WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Oy! So we finally made it somewhere, and that somewhere is about 15 miles away from Mechanicsville, VA. We went unloaded to make some distance, and that means that we made it 60 miles today with an average speed around 13.5mph. Top speeds were around 26mph, and we caught back up with Fabian, Ted, and Lisa at the hotel tonight. Found out a little more about their life stories, though it certainly isn't to the ecohouse level. The roads were mostly flat, and we travelled through a mixture of hardwood forests and midwest-esque sceneries. (The flat farms were the only thing we got pictures of.) We stopped once to get food at this kinda cute sub shop, and since my dad has forgotten a lot of important things (i.e. snacks), we got my mom to bring us gatorade and snickers at one turn in the road around 50 miles in to the ride. Traffic was increasingly heavy and will probably continue getting worse tomorrow (when we go thru Mechanicsville and Ashland).


If we get some good distance tomorrow, we'll be getting off the road at a place named Bumpass, which was apparently named for the Bumpass family. In case you were wondering, Bumpass is pronounced "bump-us."
My dad and I are both reasonably worn out, so planning 40-50miles for tomorrow. Anyhoo, I'm gonna sleep soon. Life is good.

good grief

Day one sorta postponed again.
We got to Yorktown and took the obligatory ocean + monument shot, but about 8 miles in, my dad's front hub got messed up, and we started hearing a clicking noise (not a good one, either). 13 miles in, we realized that the clicking noise was coming not from the hub, but from a break in my dad's frame (right next to the drivetrain). Luckily (?), the REI folk had a newer model of the Randonee that fit my dad up in DC, so we've switched bikes out (which took all day).


On the awesome side of things, we did meet several other people starting the trail, including Fabian from Portland and Lisa and Ted from Hawaii. They were super nice, offering tools and conversation as far as we could make it.



Unfortunately, when I was putting on sunscreen at the Yorktown visitors center, I forgot to put my bike gloves back on and ended up losing one. The REI trip did turn out to be an excellent way to get a replacement pair.

Stats:
13 miles for the day
11ish mph (slow) average
20ish mph high speed
3 annoying problems


It's probably a good thing that we did have to stop, though. Dad was not doing so hot. Apparently he hasn't biked in two weeks, hasn't biked at all fully loaded, and has been tired and antsy for the past two weeks as well. Granted, I've been stressed and nervous, but I still figured he'd be doing better than 7mph up small hills. I hope he gets into the swing of things soon, cause it was a little draining for me to balance my bike at the slower speeds. He also isn't doing very well at telling me how he is. We'll work on that. Anyhoo...

For the record, when my dad's frame broke, I talked in materials terms about it for the next 10 minutes. Thankfully, my dad is also a dork, so he completely understood.

Dad and I are determined to get closer to Mechanicsville tomorrow.

Day one has been postponed due to full-blown food poisoning. This is not fun. :(
Hopefully, we'll be on the road tomorrow.
V

Day Zero

WAHOOOO!!!!! I'm sitting in a hotel room in Williamsburg, VA, waiting for my start tomorrow (from Yorktown). Dad and I have gotten everything packed, the first week mapped out, and if we get a good ride in tomorrow, we should get 60ish miles into Mechanicsville. If we keep that pace, we'll be in Charlottesville within a few days. (Right after that will be our first major climb into the Blue Ridges - about 3000ft.) If we stick to the 1 map set per week thing, we'll be to Christiansburg at the end of the week.

Excited? Heck yeah.

Have I realized that I'm done with EHC? Not yet.
Hopefully, I'll see some Emory folk on my trip, because I didn't really get all the goodbyes done with.

EEK

Ok, so in one week, I shall have started my great adventure :) For those of you looking for the other perspective, my dad will be writing about his life on http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/LambTransAm. We have something of a packing list put together, and since I'm sure you're interested in every minutiae of my trip, I'll add it below. I'm pretty nervous and incredibly pumped and am sure that my dad's in better shape than me right now. I'll catch up soon enough, though. If you have yet to check it out, I would suggest looking at the first post if you are wondering how, exactly, I managed to get myself into this completely amazing mess of a Trans-America bicycle trip.

So, for the packing list (if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them)
Camping Supplies
paniers (4)
tent & fly (big agnes 3 person)
kelty bag (40deg synth) + compression sack
ridge rest
stove + fuel
pots (just a 1.5L? + handle)
sierra cup and spork
swiss army knife
2 water bottles + camelback bladder (small bleach thing for water treatment?)
Dr. Bronner's + pack towel(?)
toothbrush/paste
thin rope
first aid kit (pain/allergy meds, bandaids, neosporin, blister kit, larger bandage type things, alcohol/iodine prep pads, badger balm, duct tape, etc)

Food
drink mix
oatmeal (fruit variety pack)/rice, sugar, milk powder for breakfast
cliff bars
dried fruit/nuts/other munchies?
other food as needed (tuna/pbj/dried hummus mix + wraps, ramen, stuff fm grocery stores)
spice kit

Clothes
bandanna
tevas
wool camp/hiking socks
wool biking socks (2 pairs?)
sleeveless jersey
short sleeve jersey (gore windstopper for the first few weeks, then something cooler)
2 pair bike shorts
bike shoes
bike gloves
helmet
underwear
synthetic pants
soccer shorts
normal shirt
light wool long sleeved shirt
fleece shirt (aka pillow)
rain shell

Bike stuff
bike (novara randonee + fenders + front and rear racks)
saddle bag
cyclometer
frame pump
cable/lock + assorted bungees
tools (patch kit, tire irons, multi tool, spoke tools, lube, wrenches, spare parts - my dad is taking care of most of this)

This may get adjusted tomorrow, since I'm planning a trial ride with all my stuff. Hopefully things will go well!!

Wahoo

So yesterday, got my 20 mile ride on and then played soccer. Today, I hit the South Fork before another 21 mile ride. This time I went up Smith Chapel until I found Old Saltworks, and took that until I hit Saltville (at which point I came home back through Glade). The ride post-saltville was on some busier roads (complete with one honking jerk and one chicken-playing car); the ride pre-saltville was quite beautiful, though also pretty darn hilly. Pics fm the south Fork and some new ones from a different part of Old Saltworks are included.

Good Luck Falls

A mother goose has nested at the island by the falls

Hittin' some baby surfs

Single Drop

View from Dan's Turn eddy

Out on Old Saltworks

yay

Finally got out on a bike again (yay for a weekend without rain). This time only 20 miles to a nearby town and back via Old Saltworks (an excellent, cow-filled, dog-free, windy, gorgeous road, by the way). There was quite a headwind going out, but that made the ride back home even better. Old Saltworks also has this great slightly-downhill couple miles that I got to spin on, going around 25mph for quite a while. As promised, I have FB pictures (the south fork run was too quick to get pics this past week, perhaps a longer run will happen tomorrow) and one of a view off Old Saltworks (the entire road is nice, but this section was relatively suspicious-farmer free). Hope you enjoy.