June 5, 2002
8 min. read
This post is part of the Trans-Am series.
I laid down on my Thermarest and sheet bag last night a little after 11:30. I was up just before 7 and started getting things together. I was the first one packed up and ready to go, which was a new thing with these early risers. I left just behind Bob and Mary. I was planning to do breakfast in Rosedale like them. Gerrúl and Meta had breakfast at the church hostel and we saw them ride by the gas station/grocery where we were eating.
I saw my first turtle today. I guess I should explain something here. It is kind of a tradition for cycle tourists to rescue turtles across the road. We feel for them and their slow pace when surrounded by such fast vehicles. Others that I have run into were able to save a few. The first turtle I saw was a large snapper. It had a good 14” shell and was no longer in need of saving. Some car on I-19/I-80 into Rosedale had already flattened it. With a turtle that big, it must have been some kind of bump at 55+ mph.
Coming through Honaker, I decided that I wouldn’t mind a little more to eat. I had only snacked on some fig newtons and an apple juice for breakfast. I had a roast beef and cheddar. I was expecting cheddar cheese, but it was cheddar cheese sauce. All I have to say is Arby’s needs to learn from these folks how to make roast beef for sandwiches. None of this soy impregnated pressure cooked beef like loaf, it was thin sliced 100% American beef. It was really good.
Climbing out of Honaker, I noticed Big A Mountain, with it’s many towers and antennas. I pulled over and checked my cell signal. 4 bars of analog will do nicely. There had been overcast all morning which has kept the temperature down to 72, which is great for 10 in the morning. I sat down and booted up my little laptop to fire off all the updates for my readers out there. (Psst. That’s you.) The sun had finished burning off the overcast and I put on some sunscreen before heading out.
I stopped in a little shop just before Big A Mountain and filled up my water. I talked with the clerk there and she came out to see all the “features” of the bike. She told me about some of the local area and told me to have a good time. As with yesterday, I was offered many rides over the mountain. A couple people stopped during my 2 hour climb yesterday to ask if I wanted a ride up, and I was tempted. This mountain today wasn’t too bad and the more I get over the less I have to climb. It was a decent 7-800 feet climb to get over, then a long downhill into Council. I had to stop twice to get the rims cooled off on the way down. Both times the rims generated steam with the water from my bottles.
I headed through Council and hit a gas station in Davenport. I asked for the local restaurant and was directed another 1⁄2 mile up 80. That is where I have been typing this and enjoying the AC. It’s gonna be another cooker today. Looks like I have some miles ahead of decent rollers, so it shouldn’t be too bad. Well time to fill up my water bottles . I’ll get more in here tonight.
The ride was pretty nice into Haysi. No major climbs, but some decent rollers. The supermarket in Haysi is the best we have seen in days. I still had tuna and rice to use up, but got a snickers ice cream bar and some Gatorade. The day started out cool, but it got hot fast. At 4 PM, it was 94 degrees. There was a substantial climb up out of Haysi, then a fast downhill. Part way down the hill, by rear wheel started to shimmy like I broke a spoke. It was strange, because I didn’t feel the rim being out of true with the brakes. I pulled over to a shady area and unpacked all the stuff on the rear of my bike. I laid it over and pulled off the back wheel. The sidewall had partially failed making the tread of the tire at one location shift to the side.
I initially thought that the damage was from some type of brake scrub, but the source of the failure was where the tire contacts the inner ridge of the rim. It looks like I didn’t stop and let my rims cool enough during the downhill, or the accumulated heat of the many downhills over the last few days gradually damaged the tire. I am glad I have been sticking to my policy of using the back brake more than the front.
If this sidewall totally blew out in the back, it would have been manageable. If it blew out on the front, it could have been ugly. I examined the front tire and it looks fine. I replaced the rear with my spare tire, and pumped it back up. I did not fully clean off the tube, as I will find out later tonight. I got the bike loaded back up and cleaned my hands the best I could.
Back on the road, I had some other problems a little down the road. There was a front chain ring guard on my bike to keep it from damaging my tent when the bike was in the large vestibule. This guard was held in place by mounting it inside my bottom bracket cartridge bearing. As the paint wore off, the guard got loose. The guard kept falling around and rubbing on the chain, so I removed it. I shipped it home in one of the boxes I sent. There was still the mounting on the bike, as I didn’t have a crank and bottom bracket remover to get it removed. Now that you have the history, we can come back to real-time.
I guess the mount rotated down and got caught on the chain. I was moving and adding power to the chain when it happened, so I was moving a good bit of chain. I wound up bending a bunch of stuff up front, including my derailleur cage and my jump stop. I stopped and loosened, tightened and manually bent parts. It looks like my front derailleur is working fine, so I guess I got everything back together good enough.
There was a decent climb into Breaks Interstate Park. This park is located in both Virginia and Kentucky (that’s where the Interstate comes from in the name). I stopped at the overview and was able to walk down a bunch of stairs. My legs reminded me about their soreness. The overlook was cool. I climbed over the fence out on the rock for a better view. Looked like a pretty good 1000 feet drop, so I was careful. The pictures were better out past the fence.
I reached the park entrance and noticed my rear tire felt strange. It was down to 40 psi. I pulled over and pumped it up, hoping that it would get me to the camp site. The campground was 1.3 miles into the park and up many hills. I got as far as the campground office, but had to walk the bike most of the way to the camp site. Looks like I get to change a tire tomorrow morning. (Remember about me not cleaning the tube well? This is what happens.)
My camp site was 3 away from the Holland couple and pretty soon, Bob and Mary walked up. They are in the other section of the campground. I setup my tent and took a shower. They were good showers. I cooked my rice and tuna. The rice was chicken and broccoli. When I ate it, the tuna fish seemed like chicken. I guess that is good.
I called home and worked out more details about Dad and Bill coming up to meet me tomorrow night.
Gerrúl showed off some of the innovative handle sharing tools he had created. It is obvious that they have bicycle toured quite and bit and have heavily refined their process. It really makes sense as a way to shave off weight.
I headed back to my campground and turned on the weather radio. I learned of storms coming in tonight, so I put on the rain cover for the tent. When I started to see lightning to the East, I packed everything up in the tent. The lightning didn’t come over camp, but we did get rain around 2:30 AM. I was under some tall trees, so I didn’t have to worry about high winds. I did have to worry about the rain taking a long time to end, thought.
Breaks, VA
Tent Site: 37 deg 17.768 min N, 82 deg 18.100 min W, elev 1927 ft.
Part 22 of 48 in the Trans-Am series.
Series Start | Day 16 - Damascus to Rosedale | Day 18 - Breaks to Elkhorn City