Day 15 - Ups and downs

After one day in an Inn near Troutville we headed to Christiansburg. At the beginning this stage was very beautiful because of the stunning landscape. As we almost arrived in Christiansburg, we had to climb a very steep slope. "The steepest slope on the entire route" like Meghan Dorsett said. We met her in her store "Cambria Toy Station" as we tried to figure out where to stay at night. She invited us to set up our tent in the backyard of a house of her which she would like to sell. To all cyclists on the USBR 76: It's worth it to say hello to Meghan in her shop! (Christiansburg, where the route is xing the railroad)

Meanwhile we are in Damascus, in the backyard of "The Place". This is a hostel where a lot of appalachian trail hikers and transamerica cyclists meet. To get there it took us only 31 km (20 miles). This stage today was so short because yesterday we got surprised by a huge thunderstorm in the mountains with heavy rain. We got soaked to the skin and we had no possibillities to dry our stuff cause it rained nearly all night long. Even on the next morning we had our breakfast in wet conditions. This is why we decided to stay here for one night.

Tomorrow we head to Council and next "steepest slope on the entire route" is waiting for us after Hayters Gap.

Day 9 - We're fine!

After our first off day we had to manage a direct crossing through the appalachians. Fortunately we were in a good mood and in good condition to do this stage. We realized that a continious uphill is much more easier than small hills all the time. In the evening we headed to a campground between Stuarts Draft and Greenville.
The next day we drove a lonely scenic little road near a little river and heard someone shouting for help out of the bushes. So we stopped and found an elderly man who fell down. We helped him up and brought him to his car again. He said he was very lucky that we heared him, because the car drivers haven't. As we set up our tent in the evening a heavy rainstorm startet. Everything got wet and muddy. This was the first rain test for our tent and everything stayed dry.

To all family members: skip this part!
Today we had to struggle with real heavy traffic. Due to a huge traffic jam on the interstate 81 (which goes parallel to our bikeroute) many cars and trucks used our route as well. Anyhow they drove like they were on the interstate on our narrow tiny bikeroute street. Remarkably the truckes were more carefully than all of the others. We were really happy when we changed our route.

By the way, we proudly present the total mileage of 566km so far. (352 miles)

Day 6 - Off day

After our very long day on friday we decided just to make a short stage of 40km until we arrived at misty mountain camp resort. Today we have our first off day to do regeneration and some trivial things like laundry. And tomorrow we have to achieve our first mountain stage, and this is why we have to enjoy this day.
By the way, we were surprised to hear about forest fires a few miles from our route. We hope the firefighters will get the fires under control very soon and nobody gets hurt.

Day 2

Well, we expected first hard days on the route, but the very first day nearly knocked us out. 86 farenheit, heavy traffic, mountainous roads and a fully packed bike. And we couldn't find our campground for the night. We asked a lot of people but no one could help us. So we decided to put our tent in the woods next to a lonely street. The next day everything was better. We had a lot of sun, but it was not too hot, the roads were getting smaller and we had not that much traffic like the day before. So when we reached Fredericksburg we searched for the campground we saw on the map, but actually this campgound never existed. So we asked some people again and this is how we met Bob and Kathy. They invited us to sleep in their backyard, invited us for dinner and we even had bacon and eggs for breakfast! This couple saved our day! So Bob and Kathy, if you read this: thank you so much again!

Now we are trying to get to Charlottesville, but now it is almost 12 and we didn't even start cause we had to stop at a bike shop. Marian had problems changing gears, we guess everything needed an adjustment after the long flight for the bike.

So here we go again!