Day 14

More rest for the Achilles'. The only riding I did was from my hotel into town. My left Achilles is swollen but didn't hurt much while riding; my right Achilles is not swollen but hurts a bit. The physical therapist I saw today said I need to ice, compress, elevate and rest (i.e. don't bike or walk) my heel. I s/ only consider riding Monday if I see a significant reduction in swelling. Uggh. Too aggressive in my mileage over the past two weeks, it seems. I'm hoping I don't have to come home before returning to Berea to continue the journey. We'll see on Monday. The PT was *incredibly* helpful. She saw me right away, gave me her home and cell number in the unlikely event the swelling becomes significantly worse, and didn't even charge for an office visit. Kindness of strangers. The weather forecast calls for several inches of rain this weekend...good time to catch up on some work and take a break. :)


Oh, I enjoyed immensely a performance of The Berea College Bluegrass Ensemble this evening. What a treat to hear bluegrass music in the graceful setting of Presser Hall, surrounded by the mountains and immersed in the culture Appalachia.

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Day 13

No riding today. Rest day! I'm not tired, particularly, but I am looking forward to checking out Berea's arts & crafts and hopefully meeting some more locals today. I'll also call my doctor re: what do to to prevent long term damage from my recently developed tendonitis, and catching up on work. I'm seriously thinking I should back off my desire to reach SF by early June. I'm not going to risk chronic Achilles issues for the sake of biking 4,000 miles in ~45 days. Oh, some stats: 949.3 miles traveled | 11 riding days .: 86 miles / day average | latest estimated total trip miles: 3,983 .: ~ 25% of the way to San Francisco!

I'm chillin' at Black Swan Cafe this morning. Interesting observations in this excellent cafe: folks talking about bicycles and home brew and heirloom tomato gardening on the one hand, and on the other hand comparing notes on gun sizes and quantity of guns owned. Wow! Okay...I'm going out to explore Berea...

I'm back. I did my share to support the local economy today. Purchased furniture, blown glass, pottery, a hand made broom, etc. Nice stuff, and good prices! Also caught up a bit on work and emails, but there's plenty more of both awaiting, as usual.

My friend Dave emailed me a few good questions today re: the most interesting views, events, and people I've encountered so far. My response:

- Most interesting view(s): Mangled mountains in KY, lots of them, the result of mountain top removal coal mining. The massive physical impact our quest for energy has had on the Appalachians is arresting to witness first hand.

- Most interesting event: Hmmm. No one stands out. Many, many little ones, like the realization I enjoy eating at Ruby Tuesdays.

- Most interesting people: Again, no one single person stands out, but a few are of course more prominent in my mind than others. The woman at the Christiansburg, VA Ruby Tuesdays (where else) who seems to have endured heaps of personal challenges with grace, fortitude and success. The coal miners at Your Place restaurant in Hazard, KY with whom I perceived a shared sense of mutual respect, despite environmental and economic interests that pit us sharply against one another. John, a touring bicyclist who's planning a Chicago to MD ride, and who inspired me to step up my mileage a bit. And the Berea crowd: Nick the bicycle shop owner who went out of his way to share his knowledge about bicycle touring, and who did a beer run (!); Natalia, a charming and smart Ukrainian exchange student; and Paul, who works at a hot spot coffee shop in Berea & has excellent taste in '50s music!  

Pictures: Mosaic at the Main Street Cafe, Berea. Bicycles in the window at Nick's bicycle shop. The composition sucks on the bicycle picture. I was in a rush; on my way to dinner!

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Day 12

Today's Route: GPS Tracks

Today's ride was great other than worries about my Achilles tendons. That's right, plural. I've found my weak link - literally, my Achilles' heel. Oh, that and sprinting from so many dogs I lost count. I'm just happy no one shot a rifle at me. Okay, I'm not really concerned about pot shots. I am however feeling a mix of being welcomed and decidedly unwelcomed. People I meet in shops and restaurants are almost unfailingly friendly, as are many drivers, most of whom give me wide berth while passing. A handful have even honked and given me the thumbs up. The unwelcome feeling runs strong, however, while outrunning dogs, sucking exhaust from the cars and trucks that accelerate hard as they pass uncomfortably close, not to mention zero bicyclist sightings for days...until today's arrival in Berea. A genuine bicycling culture seems to exist here!

I took a pass on the regional fare on offer today: Dolly Parton pie at Dooley's Diner in Booneville, KY. Strawberries and cool whip and I can't remember what else. Strawberries: good. Cool whip: no thanks. The food was tasty, especially the home made carrot cake, and the waitress made me feel at home. Ditto the guy at the store in Big Hill who invited me to sit down at the counter and rest, and bade me farewell by intoning me to 'be safe'.

I felt relieved when I reached Berea, a town with coffee shops, a college, and a large number of artisans. After my usual hotel routine: check in, plug in electronics, upload pictures & GPS tracks then shower, I eagerly headed into town. Met Sune at his gallery, which represents more than 30 artisans; Chelsea at Main St Cafe - also owned by Sune; and Natalia, Paul and Nick at Berea Coffee & Tea. There's enough bicycle tourists coming through here for Paul to inquire if I was riding the TransAm. Nick, an avid bicycle tourists and owner of a used bike shop, introduced himself. He had lots of solid advice for stealth camping and related bicycle tour survival tactics. All in all a very pleasant end to the day.

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Day 11

Today's Route: GPS Tracks

I didn't really think I was going to die, but this admittedly far fetched thought did cross my mind today. First off, there were the dogs. I sprinted away from no fewer than three surely rabid mongrels. The Appalachia mountain people apparently aren't shooting at strangers any longer, or dropping stones on them from bridges, but a remarkable number of them leave their dogs untethered. Serendipitously, rear panniers turn out to be excellent protection against dogs trying to sink their teeth into one's leg. Dog ownership rates appear to be at least as high as in Hoboken - by this I mean seemingly every household has a dog - except that mountain people tend to have several dogs. Then there was the cold and the heavy rain. I'm prepared for rain. I'm prepared for cold. But for the sole reason my gloves aren't waterproof, I'm not prepared for both. I can ride w/ wet warm hands, but cold wet hands = fingers that don't work well. It got so bad I couldn't switch gears w/o using my entire hand, and when I finally found a place to stop for lunch (read: warm up and figure out how to get to my hotel), I literally couldn't hold my sandwich. In addition to the dogs, and the cold, and the rain, there was the unexpected three mile dirt road into unknown mountains, the GPS that indicated I was not on a road, the iphone with no reception when I needed it most, the unfamiliar rural poverty, and the general sense that green minded bicyclists pedaling from NYC to San Francisco are not embraced in the heart of coal country. All these factors contributed to a heightened level of anxiety.

Yet, when I did stop for lunch, I met and spoke with two very amicable coal miners. I even admitted to being in the renewable energy business. They politely and somewhat jokingly suggested I keep that info close to the chest. Coal drives this region. Hazard, where I stayed the night, has an annual Black Gold festival featuring prizes for best coal truck. The pizza place I went to for dinner had dozens of pictures on the wall, featuring generations of family and friends working in the mines. Mangled mountains, their tops sheered off to cheaply extract coal, are abundant. Coal dropped from overloaded trucks litters the streets, and falls from exposed seams alongside the road. Coal mining is not just a livelihood for people in this area, it's central to the region's culture.

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Day 10

Today's Route: GPS Tracks

Stayed in Marion, VA last night, an unremarkable town, at least what I saw of it. Ate at an unremarkable Mexican place across the street from my unremarkable hotel. Felt strong on the bike except for the last 10 or so miles, in part because the wind wasn't fighting me and in part because many of the grades were not too steep - kinda like riding out west - despite nearly 7,000' of elevation gain. It was a welcome change from yesterday. I also enjoyed coffee and a lunch break at Zazzy's, my kinda coffee shop, located in the historic town of Abingdon.

The day went well until the end, starting with a brutal climb in the rain, off of 58 Alt into Wise, where I snapped a few pics of UVA Wise. I thought the ride was over when I arrived at the Best Western and tried to book a room. No vacancy. Who would have figured? The hotel was filled with w/ construction workers. Turns out the area is thriving, in large part because of the *huge* (585 MW) coal fired power plant being built down the road. Interestingly, for me at least, this coal plant will be capable of using biomass (wood) for up to 20% of it's fuel. I booked a room over the phone at the Super 8 (this trip's lodging strategy: clean room + low rate), and got fantastically lost getting there. Google was about 5 miles off re: the hotel's location. Ended the day w/ a few beers and a pleasant conversation with the bartender at the otherwise deserted Inn at Norton bar. 

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Day 9

Today's Tracks: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31276079

I knew there would be good and bad days; this was not one of the better ones. No major problems, just relentless 20+ MPH winds out of the south west, pushing against me all day. Between the wind and 4,000 (my Garmin) - 4,800 (Dan's Garmin) feet of vertical gain, I earned every mile. The sidewalks of the two towns possessing little storefronts along their main streets, Wytheville and Pulaski, were nearly completely devoid of people. Had a snack in a pleasant park in downtown Pulaski. Ate lunch on the lawn beside the Food Lion parking lot in Wytheville, thinking 'shouldn't I be biking through Europe instead'? I understand Obama was in the region giving a eulogy for the twenty nine miners recently killed in the Massey Energy mine, rightly honoring their contribution to our nation. 

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Day 8

Today's tracks: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31125330?sms_ss=email 

Weird: there's a Ruby Tuesday's and Waffle House restaurant right next to my hotel, again. I ate at a Ruby Tuesdays last night for the first time, and ate at the one next to my hotel in Christiansburg on Saturday night. Waffle House this AM for breakfast (3 eggs, toast, grits: ~$4,00...I kid you not); and tomorrow too since there's one just next door. Today's ride: rode to Christiansburg, VA from Lexington, home of VMI and Washington & Lee, and a town graced by many blocks of lovely homes. The ride was interesting, dangerous, & tiring. I stumbled across a Civil War re-enactment in Buchanan, a cute town. I'm not sure who was dressed more strangely, the Rebels in Civil War regalia, or me in my spandex. The people were quite friendly to this Yankee. I figured eating regional cuisine should be part of the journey, so I ate corn fritters for the first and probably last time in my life. Can't say they tasted terrible, but I'm not much into fried food or creamed corn. Corn on the cob, adulterated only with a little butter and salt, cannot be improved upon. Encountered two asshole drivers today, one nearly asleep at the wheel and the other I swear was trying to get scare me for the sport of it. He succeeded only in arousing mild anger. My left Achilles tendon was sore for the first 1/2 of the ride, then mostly okay for the 2nd half. It seems to be getting better. :). Enjoyed speaking to Matt at Ruby Tuesday's, a real estate investor, and to a smart, strong army cryptographer who seems to seems to posses great emotional intelligence. Oh, and I scared a squirrel nearly out of its skin coming 'round a corner on my bike. This squirrel jumped vertically several feet into the air; never seen anything like it...

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