first things first: Cancellara is a machine. I wonder how fast he could go across the cobbles with a full BOB in tow. probably faster than me without one
I arrived in State College PA on my birthday (4-11), one day faster than i expected due to tailwinds during at least a part of each day. I'm at Rebecca Donaghue's home, a runner friend from the highschool days who after a decade of injuries is healthy. And flying, she was 2nd at the Falmouth RR (only one Kenyan could beat her) and almost made the olympic team. She says that she will be able to compete during her thirties like she wanted to during her twenties. Excellent. I'm going to watch a hard track workout today before i take off and run a bit with her if my achillies tendon is okay with it
Oracle Jen would say that i'm "fluffy", her term for the feeling of clean after not having a shower in a few days. My clothes are clean too. feels good
My dad rode with me for the first hour as I rolled north out of Danville VA, halfway across North Carolina border. I felt good until it reached 90F late afternoon and I cracked climbing up rt 43 to the Blue Ridge parkway to find camp. The climb up Twin Otters is 4 miles long and 8-12%, a tough way to end my first hot ride of the year. I should have known the climb would suck when i noticed on the VA gazateer that the mountain before Twin Otters is called "Suck Mountain". But what really could have sucked that day is if the butter that liquified spilled in my trailer. A little butter got out of the bag and spread itself around some of my stuff but if three sticks of butter spilled it would have been a terrible mess.
Days two and three I progressed further than expected due to tailwinds and the route i chose being so direct, perhaps more direct than the highways would be. First stop was Natural Bridge where i attempted to see the bridge without paying the $14 and was stopped by some angry Virginian guy. I didn't realize you had to pay and had just bombed down the access road on my bike ignoring the do not enter sign. I chose not to see the bridge because $14 seemed too much.
But that was fine with me as I saw plenty of quality scenery riding thru the Shenendoah Valley looking at farms with great pastures and the Blue Ridge mtns. And the Natural chimneys were free to see. Ate lunch at a nice place in downtown Lexington called the "Southeners Inn" and found Joel Saliton's Polyface farm. Joel was really busy (probably too busy to talk to some random guy) so I just said hi and filled my bottles for camp a few more miles down the road. Didn't know what to talk to him about anyway.
Day four was a big day as I traversed the back roads and steep hills to cross from West Virginia to Bedford PA to see the Cannondale factory where my CAAD7 was born. Of course it wasn't open on a saturday, logistics, oops. Before leaving WV i had a $4 breakfast that fueled most of my 8 hour ride. 2 eggs, sausage, and 2 massive pancakes that took me until 3pm and a bit of a stomach ache to finish. Lesson: you only need to order one pancake in WV! The climbing was tough, up and down 10-17% grades most of the day. But the scenery and weather (and pancakes) were enough to keep me rolling and motivated. I really liked western Maryland. Finished the day with 4688kj on the powermeter (depending on my efficiency thats about a 5000 calorie ride, i think)
Day 5 was fairly easy, flatter and shorter. Started off with a 8 mile section of the Martinsberg stage of tour de toona. Lots of memories from that race, it doesn't seem like its been 7 years since i was here last. I think it was the first race i did on my CAAD7. Before reaching state college i took a nice indian cave tour.
It hasn't been hard to find places to camp. I was a little nervous as I rode into West Virginia where the road signs are full of bullet dents and there are no trespassing signs plastered in the trees but i found a great spot. The one night it rained i was set up in time. And the only ticks i've seen were just 3 on the first night outside my tent.
So far so good with the lyme. Energy levels have been good especially on the hard day. My right ankle/achillies started to get sore on day two so i moved my cleats back 1 cm and that worked for now. When I walk down stairs I feel the achillies clunk, no pain though and I'm looking forward to the next week of pedaling.
Powertap data
day1 83.8 miles in 6:40 at 154 avwatts, 3642kj
day2 78.2 miles in 6:18 at 149 avwatts, 3080kj
day3 96.0 miles in 6:44 at 155 avwatts, 3702kj
day4 99.2 miles in 8:05 at 164 avwatts, 4688kj
day5 68.8 miles in 4:59 at 139 avwatts, 2383kj
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