Updates from the road.

Time is beginning to bend and melt into a river marked by events which it flows around like rocks in a creek, rather than any numeric delineations contrived in the human mind.

As such, it feels simultaneously like I have not yet even begun this journey, and that I have been out here a very long time.  Somewhere between the two I’m sure is the truth.

Things are going very well so far.  The group, as i suspected, is SOLID. Strong riders, responsible, like to cook, and know how to take care of themselves.

The weather on the other hand…

There has not been a day without rain yet.  Not one.  Sometimes it’s just part of the day, sometimes it’s all day just duuuumping rain.  Just ridiculous amounts of rain.

Coming from drought stricken California, I welcome this; and revel and rejoice in each glutted stream I pass, all the roadside waterfalls, and the vivid bright green which is this wet Virginia landscape.

Sure, it’s not ideal for cycling, but I DO have some killer waterproof tights that it would be a shame to have purchased without using…

And SOMETIMES a sixty-mile day of 50degrees and pouring rain ends like this:

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And then God created wood-fired hot tubs and it was good.

 

Another note from the trail:  I got hurt.

DON’T WORRY! I am already fine again, but for a moment there I feared a tiny ankle-tendon rupture ( or tear, or whatever made it swell and bruise and hurt) was going to take me out of the game!!

Lucklily Adventure Cycling’s approach to problems like debilitating Leader injury is: “Make it work”.  And while I am not always the best for things like following detailed instructions to a “T”,–I es-pecialize in “making things work”.

It is so good to be working for a company which values that particular skill set!!

So I rented a car in Charlottesville and followed my riders for two days.  To justify the expenditure in the carefully-allocated budget for the trip, I offered to carry ” a heavy thing” for each rider in the rental car.  That way they were getting a value above and BEYOND their beloved leader’s remaining on the trip.  FYI: when offering to carry heavy things for bikers approaching their first major hill ( getting up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway) exercise extreme caution and set boundaries.  The pile of heavy things I was left with:

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But somehow I schlepped it and myself all the way to Lexington.

 

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This is my kinesiology-taped foot on top of my rental car hood on the Blue Ridge Parkway, overlooking Shanendoah.

 

But just as all’s well that begins well ( see previous post), indeed it works that way for how it ends too.

After two days driving I rode 47 miles of moderate hills today loaded and my ankle feels fully recovered.  Thank Baby Jesus. I would hate to miss out on all the epic adventure to come!!

 

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