Learning to Shift on the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway

Miles Today 32; This Section 222 (8 days); Trans-Am Miles 1064.1 (31 days)

We had a very relaxing night at the motel last night. On the way back from the Halloween celebration we stopped for dinner at the all you can eat buffet. We both over ate and it was good. There were a lot of fat people in there who consumed even more than us. In the room I worked on the Blog for three hours and the TB slept after he picked up the laundry. He had to come back for the laundry ticket, saying as he laughed loudly “no tickee no laundry.” However, I was so relaxed into the Blog writing that I stayed up until half an hour past midnight. So getting up this morning was not easy and the TB had already been down to complain about the breakfast, bought a USA Today, got me a French Vanilla Cappuccino, and was sitting in the bathroom reading about his stocks so the light wouldn’t bother me! What a Trail Boss I have. So I got up and read the paper for an hour. He decided it was time for a nap and said, “I’ll get up when I see some action towards the door.” It reminds me of the times when I was in marathon training and would get “stale.” I’d get dressed to run and wander around the house for an hour and finally Millie would say, “Look, you’re not going, so put your clothes on!” And she was usually right, and this was one of those days. But finally I got going and we drove over to the starting point on the eastern side of Charlottesville.

Immediately the route goes into town up a very steep hill, and I had to push the Stallion on up. About half way up a crew was putting a new copper roof and gutters on a home. I have read recently about the great increase in copper prices even to the point where thieves are risking electrocution to steal copper wire. So I asked the contractor, who turned out to also be the homeowner, about the expense of the roof. It was a 2000 square foot roof and was going to cost $15,000 to replace with the “Philadelphia Gutters.” We went into great detail that the roof would last 80 years and in the long run (when we are all dead) will cost less than a shingle roof. It was the most beautiful roof I ever saw.

Charlottesville is a beautiful city and quite hilly I found out presently! The University of Virginia Grounds are intertwined with the city on the western side of town. As one leaves the city streets to the grounds streets the only indication is a large “V” painted on the street. I soon passed the old medical school complex, which is now a pediatric clinic and found a coffee shop across the street in the middle of the campus. As I sat and had a decaf coffee and a nice muffin I spoke with the clerk Harper Helen. Harper says he has a great job meeting interesting people and serving coffee to cute college girls all day. As he says, “someone has to do it.” As I talked with Harper there were several living proofs come in and order a $5 Espresso. My decaf was $1.25. Harper has a master’s degree in Russian Studies and says he wished these college kids knew about the Russian and German failures of social governments and says he’s sick of hearing them complain about Wal-Mart! His wife is a pediatrician and works across the street so she takes breaks and eats lunch at the coffee shop. He pointed out that when I had an Internship interview at the University of Virginia I probably was at the old medical school building, but I don’t remember.

As I pedaled on through “The Grounds” it was a busy place. There were thousands of kids all hustling back and forth carrying books, riding bikes, and all talking on cell phones. To whom are they speaking? And what do they need to be talking about? And is there value in the cost of the phone service? Also, all the students cross streets just like the citizens of Seattle. It’s their right to cross at a “walk signal” and they don’t even look for the traffic, which they “know” will stop if the sign says so. Oh, what faith they have. And how slowly the traffic moves all jammed up waiting for the strolling pedestrians. I wanted to run down a few of them just for sport!

In another block I went by the Rotunda. I asked three people what was in the Rotunda. They all said, “It’s the round building.” Not one knew what it houses today, but all responded that Thomas Jefferson designed it. They know their history, but not their present!

As I left the campus I saw “The Charlottesville Business Machine Company” advertising Typewriters in the window. Some of these college kids don’t even know what a typewriter is. And if you had one, what would you do with it. I’m 61 years old and can hardly remember the function of a typewriter! The kids do not take typing any longer—they take keyboarding!

Within a mile we exited State Route 250 onto County Road 677 and were immediately out in the boondocks again. The road was a narrow country lane about 1.5 lanes wide with no markers, little traffic, rolling hills, frequent new half million dollar homes and beautiful fall foliage. This was a great opportunity to learn gear shifting on the bike. I would go down a quarter mile hill in 18^th gear (of 27) and up the next quarter mile in 1^st gear (of 27) perhaps 20 times a mile. As I got further from Charlottesville the hills got longer and I did some significant huffing and puffing to keep the Stallion going. In 1^st gear I pedal at 75 rotations per minute and the bike goes 4 mph. At 3 mph the bike falls over as in the old Laugh-In comedy routine. It’s a lot of fun!

Just a mile short of White Hall (population 15) I met Liz and Heidi “The Bikergrrls” as they call themselves as they pedal across country eastward. They are 22 and 24 years old. They started in Portland, Oregon, in July and are now 205 miles from the finish in Yorktown, VA. They have a Blog at www.bikergrrls.blogspot.com (yes, it’s grrls). Both are recent college graduates. Heidi has a boyfriend jealous at home waiting for her and Liz is looking for a boyfriend and hasn’t found him on the bike ride! Liz said she saw some potential in pictures along the way but the guys were all too far ahead to catch! Heidi comes from a cycling family and her parents own a bike shop in Kansas. They sure carried a lot of stuff with 4 panniers and a giant (3 foot diameter) bag on top of the back fender. The only thing I can imagine in that bag would be a 3 or 4-inch foam pad rolled up! The girls have broken one spoke and only had about 5 flats. They have had no other major bike mechanical problems. There most exciting night was one they spent sleeping in a bathroom in the Teton’s, but they saw no bear. They took my picture as the last Trans-Am biker they are likely to see and said it will be on the Blog; however, they point out they haven’t updated their blog since Berea, Kentucky some 500 miles back!

At White Hall is the Wyant Country Store with owner Larry Wyant behind the counter. Larry’s family has had the store for over 100 years and the present building was built in 1919 after a fire destroyed the place. The big sellers are cigarettes, coffee, beer, and delicious soup. I had Creamy Cheese Potato Soup and it was great served with a huge pack of saltine crackers and washed down with a $1.69 bottle of grapefruit juice. Larry had groceries and other sundries and some antique goods for sale. I saw a Parkleigh sled hanging from a nail for sale for $29.99. That’s like an American Flyer with metal runners and wooden platform and stearable from the front runners. I bought it for $25. Larry laughed heartily as it was 72 degrees outside and I bought a sled in White Hall, VA, population 25. The TB (driving the pickup truck) wandered how we’d transport it! And Larry said we could drag it behind the bike. Then a woman customer came in and wandered if I was “transitioning from bike to sled.” I thought she was Larry’s wife, but they had never met. All got a real charge out of the sled purchase.

Now that I had ‘wasted” all this time, it was almost certain I would not make it up the big climb to the Blue Ridge Parkway today. I had gone 19 miles in over four hours, and had the toughest 15 miles of my biking career to go with the last three miles a probable walk to Rock Fish Gap.

I pedaled my best, but the hills were more steep and longer and the going was slow. Finally after passing multiple peach orchards and two vineyards and winery’s I couldn’t pedal any longer and was reduced to a walk just before dusk. On the peak about 1000 feet up I could see the Afton Inn, a dumpy motel Millie and stayed in on our Appalachian Trail thru-hike 6 years ago. The TB came by and I sent him ahead to check out the steepness, but when I walked around the next switchback the road ahead was steeper and I retired for the day. When the TB came back down he looked like he had seen a ghost saying the road was so steep he thought he would never get to turn around and come back. We’ll do it tomorrow and I doubt I’ll pedal much.

I figured we’d quit tomorrow and head for home after we reach the Blue Ridge Parkway, but Cimarron the Trail Boss wants to go down the BRP for a ways, so that’s the plan. It’s only about 2.5 more miles up to the BRP and then we will have done 224 miles on this trip across Virginia. I’m a much better cyclist than I was out west, and the bike is functioning perfectly. I read about a bike being comfortable, and thought it impossible. But I must say that I am comfortable riding this bike. My neck does not hurt, my butt feels fine, my arms are relaxed, and my legs are strong. I like this bike touring!