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When i set out on this venture, i thought i was embarking on a bicycle tour. But i spent about half of my 47 days off-the-road. And so when i started looking at the places i was stopping, i decided this must be a college-town tour. And then when i started looking at what i was doing when i got to those towns, i realized: this was a brewery tour. Asheville accommodates very well in this respect. I sampled French Broad, Wedge, Highland (especially their Gaelic) and several from Asheville Brewing Company–notably the Ninja Porter. Mmmm!
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From the point where you get on the Parkway in Cherokee, its a solid 13-mile climb before you hit the first downhill which dips you down to 4500 feet. Then you’re climbing again. I ended that first day in Balsam Gap, because the lower altitude would afford me warmer weather.
Once i got to the highest point on the parkway (in Virginia), i had a steady 13-mile descent ahead of me. I don’t think i spun my cranks more than once or twice all the way down to the James River–also the lowest point on the Parkway, period. Haha, i put on some music before i started that descent–some old school rock. I must have looked like an idiot, sailing down the mountain on my bike with that stupid grin o my face, rocking out to AC/DC’s Highway to Hell and the like. I was glad to reclaim that 13-mile ascent…that’s for sure.
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It didn’t take more than that first day out of Decatur for me to begin rethinking how i wanted to travel. I built that lengthy cargo bike so i could bring sufficient supplies with me such that i could support myself apart from civilization for, say, a week at a time? And insofar as that notion is concerned, the bicycle did its job splendidly…trailer-like capacities without the trailer. I was able to pack my weight forward in the panniers, thereby keeping it within my center of gravity, and the lengthy wheelbase smoothed the ride out a bit. But what i’ve discovered is that i’d much rather travel very lightly…carrying as little with me as possible, and skirting closer to the edge of civilization so i can resupply as needed. Wouldn’t hurt to rethink the stuff i’m carrying and see if some of it can’t be purposed in multiple ways–eliminate some duplication. Anyway, i got to Athens soaked and beat, and happy that i’d arranged to say there (couchsurfing) for a few days. I sent home 18 pounds of stuff before i left again!
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The big problem i was running into with the bike was flexibility. Like i said, it did its job perfectly, but in every way that every part of society is prepared to deal with bicycles, it is unprepared to deal with this one. When i was pinned down under some cold rain, it took a very particular vehicle and willing soul to get me out of trouble. And getting it boxed for shipping was a trick too, not to mention the increased dimensions having an effect on the cost-to-ship. A traditional bicycle frame could have fit in almost anyone’s trunk in a pinch…
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Also in that first day of riding, soaked, overloaded, and completely exhausted, i confirmed my suspicions–that even the worst day on a bike is better than the best day in the office. Now i just have to figure out how to do this professionally, or find some way to make money on-the-road…
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After reaching the James River it was only a couple more miles to the Otter Creek Campground. I managed to bike about 60 miles that day–easily twice my typical progress on the Parkway, so i decided to reward myself with a campground. No ranger around so i grab one of those little yellow envelopes you’re supposed to fill with money and then stick in the slot, but not before picking your campsite. On the way i meet a fellow named John Pray who is also bike touring (on a Surly long-haul trucker no less!) and he an i chat for a while. Well i never got around to putting my envelope in the slot–anyway, all i have is a $20 and i’ll need change against the $16 camping fee. So i decide i’ll take it up with the ranger in the morning. John and i both have weather reports that say rain by noon tomorrow, so for the first time on the tour, i set an alarm and get everything ready–including cooking breakfast–the night before. Morning comes and i roll up my tent and sleeping back and pack up after eating breakfast. I am rolling by 7:30, and i figured the rangers would be the early-morning types, right? I guess not–with nobody there, i just left, but kept the envelope in my pocket in case i was stopped. But i wasn’t!
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I found a gun. I had left the parkway early that afternoon and was now making my way north out of Charlotesville, VA. I was crossing a bridge over a river, and judging by the amount of debris on the shoulder, nobody had been here in a while. Just about the middle i almost hit a chunk of debris but not a moment after rolling past it i realize its a gun! So i park my bike and walk back out onto the bridge. Sure enough, there’s a weathered and rusted gun, and nearby, a worn, leathery holster. I almost picked it up, but of course, all the hollywood scenarios ran through my head–that this was critical evidence in some long-unsolved mystery! So i snapped a shot of it with my cell phone camera instead. I used my phone to find my location, and then searched for nearby police. I got the Charlottesville red & blue on the line and described where i was and what i saw. “Are you going to stay to meet the officer?” asks the inquisitive voice on the other end of the line. “No,” i explain, “i’m on a bicycle tour and i am trying to get to a motel before i lose the light, and i don’t have much time left.” Later i receive a call from the retrieving officer who has questions for me. How tall are you? How much do you weigh? Hair color? Eye color? Pretty much everything from my driver license. I know he’s asking in an exclusionary manner, “for my report”, he says, but it sure does feel like i’m suspect =/
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One night and one night only i rode into the darkness to get a feel for the Parkway after the sun set. And it changes dramatically! The scenery melts away to an eerie calm, and then suddenly all these signs of life appear in the distance. The lights from streets, houses and buildings too distant to-be-seen in the daytime pierce straight through the night. At the same time, the darkness is enshrouding enough to let the stars show through. The area i’m in–approaching a valley–is very dark but also very expansive, so i am left with an eerie feeling of solitude. Its getting very late and i’m needing to get off the road–i’ve already eaten–so i pick an overlook that is up on a hill and swing my bike down and around the hill so i am invisible from the road. I stare at the stars for a while and contemplate photons, and just as i’m drifting off to sleep i’m jolted awake by what sounds like a scream! (A few days later i will describe this to someone, and they will confirm that i was probably hearing a mountain lion, which apparently sound like a female screaming…yikes). Anyway, i’m off to sleep and when i wake up in the morning, there is a family of deer about 50 feet off to my right. I don’t think they realized i was there until i sat up, because this made most of them run off. The last one, turns to look at me, poops, and then bounds off after the others. What a great way to wake up.
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I left Boone and took a wrong turn, but was able to correct pretty easily when my spidey-sense started telling me i was off. Back on the parkway, i enjoyed some of the easiest terrain i’d yet encountered, and put fifty-some miles behind me when any other day i’d only managed a maximum of 30! The weather the next day was supposed to be >light< occasional precipitation, and i didn't figure this would get in my way. So i wake up the next day, amped about my progress and figuring i'll make Meadows of Dan by end-of-day tomorow, check out the area and Mabry Mill for a day, and then get to Roanoke about three days after that. But after i've pedaled only about 18 miles, i'm getting wetter than i'd like to, given the temperature, and pull into Cumberland Knob seeking shelter. There's an overhang, and i'm charging my cell phone with a hand-crank, and calling my mother for weather details. By now the area is completely fogged in and rain is coming down too hard to consider getting back on the bike. I'm considering that i might be pinned here and will have to wait out the weather under this shelter, all night if the rain dictates… I eat some food and ask the occasional tourist if they have something akin to a pickup truck headed north…my bike won't fit in just any old vehicle. Eventually a man named Tom comes by and sympathetically but skeptically offers that we can "try it." He has a Volvo SUV with his own bike and camping gear in the back, but we take some of this stuff out and get to repacking, and make it work. Before i know it we're passing Meadows of Dan and stopping at Mabry Mill. Tom has a list of places to stop–he's meandering North just as i am, with no particular schedule. And the weather is crap so we just keep driving North, talking about life and our adventures. The day progresses and eventually we agree to share a campsite at the next available space–and this turns out to be Roanoake Mountain! After we set up camp we head into town for dinner. This morning i thought i was about 6 days from Roanoake, and now here i am at an Indian restaurant with a new friend, laughing and trading stories over a few Taj Mahals. Haha! This was the first obvious step in a sequence of events that got me to The Hard Time Hollow exactly when i needed to be there.
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I reached mile marker 0 on the Parkway having collected reliable weather reports that there would be snow that night at altitudes above 3000 feet. As is, i only had a small window of weather to leave The Hollow and get rolling again anyway… I set an intention at the beginning of the tour that i would not let my hard-headedness get the better of me–that i would accept help when it was offered freely, and that i would not require to bicycle every mile. After all, i am not just bike touring–i am traveling! I chose to do so by bicycle because it agrees with Who I Am and it is also cheap! But i had already by this point accepted a ride out of bad weather from Tom, so perhaps that is why when i got the weather report predicting snow, it was easy to see the clearly the option best for me–get out of the mountains–rather than stick to my original plan of bicycling also Skyline Drive. I had also heard from several along the way that the inclines on Skyline Drive are fairly steeper than those of the Parkway, and i was feeling like perhaps, overall, i had experienced enough mountainous terrain for now… I called my friend Bryan in Culpeper who was going to meet me somewhere on Skyline Drive and asked to change the plan–that i could perhaps come to him and stay a day. He agrees, and i’m off!
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What i thought i would do is notice when i find myself repeating a story, and record it. Staring with these, about my recent bicycle tour. Riveting? Meh, maybe, maybe not. This isn’t done.
I’ve been “on the road” for eight days now, of which four of those have been actual touring days.
In Athens, I engaged in my first experience as a couchsurfer. Having done a fair bit of hosting in Gainesville, i was interested to find how the other half lives :) And Ayla and Alise…sisters…took me in for the weekend. I’m not sure if they know just how helpful they were to me…i learned on my arrival from Decatur, GA that my panniers, while doing their job mostly as intended, were not quite as waterproof as i’d hoped. They gave me the space to >dry off< (for one thing), and amend my gear to seal the little remaining spaces that water could slip through. And they were great guides around Athens–i hope that when i have a couch again someday, they will come stay with me!
I am currently harbouring a love/hate relationship with my bicycle and my whole touring setup in general =)
In Toccoa, GA i was looking for a place to stay. The first i asked for advice was the pastor of a church (and his wife?) where i had stopped for a break on the south end of town.
Stephanie and i once stopped at a church near Jacksonville Beach and asked to camp on their expansive lawn and were shutdown. Her comment on the situation was something to the effect of having never been well received at churches, or having never been offered help from the same.
And this situation was no different. Ha, and i wasn’t even asking to stay there…instead i asked "do you have any ideas where i could stay". Both of their eyes glazed over as they mildly shook their heads "no".
In town i looked for a single open restaurant or coffee shop so i could check my email (i had found one available couch for Toccoa on couchsurfing.org and wanted to make a last-minute check to see if my request had been read). No.
About 8p, i was directed to a place called Perk Up Cafe where the employees and i chatted…and they knew the guy who i had couchrequested! But couldn't help me beyond that. No.
Having learned from the same people that the roads to Curahee (the feature that brought me to Toccoa) were washed out, i made a mental note to title this day's crazyguyonabike.com journal entry “No!ccoa”
No no no! All day, it seemed, even from the weather. I finally take refuge on the raised steps of a church several miles north of town, heading in my next general direction (Bryson City, NC)
The reason i am headed toward Bryson is because some fellow touring cyclists who live there spotted my crazyguyonabike journal and kindly offered, should i care to slightly alter my route, that i could stay with them (Bryson City is only 16 miles from the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway situated in Cherokee, NC).
But i don’t even have to wait until then for the universe to balance against the palms of rejection that flooded my direction.
The next morning i wake up and start to situate myself. Next door to the church (a residence), a man is helping his children into his truck to take them to school. I ask to use his tap, and he grants me a spin of his faucet. We talk a bit about where-i-am-going and what-i-am-doing and say our goodbyes.
I’m heating a can of lentils on those same church steps when Chris pulls back up bearing some hot food for me! Before i left Gainesville, i had conversations with friends about my dietary choices (which are most closely aligned with veganism) and how travelling might affect that choice. The perception is that quality vegan foods might be difficult to come by, or that it might not be healty/enriching enough to allow me to sustain the kind of energy expenditures that daily touring requires?
I’m certain neither of these are true, but what has occurred to me is that i perhaps should not refuse a free meal offered in good spirits. And accepting a “more vegetarian” diet versus a “more vegan” diet is almost not a question–an easy leap.
I recognize that there *is* enough food in the world, but i also recognize that our current food culture doesn’t encourage people well enough to provide for themselves, and that our educational system doesn’t include critical life-basics like tying knots or identifying local edible flora. Because of this, i can’t bear the notion of wasted food…if for no other reason than the sheer amount of energy that goes into its production.
So i had to ask myself, in the back of my mind, what i would do the first time someone freely and willingly offered me something made from the flesh of an animal. None of my friends asked this question–perhaps it seemed, as you might guess, out-of-bounds. I’m not wondering anymore.
What kind of message would i reply to the universe, if in the face of genuine generosity, i said “no thanks”.
The only stressful counter to this notion is the ideal that i am what i eat, and that in any diet there are good choices and bad choices, and i care to consume only the highest quality foods. This is my vessel, i feel compelled to care for it so long as it shall be mine to traipse around this earth–so that i may use it for its intended purpose…to ask those questions…to get those answers…
But i am only one cell in the organ called humanity. and perhaps some small leaps or compromises can create space for greater contemplations. I like that i can change my mind and my self according to what life/the universe/everything asks of me. Flexibility. Good.
I am in Bryson City now, staying with Raquel and Jack. They tour by bicycle whenever they get the chance. They are also foster parents, and are currently providing house and home to two bright teenage boys, Jacob and Brad. Both of these fellows are intelligent, respectful and interesting. I’m not entirely sure what their backgrounds are, but know they can see they have been given, as i have been given, an opportunity to experience the real meaning of human spirit through Jack and Raquel. They give so openly, and willingly! New friends, indeed. Seems they might have some west coast action next year much like myself. Sounds like an opportunity to coordinate =D
So my bicycle is working out well. I set out to create a bicycle with trailer-like capacities but without the trailer. Two wheels is easier to move around than three or four! And i was successful! And the long wheelbase makes the ride smoother. And it just looks so weird and this gathers some positive attention.
But having trailer-like capacities doesn’t mean you have to fill up all the space, and i’m finding that (while i am more nimble than with a trailer) i am not nimble/light enough. What i mean to say is that i think my ideas about touring, and the way i want to go about it are changing. That i want to be ultra-light and super-minimal, just because it occurs to me that it might be the way i want to be.
But i am happy up high on my monster mountain masher, and will happily ride it so long as it will carry me.
To Ayla & Alise, Chris, and Jack and Raquel–i offer my gratitude, for their openness, for their inclinations to share and to trust…for being positive cells in the organ called humanity, making this world the world it has the potential to be. And shoring up my faith that it is possible yet.
My red 1994 jeep cherokee settled down next to the curb in front of Kathryn’s house–a friend of Sharon’s who lives in Decatur, GA, who agreed to let me park at her house as a starting point. Got the bike off the roof and packed up without delay or incident.
A neighbor strolling by with his dog made some comments and light conversation about bike touring (seems i have run into a lot of people who have done this in their lives…) and he grants me directions to the Freedom Park Trail.
This trail is part of my choice to start in Decatur, having learned about it only last night from Kathryn. That, and Decatur lies East of Atlanta, saving me the grief of pedaling through metropolitan traffic.
The trail takes me east and slightly north, terminating at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park where i pause for a few pictures of this seemingly out-of-place behemoth of stone. But today is about biking, not climing, so i swing a leg back over the top tube and plant my butt in the saddle for roads ahead. At this point i have only traveled about 8-9 miles!
Its another 10, moving on US-78 toward Snellville before the skies open up, and on my first day of touring, i’m already donning the raingear. I’m wet for the rest of the day. Too bad too, because some picturesque scenes that graced my retinas would no doubt have enjoyed the CCD of my camera as well. Oh well.
I was on a road called Punkin Junction. Hah.
And then hill after hill. And I’m too heavy. And too top-heavy, introducing an unnerving wobble in the steer tube as the bike shimmies back and forth a bit according to the whims of the wind. I’m going to have to lose some stuff. Funny…before i left Atlanta, i went through my things and set aside a fair number of things which i thought i could do without, thinking i had fairly minimized the load. Also funny is how many additional things you think you can get rid of when you’re walking your bike up a hill. Regardless, Florida boys have much to learn about northern Georgia hills.
My panniers are not as waterproof as i’d hoped, despite being constructed with an inner layer of tarp material. I think a bit of seam seal will rectify that. But this is minor…i love them…they’re working out well!
Getting into Athens, i let myself into my couchsurf hosts’ house (according to their insistence), soaked to the bone and feeling very worn. 60 miles was perhaps too many miles out of the gate, having not done much distance riding in a while, especially without this kind of weight.
I’ll spend a few days here, checking out the town, and hopefully letting this weather pass before heading out again. Next stop…Curahee!
mad as in happy like a lunatic. its beautiful, bikes everywhere. monumental architecture like an old european city. the air has a slight chill, and the yellow-tipped leaves of the trees around the capitol building suggest that photosynthesis is losing ground to the changing seasons. its delicious.
I drove North from Gainesville today. Seems like every song on the radio was about traveling or saying goodbye.
And so i’m off! The only plan, thus far, is to leave the plans open-ended. But I have good ideas. I’m in Atlanta now, staying with my sister Sharon and her husband Adi. Tomorrow, we’ll pile in a car with their friends and head North to Madison, WI where she and Michelle will compete in Ironman.
We’ll return to Atlanta on the 15th, setting me up to pedal back out on or around the 17th. I’ll end that first day in Athens where I may stay for a few days before making my way to Cherokee, NC and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stops in Asheville and D.C. before making my way down the East coast in time for the Horrible Hundred with my parents in Orlando. All of this is subject to change, of course, at a moment’s notice =)
I left many things behind in Gainesville, but one thing I did not leave is my relationships. I have many loving friends in town and though I feel a strong pull to make this journey, similarly I am drawn to them. To quote myself, “I think we come to know ourselves best through our relationships.” That is to say, each friendship may be a part of myself that is dying to express, or a part that is well expressed, and better with company.
In short, I have learned a great deal from them, about life, the universe, and everything. And I have so much yet to learn! And I love them.
<3
right foot, pavement, tap
left foot, concrete, step
sprocket, ratcheting, tick
right foot, pedal, click
left foot, crank, spin
eyes, horizon, narrow
right hand, gear selector, click
left foot, crank, pull
right foot, pedal, push
left hand, grip, tighten
right hand, gear selector, click
dérailleur, rear cog, shift
left foot, spin, faster
right leg, piston, fire
right hand, gear selector, click
left piston, fire, accelerate
crankset, spin, whirl
right hand, gear selector, click
left hand, brake, lean
crank, spin, faster
wind, ears, howl
left crank, whirl, blurr
right piston, rotate, push
right gear, click, hand
fire left, piston, spin
one machine
spinning…
whirling…
whorling…
rear hand, click, select
leg crank, blur, rotate
right leg, crank, coast
left brake, hand, pull
brake hand, rear caliper, squeeze
right hand, grip, brake
left foot, pavement, tap
right foot, concrete, step
breathe in
breathe out
out
in
destination? ha!
180 degrees
sprocket, ratcheting, tick
right foot, pedal, click
left foot, crank, spin…
