Some Great Walking Through Virginia, With a Little Biking Mixed In, and one Flat Tire.

October 28, 2007: Day 9.

From Near Council, VA (elevation 1640) over Big A Mountain (elevation 3706) back down to 1640 at Rosedale and back to near the top of Hayter’s Gap (elevation 3281)
Distance: 22.5 miles; Total Distance 243.5 miles

I hoped to get 37 miles to Interstate 81 today.

The day was colder in the low 50’s. I wore the long sleeve under shirt, the Neon Yellow T-shirt, and the nylon vest with a reflective safety vest on top. On the down hills I added on the neon yellow polypropylene jacket.
Within a half mile of starting I was forced to walk up the western slope of Big A Mountain. I walked pushing the bike for 3.1 miles and almost two hours before reaching the top.

Recently I mentioned the variables in biking as being terrain, my age and weight, and physical conditioning. Well I forgot my biggest excuse! Seven years ago I had an arrhythmia and passed out while running on two occasions. I was found to have a heart defect that required using a Beta Blocker by the name of Toprol and in a fairly large dose of 100 mg per day. Among other things Toprol throttles the heart so that my maximum heart rate is about 110. For intense physical activity one needs a heart rate up in the 140 to 150 range to deliver enough oxygen to the working muscles. I managed to walk all of the Appalachian Trail (2168 miles in 7 months) within months of going on the Toprol in the year 2000. I had to take the uphills slowly when I couldn’t muster the heart rate. Now I notice when going up hill I need the faster heart rate and can’t deliver so I must walk. So I walk. What I do have is plenty of perseverance and a good deal of love of the process and the adventures found on a daily basis. I hope it shows in my story.

The down side of Big A Mountain was nicely switched and I got up to 39 mph. Half way down I saw the van sitting beside the road but couldn’t even take my hands off the bars to wave. Later the Trail Boss said if I would have known you were going by like that I would have taken a picture. He said, “You were a blur of yellow in that jacket.” Even though I knocked off about five quick miles coming down, it never makes up for the slowness of the walk getting to the top.

East of Big A Mountain not only is the social sophistication higher but the terrain changes abruptly. Suddenly there are no “hollers” and suddenly we understand the definition of a “holler.” On the East of Big A Mountain we suddenly saw farms with fields of multiple acres. We saw cattle herds and fence lines. We had not seen a field larger than an acre for two hundred miles. In Kentucky one could almost stick their arm out a second floor window and touch the hillside! Suddenly we could see a mile or so across a valley and cattle grazing on the slopes. We saw rolled hay bails in storage buildings. On the west of Big A Mountain the valleys are narrow and the hills immediately rise sharply so there is not enough land for a field, a view, cattle, or a fence. The only views over there are from the very peaks of the hills.

In Honaker I stopped in a Dollar General Store and bought some M & M Peanuts. When I walked in there was a customer with a cart of goods but no clerk. I said to the customer who was near the cash register, “Where’s the clerk?” He said, “I don’t know.” So I started back an isle and saw her coming forward and asked about the M & M’s. She took me over and we got two bags and when we got to the front the customer was gone and so was the cart. She ran out to the parking lot and he was driving off. She said there is a lot of stealing in this store and area because of a major drug problem. We have heard of a “major drug problem” in essentially every town we have seen along this trip.

Near Rosedale, VA, population 945, we stopped at a store and had a cup of coffee (no cappuccino). We met an elder gent riding a motor scooter. He bought fifty cents worth of gas and admired my bike. He made a point of telling me that Hayter’s Gap, coming up later today, was much steeper and tougher than Big A and more narrow and dangerous. He and the girl agreed that I could never make it to Interstate 81 today. Then one of the loafers at the place said he went on a trip once up to Connecticut. He said he saw nothing of interest other than “those idiots posting a sign noting an elevation of 900 feet!” He said if you got in your car and drove north 30 miles to the I-77 junction and back three times, you would see more than he did on his trip to Connecticut!

Once we got up and over Big A we made an average of 15 mph nearly to Hayter’s Gap. I felt if I could get over this second big mountain by 5 or 5:30 PM I could possibly get nearly to I-81 and 37 miles for the day. About 2 miles short of the beginning of the climb to Hayter’s Gap I had a flat tire. The road was particularly narrow and curvy with small rises so visibility was not good. I was able to cruise over the small rises but needed to be cautious for traffic often on my side (actually there was only about 1.5 lanes of width to this road). I could see the top of a car approaching at a rise and curve so I stepped off the road into the weeds. The car stopped and a nice lady and her teenage son asked my destination for the day. I think they were about to ask me to stay at their place when they found I had my own crewman. They pulled out and left and I pushed out onto the road and had a flat rear tire! I think I must have gotten a thorn in the weeds, although I never proved it. I called Cimarron on the cell phone for the first time I even had it on (it worked) and he drove back to assist. He couldn’t pull off the road so I quickly loaded the bike and we drove back a mile to a cattle farm siding where we could pull off. There was an abandoned pickup truck with a nice rear deck where we worked on the tire. What we do is replace the tube with a new one. Tubes are so cheap no one repairs them any more.

So the flat caused us to lose a critical half hour of time I needed to walk through Hayter’s Gap. But I gave it a try. The first switch back is a true 180-degree. I pushed and walked about 2 miles hoping to reach the top and get the “free” four or five mile down into today’s mileage. But, all to no avail. I went up and up and had never ending switches until it was fairly dark. I had rigged up the small LED Bike Headlight I carry but never use. I hung it off the back, as It’s the people closing from the rear who will kill me. When walking these steep slopes I walk facing the traffic so I can see them in the eye.

Soon the Trail Boss showed up first saying, “Man that first switch back was so steep I could hardly make it.” Then he said, “I’ve called the motel. It’s 15 miles of country road to I-81 and seven miles down I-81. You’ll probably want to eat, so better load up now.” So I did.

We had another great day out here fighting to do more mileage, but happy with the mileage we do! I hope each of you have a friend like Cimarron.