We've finally figured out what's weird about Virginia. It's nature's impersonator! Over the last few days we've ridden through what looks like Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia (that one's obvious why), and even Tasmania (according to the 'manians.") It's kind of beautiful that these last few days gives the guys a summary of what they've seen so far on their long coast to coast trip.
I like it when bike tours end like that. The last day on my 2014 tour I hit long hours, crazy headwinds, hills, bad roads, bad bike trails, bee attacks, heat, etc - a great final exam for a 64 day 4,000 mile tour. I loved it. This one is ending for the guys a bit more relaxed. 50ish miles tomorrow, and then 25 into Virginia Beach.
Today was supposed to be an easy 58 mile day but Melinda (Google Maps) based that routing on us taking the Tobacco Heritage Trail - sometimes ATV, sometimes jeep, sometimes meadow, sometimes wooded "cut out" (barely) that is often unmarked and completely unridable or drivable. Thanks Melinda.
We've been farting around with this trail for about two days now. We do the Google Bike There and when Melinda tries to make us take the trail we find ways to route around it on pavement. Today that meant adding 15 miles or so, making it a 68.32 mile day. We did the ride in 4:46 on bike and got in around 3pm.
We're staying in a huge church in Franklin that Morgan figured out on our rest day. It's nice, and it looks like we'll get a storm in tonight.
Today was HOT! That last few days have had few towns, and we've been needing to carry lots of water in the 100+ degree heat indexes. Luckily it's been flat, which made it possible for us to do a 40 mile push today without breaks to get from one water stop to another. I arrived feeling pretty sick but was able to stave-off full heat stroke by hanging out in a Chinese resteraunt for awhile.
I've actually felt fairly sick the last couple mornings and ridings been tough. I'm not sure if I'm coming down with something or it's just anxiety. I've been dealing with some personal stuff that I'm not going to write about here or share with the guys I'm riding with. Suffice to say that there are changes in my life that are for the better, but change is hard, especially when you are far away from your support. Bike touring is an excercise in vulnerablity and survival. It's life out on a limb, and when the trunk of the tree gets shaken it can be very hard to hang on. It's not a very solid place to try to figure things out or to keep your mind right. You also have WAY too much time to think on a bike tour, and my brain is stupid and hard to control sometimes. On times like this it finds the worse-case worry scenarios about everything (in this case the shit I was perseverating on was barely related to the change, even) and then just cycles and cycles and cycles until I find some kind of foundation to hang-on to. Thing is, there isn't one of those on a bike tour.
But, I seem to be on the way out of it now. My logic mind sometimes takes awhile to quiet down my panic mind, but the near heat stroke seemed to hit the reset switch a bit. I also have had some good help from friends back home, and that's been nice as well. They provided the foundation I needed, and the near heat stroke gave me a push.
I'm only including it in this blog because when I read this years later, I want to focus on the good, not the unmentioned bad.
But, my mind is on the mend now and I'm able to mentally rejoin the bike tour. I've been distant for a few days, but I'm back in it now. Hopefully I'll stop feeling sick too :)
ILYI
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