Me....upsidedown. Nice colors eh?
10/23 morn
My muscles are quite sore from the climbs and the speed at which I was attacking them, until I realized I wasn’t going to make the gig. When you get that realization it just breaks your spirit to climb these hills, so then you just stick it in granny gear and go 3.5 mph up some of these hills
I set out from Booneville and I made it to a country store where some guys asked me if I stayed behind a church last night at the cyclist shelter. I said yes, I did. And it turns out he’s the Presbyterian pastor of that church. He asked if there were anymore coming. I didn’t know, so I just shrugged and said, probably not as it’s getting late in the season. People were thinking I was going to be so cold out here nearing the end of October but this is perfect. I can’t imagine climbing these hills in the summer heat. I burn up even in the cooler weather and it’s been reasonably warm. I started out today in the rain, which, and I must be sick, but actually enjoy, at least for a while. The effect of this is cool and I get to get all ‘raingeared up’ wears off after about an hour. But the fall colors were so pretty I completely forget that I’m getting wet and am climbing monstrous hills. I enjoy looking at all the different farms. They all do some decoration on their barn. Many of them have some quilt like design adorning the front which I enjoy stoping to take pictures, sometimes so much that I never get anywhere. This is why my old fellow backpack guides at Rainbow trail called me the Japanese tourist….yeah, I admit it. There is this one plant I’ve seen that grows like a vine all over trees with it’s green leaves that looks really cool.
So my worst hill of the day was after Buckhorn. I mean, this was like climbing a mountain. I climbed for a few miles and then went down a bit only to shortly begin climbing some more. Hazard was only 45 or 50 miles away. But I’m a slow touring cyclist. I like to take it all in and I’m fascinated by all the colorful hills that just pop up all over the place, even moreso if I can bike around them v.s. over them. The pastor didn’t think I could keep my 10.5 mph pace through these hills, but when you get to descend at 37 mph, it makes up for the 4mph that you spent climbing for 45 min. I love just sailing down these rolling hills. Especially after Buckhorn which I thought that climb was never going to end.
I got to Hazard and met the pastor and his family. We ran around town to find a place to eat that wasn’t booked solid (It’s a homecoming and a Friday night) We found a nice buffet place and now I’m stuffed. Catfish and shrimp and mashed potatoes and gravy. I definetly made up for calories burned today. The church put me up in this nice hotel and with a discount upgraded me to a sweet, so it’s pretty plush. And here I am burning all my time catching up blogs and emails : P
The next gig isn’t booked for 10 days, so it will be nice to just put down some miles and not feel rushed to be anywhere by a certain time. I love it, but now it will be a little like last year for a bit, where I’ll make it as far as I make it. All I need are 50 mile days and I’ll be in Lexington Virginia on Nov. 2
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