Day 31 (5/25/22): Et tu, Bambi?
Start: Utica, KY
End: Utica, KY
Mileage: 45 miles
Elevation: 2,631 feet
So, I’m riding along minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye, I see something from behind me in someone’s yard start with the “lone wolf” chase move. Time to gun it I figure. I look over, and it’s not a dog. It’s a deer! A deer! And I swear, he gave me that same look I get from the dogs when they want to go at it…and takes off in my direction. I’m on the bike just thinking I can’t get a break. What’s next? The turtles forming a brigade and blocking the road? Anyway…he does take off in back of me, but quickly maneuvers in front of me and scampers off into the woods on the other side of the road. At least there was no barking.
Speaking of turtles…they were out in full force today. Saw an amazing thing though. A little guy was in front of me in the road when a very large truck zipped by. The truck thankfully didn’t hit the turtle, but its wake was strong enough lift the turtle up and bounce him around a little bit. The turtle took his evasive maneuvers and seemed to come through the jostling just fine.
One more critter (really small critter) story. Today’s main hazard were gnat swarms. All over the place and all over the road. I have to breath through my mouth and nose if I’m going to get enough oxygen...I’ll spare you. You know where this is going.
Today’s Ride
I guess you could call what I did today a hack but a hack in the name of evading rain and not inconveniencing my wife. We went to bed last night assuming I could get 40-50 miles in prior to the rain starting. There was a 20% chance of showers starting at 7:30 a.m.—my designated starting time. By the time we got up prior to 6 a.m., the chances were up to 30%. The sun was up, so I decided I’d take my chances but took a modified route. Specifically, the 45 I put in was an out-and-back ride. I did this for 2 reasons. First, if I got caught in major rain, it would be less of a drive for Tish to come rescue me. Second, coming back to where I started also meant Tish wouldn’t have to drive 45-60 minutes out and back to pick me up. (We’re staying in the same place tonight as we did last night—very unique for this trip.) I’m going to start at the 45 mile point (from here) when I start riding again on Friday. I don’t think it’s a cheat because the 22.5 I’m not actually riding looks to be very similar to the 22.5 I rode twice today in terms of elevation gain and scenery. Besides, it’s my ride, so I get to make up the rules. (See clarification on obnoxious comment below)
All that said and gnats aside, it was another really nice ride. Farmland, beautiful homes, and mostly sunshine the whole way. Very enjoyable. Oh, and given the push to get the ride in before the rain started, I decided I wasn’t tired today and clocked a very fast mph. Feeling great going in to what will amount to 48 hours of rest.
What I’m Grateful for Today
This one’s a little different.
I really enjoyed and am enjoying the planning part of the ride. Having so much information is of course incredibly useful, but also allows you to make more educated decisions about how you would like you ride to turn out. With all the intricate planning this week, Tish is hooked as well now.
What I think is really neat though is that every cyclist I’ve spoken with on the road has a different plan. Everyone’s trip is a little different.
A lot of people have selected a specific route such as Route 66 or the TransAmerica (Yorktown, VA to Portland, OR) and are sticking to that. I’ve had some people say, “TransAmerica…loosely”. I happened to piece my route together to get from one specific place to another using multiple routes.
There are a lot of people who are camping the whole way. When you do this, you take things much slower (lower miles/day) and typically start the day with a vague idea on where you’ll end up in 8-10 hours depending on how the day unfolds. These folks are very hearty; hats off to them. I thought about this approach, but this likely would have meant I would have done the ride without Tish which was a complete non-starter. Also, while I’m trying to break from the structure of my career, I need just a bit more structure in setting daily objectives and knowing where I’m going to be sleeping each night.
There’s also the camping vs. motel decision. I’ve done both. Motels are better. There’s a tradeoff here as well though. There are cyclists-only campsites and hostels in this part of the country, so the campers definitely have more comradery and companionship than softies like me. That said, I go into camping mode next week, so I’m actually a camping/motel hybrid.
There’s really no “right” way of doing this. There are no rules. It’s one of the things that attracted me to the trek. You set the agenda (along with your co-pilot if you’re fortunate enough to have one like me) and live by it. You’re live on your own terms.
Rest day tomorrow (Thursday 5/26). No blog.