Tuesday 7 August 2007

Day 24: Tuesday, 7 August

Elkins, WV to Harrisonburg, VA...[map]
Lots of hills today and it was hot...
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Mileage: 105.8miles, Start: 7:00am, Time: 8hr:23min,
Avg: 14.2mph, Rolling: 12.6mph, Climb: 9,593ft,
Weather: Hot and humid, Temp: 70-95°F
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It was a big day today. Perhaps the biggest since the Bighorn day way back when. Certainly the hillest day of the whole tour. Plus it was hot and humid from the get go which meant that all the climbs were sweltering and I sweated profusely.

I started out strong and hit the front over the first two mountains. Although I felt strong in the legs, the heat affected me today. Cat and Marc swept past me on the third climb and Michael passed me on the fourth climb before the first stop. I took it relatvely easy after that and enjoyed the scenery which was spectacular. The Appalachians are very nice!

The descents today were pretty neat aswell. Several times I swept down mountains at 40mph+ and even overtook a couple of trucks on one descent and a couple of cars on the long and twisty final descent! The roads were lovely and smooth today which was good.

After crossing into Virginia (our final state) and doing the final descent we hit some roadworks. They were tarmacing a section of the road. We were let though but could only use one side of the road as the other side was too hot. We could feel the heat from the bikes. The road following the roadworks was dead smooth as it was freshly laid tarmac. Sweet!

As a reward this evening the crew put on a ice cream social so we all eat large amounts of ice cream before bed...



Crossing the Eastern Continental Divide...
German Valley from the second rest stop
Near the top of the final climb...
Kurt and me at the Virginia border

2 comments:

R & A said...

Overtaking lorries and cars !!!!!!!!! Remember you are on a push bike, maybe a super dooper push bike, but ........

Glad you are all having fun

R & A

Anonymous said...

You've been out there a little over 3 weeks and already you've picked up American lingo - "pretty neat" ?????

Echo R&A - glad you are all having fun.

Enjoy your last 2 days. And take lots of pics at the finish line. Hope they put on chamapagne rather than icecream that day!!

Mx