |
This is the place that we stopped to take a short break and where we picked up our second lunch. What else - turkey sandwiches again. We got the sandwiches to go because we weren't hungry just yet. We wanted to ride to Catawba before we ate lunch; it was still about 25 miles away; the TA map reported that Catawba didn't have any restaurants open today, so we needed to stock up.
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| Alone once again |
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| Steve being enthusiastic about the ride today |
Right after I took this picture below two dogs started chasing us. Steve and I hopped on our bikes really, really fast to get away. I wanted to try out the milk bone's on them, but they never got close enough to us. Perhaps tomorrow - I can give away some bones!
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| Running water creek |
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| Steve in the grove |
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| Steve feeling good after a tough climb |
I took this panoramic shot of the terrain profile from the TA map. It represents the elevation of the remaining miles we have left to ride. The tall double peak on the left crease are the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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| It's all down hill after the Blue Ridge Mountains |
During one of our rest stops, we took this picture using the camera timer.
We are either taking a rest day tomorrow or we will be off to Lexington for a 53 mile ride. It will be another hilly day!
This scenery truly is amazing! It's bringing back so many memories. I also had my first Arby's turkey sandwhich on our trip and it was amazing! I always go spicy mustard but Ben is a big fan of all of their other complimentary condiments. I love the timer pic of the two crazy bikers. Please rest up before you attack Vesuvius and the blue ridge. That is a very hard day and it would be best if you can come down In the same day. Unless they built a Hampton Inn in the mountains in the past 4 years! I'm so impressed by all the miles you've ridden this week! You both will put me to shame on a ride when you get home!
ReplyDeleteI've been blown away these past few days on the number of miles you've traveled. Good luck tomorrow (or is today?) with the hills. The timing of these blog posts always confuses me! Was it Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard? I will always associate that mustard with Frank Lisi...spicy brown must be a Lisi thing.
ReplyDeleteThe scenery is beautiful, but the riding is tough!! You both look so
ReplyDeletehappy riding your bikes and make it look so easy (uphill ugh!!) You have ridden so many miles this week; we are amazed on your determination at times!!! Thursday night dinner, hope to see Jen and Ben...Love you, stay strong and safe on the climb.
Six consecutive riding days? Hope you took a rest day today! Tomorrow night we leave on our adventure to meet you in VA! Take your time as we'll be there all next week waiting for you. We would be happy to come pick you up wherever you finish off! The end is near!! Be safe in The Blue Ridge Mountains!! ❤️
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