Friday 27 April - Heading into the Allegheny mountains

Wythesville - Damascus

60 miles
5 hours and 15 minutes in the saddle
34.5 mph max speed
11.4 mph average speed

My strategy of getting down to breakfast earlier than Stephen has worked. I had no trouble getting up the hills today. A hearty and delicious lunch at Sugar Grove also helped. We had lunch with the locals who were all interested to hear about our bike ride.

After long last we have managed to purchase dog whistles. A small pet shop in Rural Retreat (what a great name!) had the high pitched whistles that we have spent the past two weeks looking for.

The ride today has taken us through Mount Rogers State Park on quiet, almost traffic free roads. The climbs have been gentle making for a nice ride. The best bit of today's ride was the 10 mile descent into Damascus. At 28 mph we broke the 25mph speed limit around a bend. Woohooo!

Tonight we are staying at Montgomery Homestead B&B, it is a very nice and inexpensive B&B. We are staying here with Dave who is hiking the 2000 mile Appalachian trail! He started in Georgia in February and will finish in Maine in the autumn. We think our bike ride is a big trip, but it is nothing in comparison to Dave's hike. He is an excellent pianist and when we arrived he was playing the piano in the room next to our bedroom. It was almost like being in one of those posh hotels where you have a pianist in the lobby.

Thursday 26 April - give me food, lots of it!!!

Christiansburg - Wythesville

60 miles
5 hours and 27 minutes in the saddle
35.5 mph max speed - new speed record!
11 mph average speed

weather: hot with afternoon thunderstorms

This morning we managed to reach 13.4 mph average speed for the first two hours of our ride, which is the fastest we have travelled in the last week and a half. We wasted a bit of time in Radford trying to buy dogwhistles, but with no luck. There are pet shops in Radford, but they only open for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Very strange.

A very fine example of classic helmet head

The ride today has consisted of roller coaster hills with tough climbs and fast descents. For the first time on this trip Mette bonked, I just ran out of energy and no matter how hard I tried my legs would not pedal up the hills. Bonking is avoided by eating enough to keep your energy levels up. Tomorrow I will get up early and start having breakfast before Stephen and eat for longer! hopefully that will let me eat enough.

I need more food than just pink grapefruit juice mixed with water! Lunch stop near Draper

The area that we are travelling through seems to have a greater density of cattle and churches than citizens. We know that we are in the bible belt, but we didn't know that we are also in the cattle belt!

America is country of contrasts. Today we have cycled past vast mansions, with immaculate lawns. Sometimes on the neighbouring property there will be a trailer home that is run down and with huge amounts of junk on the property. Often there will be enormous coal trucks parked infront of the home, which must cost thousands of dollars. It has been eye opening for us to see that in a country as wealthy as America there are many people that live in extreme poverty.

The bad weather is on its way. Near Wythesville

Wednesday 25 April - Back on the bike

Troutville - Christiansburg

49 miles
4 hours and 30 minutes in the saddle
30.4 mph max speed
10.9 mph average speed

weather: hot and sunny and strong headwinds (when will get some tailwind?)

After yesterday's frustrations a good nights sleep helped clear our minds and we decided the best solution would be to get my bike fixed and then go off the Adventure Cycling Route and take the shortest road to Christiansburg, our next destination.

The staff at our favorite bikeshop in Virginia, Cardinal Bikes in Roanoke, were a bit suprised to see us waiting at their door when they opened. The mechanic changed my backwheel and also gave us some advice on the route to Christiansburg. The US 460 was a fairly busy, but wide road and it was ok to cycle. It avoided a big climb out to Catawba which was on the AC route.

After a couple of problems we are back on track and it feels good to be cycling.

Tuesday 24 April - no spokes in my wheel!

Lexington -Troutville

67 miles
6 hours and 10 minutes in the saddle
32.9 mph max speed
10.8 mph average speed

Weather - another hot and sunny day

Lexington street scene

We have had a nice ride from Lexington to Trouteville. On our way to Trouteville we bumped into a time trial. There were 100s of cyclists blocking our route. We asked the organiser if they would let us through, but no such luck. Instead we were re-routed onto another road that took us 5 miles out of our way. It was a nice ride, so it didn't matter.

Time trial near Natural Bridge - we are in good company!

Following a dog chase up a hill one of the spokes in my (Mette's) backwheel broke and buckled the wheel. Soon after the accident another cyclist pulled up next to us at a junction. He explained that there were no bike shops in Trouteville, but several in Roanoke. We arrived at the hotel and headed straight out to get to the bikeshop. The staff at the hotel routed us along a buzy by-pass. We decided to pull off the road at petrol station because the traffic was so heavy. After a few phone calls made by friendly locals a man in a van from the bike shop picked us up and took us and our bikes to the shop. They fixed my wheel and gave us a better route to cycle back to Trouteville.

Unfortunately, our troubles didn't finish there. As soon as we walked through the door to the hotel another spoke broke on my backwheel. We spent the rest of the evening considering our options, including hiring a car and driving to Missouri! That way we would miss out lots of hills and probably many nasty dogs. But that would be just too easy...

Maybe we should get one of these and drive to Missouri???

Plastic wildlife and real dogwood - aahhh!

Monday 23 April - Burning our brakes at Vesuvius

Rockfish Gap - Lexington VA

55 miles
5 hours and 52 minutes in the saddle
30.5 mph max speed
9.3 mph average speed

Weather: hot and sunny, 90F and 20mph SSW winds - hot, hard work!

We have had yet another day of average speed in the single digits. We have been riding across the Blue Ridge, which has been spectacular, but hilly. The Blue Ridge Parkway is stunning and there are hardly any cars on the road. At times we felt we were the only humans around for miles - which was probably the case. We saw lots of soaring Turkey Vultures, that were ridge running. At one point there was one gliding along next to us.

Entering the Blue Ridge Parkway and showing off my socks to cover sunburnt ankles, blouse to cover sunburnt arms and buff to cover sunburnt neck!

There have been no dogs during todays ride, which has been bliss. Cycling is hard work on its own, but with a gnarling dog hot on your heels it becomes dangerous!

Stephen admiring the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway

We stopped at a picnic table that was along the road, where there was an information board about the Hickory trees. It had information about the different varieties of Hickory trees, 20 different types 15 of which are native to the US. Leaf drawings were show so that you can distinguish the varieties, but we are here so early in the season that the trees have yet to bud. Many of the trees we have seen on the Blue Ridge have had their crowns damaged. We assume that storm winds must tear over the ridge and in the process rip off branches.

All you need to know about Hickory trees!

Here are the Hickory trees - a bit hard to recognise what's what without the leaves

Todays ride has taken us up and down along the ridge for about 25 miles. We came off the Blue Ridge and into Vesuvius. The descent was very steep and long. We had to stop halfway down the hill because our brakes were melting!

Sunday 22 April - reaching the mountains

Charlottesville - Rockfish Gap/ Waynesboro

46 miles
4 hours and 50 minutes in the saddle
28.8 mph max speed
9.1 mph average speed

Another hot and sunny day with little wind

Our average speed has dropped to single digits for the first time on this trip as our route takes us into the Appalachians. The scenery is beautiful, but we often forget to look around as we focus on getting up the next hill. I try to keep an eye on what is behind me in my rear view mirror that is fixed to my helmet. It is great for spotting cars and for the view that we are leaving behind.

View towards Rockfish Gap

Cycling is a slow form of travel and one of the joys is to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the landscape. We continue to see brightly coloured birds and hear lots of birdsong. Our route takes us on quiet country lanes with hardly any traffic. Freshly mowed lawns are every where and the cut grass smells lovely.

Today I have purchased a lightweight blouse to cover up my sun burnt arms and a buff to cover my sun burnt neck. We have also been to a bike shop and straightened the back wheel on Stephen's bike which got buckled slightly when transporting the bikes on the plane.

At the Skyline Motel, Rockfish Gap. It was cheap and convenient, apart from forcing us to cycle 4 miles downhill to Waynesboro for food, and back up again afterwards. That's the charm of cycling!

Saturday 21 April - in pursuit of happiness

Louisa to Charlottesville

63 miles
5 hours and 28 minutes in the saddle
34.2 mph max speed
11.4 mph average speed

Hot, sunny weather and no wind

The happy cyclists at Monticello. We went on a guided tour with 20 other tourists. After a 60 mile bike ride, the other tourists gave us lots of space as we walked around the small rooms in the house.

Today we have visited Monticello, Thomas Jefforson's home. Thomas Jefferson was one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. The pursuit of happiness is one of the rights that citizens of America have. This trip is our pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson was also fascinated by the west and he was instrumental in purchasing Louisiana from France. Louisiana was any land west of the states along the eastern seaboard. We felt some affinity with Jefferson as we heard about his ideals and his wish to travel further west.

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. The windows on the left of the building face west and it was behind those windows that Thomas Jefferson spent much of his time.

Today has been a fantastic day for cycling and we have both been feeling very happy! The hills continue to roll as we head towards the Blue Ridge. In Kents Store, a tiny place in the middle of nowhere, the locals came out in force (kids, dogs, pensioners, parents) to speak with us and hear about our trip. They were amazed at our trip and that it was possible to cycle all the way from Williamsburg to Oregon. None of them had heard about Route 76, the name of the bike route we are following. This was slightly surprising since one of the route signs were visible from the grocery store where we had stopped for a drink and also where most of the locals had congregated.

Cyclist friendly dogs at Kents Store

We would like to say a big thank you to the kind staff at Hampton Inn in Charlottesville who phoned around to all the local hotels to find us a room. Had we known that Charlottesville has a lot more visitors than hotel rooms we would have pre-booked a room. I spy a gap in the market!
Tonight we have enjoyed the culinary experience that is Burger King. It is part of American culture and we both believe that we need to try out the good, the bad and the plain disgusting :)

Today we wish:

Mette's grandmother happy 92 birthday - gratulerer med dagen Besta!
Rick and Reem happy wedding anniversary
and happy birthday to the Queen

Pretty roadkill on one of Virginia's roads