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Sep

19

DAY 45 BREAKS, VA to MEADOWVIEW,VA/ 64 miles/ 3,249 miles total
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VA also haswinding roads without shoulders.
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Guest riders and Mary Stafford at dinner last night.
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We are on the TransAmerica route first riden in 1976.
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Guest riders and Mary at dinner last night.
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Virginia didn’t show us any love today.  We climbed seven long and steep hills.  In the west they would call each of these “passes” (of which we never had more than three in one day).  In the east they may be called “gaps”.  Today is a leading contender for the toughest day of the whole ride.  Unfortunately it was the first day for our guest riders.  They did very well given the climbs.  Two of them are tri-athletes. 

As we mounted one of these “gaps” the Blue Ridge Mountains were in sight.  They are very scenic and definitely blue.  Tomorrow we cycle next to the highest mountain VA, Mt Rogers at 5,729 ft.

Fall is in the air here.  It is cool at night, with fog in the morning and leaf color changes already happening with tree vines. 

We were in the saddle for 5 hr 15 mins and climbed 5,470 ft (the most of the trip so far).  It was sunny with light breezes and temps around 80.


Comments


This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm and is filed under See All of Dick & Jim's Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments so far


  1. Becky Varney on September 19, 2008 9:28 pm

    Blessings to you for toughing it out on this very challenging bike ride and raising money for PKU. I’m watching your activities through the very difficult terrain in Virginia on the blog from sunny, southern California. Stan Wrobel is my brother in law, and it’s always my pleasure to be in his company, so I’m sure he’s a great addition to this part of your trip. I wish you all the best of health! and GOD BLESS YOU & PKU!!!
    All Good Things, Becky Varney

  2. Bob Bowers on September 20, 2008 2:13 pm

    Dick..Have been out ot town for over a week..What great progress you are making..easy for me to say.

    Keep it up, you are nearly there..

    Bob Bowers

  3. Rick Michaux on September 20, 2008 2:54 pm

    Wow. What a way to end things. You are sure not taking the easy road in your last state. Best to everyone in the party (and the banjo boy from Deliverance should you see him soon.)

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