Misty Mountain Hop
I left Daleville bound for Christiansburg at about 8AM, under thick gray skies. There was some rain, mostly just mist and some light drizzle - the first test of the fairing. It did a fine job of keeping my feet, legs, and lap dry, but had an unfortunate tendency to throw the water beaded on its surface into my face if I hit a hard bump at speed. All in all, though, it proved its worth, especially on the downhills, where it kept chilly air off my damp chest. I was able to stay comfortable most of the morning wearing just my Gore-Tex jacket, and the sun began to peek through the cloud layer a little before noon.
Riding along Gravelly Ridge was an atmospheric experience, with North Mountain to my distant right and Catawba Mountain closer on my left. The clouds were so low that they caught on the trees, turning into mist that curled and crawled its way down into the low places of the mountainside.
By the time the first shreds of blue sky were showing overhead, I was well into a 15-mile long mostly downhill run, which I was able to ride at a high average speed due to my discovery of a particular set of gears that allowed me to run up rolling grades at more than twice my usual pokey pace. My leg strength has improved so much that I can pedal in gear ratios that I haven't really been able to use before. So I sailed up and down the ridgeline, listening to Al DiMeola's speedy fingers on my iPod and ignoring the inevitable bill that would come due when the downhill ended.
Still, it kept going, and going, and going...nice and straight, for the most part, with some curves that were easily navigable with a touch on the brakes and a good lean. I paid for it when I reached Ellett: a stiff climb to get over the mountain northeast of Christiansburg, particularly tough as the climb came at the tail end of a long day's ride.
My total mileage for the day was 49, which is the most I've done in a day and about what I'm aiming for as a daily average. I did it with six hours, seven minutes of pedaling and two hours, twenty minutes of rest. The GPS tells me these things. It also tells me that my maximum speed was 54.7 miles per hour, but I'm pretty sure it's lying...a couple of days ago I watched it tell me that I was traveling at over a thousand miles per hour while standing in a field near my campsite. Usually it's accurate, but sometimes it can get confused about figuring miles per hour if it can't find all its satellite buddies.
I was downright giddy when I finally got into my room here in Christiansburg: I was tired, but not wiped out; my knees were complaining, but not screaming. I've further increased my knowledge of what it is possible for me to do in a day.
That said: I am tired. Christiansburg marks the end of the first of twelve maps that cover my trip from Virginia to Oregon. I have pedaled 384 miles, give or take a few. I'm probably going to spend the next couple of days here, and push to get my work done so that I don't have to be bothered with it anymore. I'm also going to work on an annotated Google map so that you folks can see where I've been.
