Michael -
We started our morning with an excellent breakfast at the Breaks Interstate Park restaurant. On our way back from the restaurant, we came upon a deer just outside our hotel room casually having her breakfast. It was interesting to note that the deer wasn't bothered by us at all. It continued to eat as if we weren't there.
In recent days, multiple people have asked, "How many flats have you had?" Luckily so far neither Eric, Gloria nor I have had any flats at all. Regretfully answering those questions clearly jinxed us. This morning Gloria discovered her front tire was flat before we even left the hotel. Gloria was quickly able to find the hole, replace the inner tube, and patch the outer tire. So by the time the heavy fog had cleared, we were ready to go. We were delighted that the flat occurred at the hotel and not in the middle of nowhere.
distinguished SAGgers this summer. David and his tools have already been helpful in fixing Gloria's mud flap and flat tire. It is always comforting to know that were something to happen a friendly car and driver is nearby.
Today's ride was 44 miles, which doesn't seem all that long. However we had enough steep hills to make it seem like a 70-mile day. We had one killer hill of around a mile and a half that averaged a 12% incline. We climbed over 4,000 feet today. Eric was going so slow that his computer no longer measured the incline. I was going so slow that my computer registered 0 miles per hour on multiple occasions even when I was pedaling away madly. I was a little surprised that the vultures weren't circling us. Gloria here - Michael is being polite in not telling you folks that I happily and proudly walked up those monsters at 0 miles an hour.
Our destination, Lebanon, VA was off the Adventure Cycling Association map.
We chose to bicycle to Lebanon due to a lack of hotels where we wanted them. Once again weused the Maps.me app to determine our route. The software did an excellent job finding back roads with almost no cars and beautiful scenery. However we did notice that taking small backroads increased our dog problems significantly. One particular road I nicknamed "Dog Alley" as it appeared that virtually every house had loose dogs just waiting for us to come by. One house had two medium-sized dogs that simply would not stop barking at and chasing us. So I chased them off by bicycling downhill at them pedaling wildly and yelling at them to go home. Although I had to charge them twice, the method eventually worked. I really hate to spray dogs if I don't need to. I would prefer to get them to leave us alone another way. It's not the dogs' fault if they're allowed loose and some strange bicyclists come pedaling through the dogs' neighborhood.
We chose to bicycle to Lebanon due to a lack of hotels where we wanted them. Once again weused the Maps.me app to determine our route. The software did an excellent job finding back roads with almost no cars and beautiful scenery. However we did notice that taking small backroads increased our dog problems significantly. One particular road I nicknamed "Dog Alley" as it appeared that virtually every house had loose dogs just waiting for us to come by. One house had two medium-sized dogs that simply would not stop barking at and chasing us. So I chased them off by bicycling downhill at them pedaling wildly and yelling at them to go home. Although I had to charge them twice, the method eventually worked. I really hate to spray dogs if I don't need to. I would prefer to get them to leave us alone another way. It's not the dogs' fault if they're allowed loose and some strange bicyclists come pedaling through the dogs' neighborhood.
The Virginia countryside is absolutely beautiful. The hills are all green and there are many beautiful views of lush green valleys. I look forward to the scenery this next week.
Right before we arrived at our hotel (David was leading us there by car), we happened upon a very friendly cyclist and his family. They were sitting on their porch when we rode by. Their dog was being friendly by following us. We always stop with dogs because you can't tell friendly from "about to attack". When we stopped, the gentleman came over and struck up a conversation. Gloria needed a bathroom break and politely asked him if she could use his. He immediately said yes, then his wife showed Gloria where the bathroom was. Even though there are terrible things going on in other parts of Virginia today, we happy to report that there are some extremely nice folks here as well.
We finally arrived at our hotel just before it started raining. I simply cannot believe how lucky we were that it barely rained at all when rain was forecasted virtually all day and thunderstorms were expected.
We had another fine dinner at a Mexican restaurant, but I admit I am starting to tire of fajitas.
But almost every town has a decent Mexican restaurant, even if "all" the other restaurants are fast food joints.
But almost every town has a decent Mexican restaurant, even if "all" the other restaurants are fast food joints.
Another great day comes to a close. Tomorrow has a pretty good weather forecast, and we have an excellent SAG to keep us fed and drunk. Maybe I should reword that. Nawww.
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