Asheville supplement

We got into Asheville pretty early since it was a "short day" of only 65 miles. In any case, I rode in the van all day to stay off my bum knee. That didn't keep me from walking around this really cute city.  Lots of granola people here, art galleries, etc.

I found a couple of book stores and stocked up a little on books in English (not readily available in Montevideo where I live, after all), including Fly Me to the Moon by Edward Belbruno, A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul.  One of the stores was a wine/beer/champagne bar with thousands of used books.  There I found some old bound volumes of the Royal Magazine from 1903, one with the great article on physical fitness (see photo).

There is a great rock venue in Asheville called the Orange Peel Social Aid and Pleasure Club. Blues Traveler was playing, but I opted out remembering that I had to get up at 5am. This turned out to be a bad decision and a little life lesson.  I ended up waking up at 2:30am and not being able to go back to sleep, so only got a short night's sleep anyway.  I should have gotten the same amount of sleep after a fun evening of great live music!

Day 37, Mile 3043: Union, South Carolina

Today: 104 miles, 9000 feet of climbing.

Hurray, I won South Carolina!


It really was a great day.  I've had a really crappy time lately because of the knee problems and haven't been riding much, typically only 45-70 miles/day, with some days less or not at all.  But today was the first day that I felt really great in a long time and...I rode the entire course for the day, I was the first to arrive at the trip's last state line, South Carolina, and even the first to arrive at the hotel tonight, even ahead of the fastpack peletón.  It was like my legs belonged to someone else--I just couldn't seem to get them to go less than 20 mph. Obviously it helped that I took 4 Aleve tablets this morning (i.e., 880mg of naproxen sodium, an NSAID like aspirin or tylenol), only double the recommended maximum dosage and a lot of caffeine.  But I also had a few helping hints on my knee problems: Berkas adjusted my right cleat and Tara suggested I ride with my knees more inward.  If nothing else, these helped by stressing the knees slightly differently, but we'll see how I feel tomorrow. If I'm in intense pain, I'll get off the bike tomorrow and still should be ok for the final day the day after into Charleston.

My Sony T77 camera is broken.  I guess it got wet and hot and then wet and frozen after slipping out of the little ziplock I usually carry it in my bike jersey pocket as we encountered snow and sub-freezing weather in the Smokey Mountains day before yesterday. So I only got that lame shot of the state border sign with my iphone.

The ride today was gorgeous, as well.  We left Asheville (a great town, by the way), went along the Blue Ridge Parkway briefly, then along US 74 up to the Eastern Continental Divide at Hickory Nut Gap.  Then it was down a screaming 10 mile descent, where I was forced to draft a line of cars because I couldn't pass them on the winding road, past Chimney Rock and along beautiful Lake Lure.  We had lunch right before the SC border and then through rural rolling hills into Union.

Chris works with Lance Armstrong on LiveStrong.  Through this connection he knows George Hincapie who happens to live in Spartanburg, SC, a half hour from where we are staying tonight, so a bunch of us are going to shuttle over there in the van to say hi after dinner. I don't really follow bike racing much, but this should be pretty cool.

Only two more biking days left!

Day 29, Mile 2423: Union City, Tennessee

Today I biked: 103 miles, 1510 feet of climbing, saddle time 6:37, 15.5 mph.
Cumulative: 24 biking days, 1794 miles, 85000 feet.

Well, at least every other day is great.  And today was fabulous. Poplar Bluffs sits on the edge of the really flat Mississippi flood plain and today our route took us over that, across the Mississippi River on a ferry, through about 10 miles of Kentucky and then into Union City, Tennessee.

We started out at about 7:15 at sunrise, like normal. We had a photo shoot from some local characters--a long but funny story about Greg and our trip being discovered on the internet by some 91-year-old guy from Poplar Bluff who has Greg's same (unusual) last name and is friends with the mayor. Then we were off and after some hills in town, were out among the big flat fields of cotton, rice, and soybeans. It was a bit cold and rainy, and there was a hint of a headwind, but basically delightful.  I was riding with Ray who is fun and a good match for my riding speed and style and off and on with a few others, mostly Val, Ray's wife (Pikes on Bikes), and Nadie, as well as Berkas, Mike, and others.  We made great speed across the flat, despite the minor headwind and even held back, doing a good job of pacing ourselves.  The 15.5 mph average was perfect.

We wound our way down to the ferry after lunch riding along river levees and on great country roads, though one nasty stretch was gravel, but only for a few miles.  The ferry was awesome.  You call it up and ask it to come over from the Kentucky side and pick you up.  It reminds me a lot of the little ferry over to San Gregorio in Uruguay from Ruta 6. Once in Kentucky, we had a minor climb out of the river valley and some rolling hills until the Tennessee border.  I was with Ray and Mike at this point and I won the Tennessee border, though it wasn't really a race (we didn't even think there was going to be a state-line marker).  Then we high-tailed it into Union City and the hotel.  Here Val passed us and it was all I could do to keep up with her to the hotel (she claimed she was thinking about getting in early to do the laundry...).

We saw some great pot-bellied pigs along the way.  This old woman, Rose, greeted us as though she saw dozens of funny-looking bikers every day passing by and, though friendly enough, just couldn't be bothered.  She said it was fine to take photos of her pigs, though the chihuahuas and aggressive geese weren't as easily convinced.

We also saw lots of scary farm machinery that took up most of the road.  One tractor was the biggest thing I had ever seen on a regular road so I pulled out the camera and took a shot of it while riding.

Only nine more biking days until Charleston and the end!  I'm a little panic stricken--I've gotten used to this lifestyle of daily torture and what will I do with myself now!  But seriously, I'll be really, really glad to get back home to Uruguay and my sweetheart and, before that I get to see my son, Ariel, and his family up in Boston.

Day 28, Mile 2321: Poplar Bluff, Missouri

Today:  I don't want to talk about it...

You make one little mistake putting on the new pedals, which I did way back in Ponca City and you get a week of on and off knee recovery! Probably not the best idea to change equipment in the middle of a 3200 mile trip.  With the exception of a few days, I did all my training and riding so far with my Candy pedals and my mountain biking shoes (Mavic's).  But I got the Speed Play road pedals and some really spiffy (fashionably speaking) new road shoes.  So I really wanted to use the new stuff--bad idea.

Anyway, I changed back to my tried and true Candy/Mavic combo after a day and half, but the knee problems have been off and on ever since.  Today was knee pain: on.  It didn't help that the day started with a monster hill--short, Missouri-style--but straight up (some folks said it was like 16% grade).

So after six and half miles I threw in the towel and jumped in the van.  It was my grouchiest day so far.  And, to boot, riding in the van all day wasn't so great for the knee, either!  Lots of ice and some great message work by Tara and there is hope for tomorrow...

Day 27, Mile 2212: West Plains, Missouri

Today: 103 miles (the whole way!), 9265 feet of climbing! saddle time 7:39, 13.3 mph, 8000 kcal
Cumulative: 23 biking days, 1685 miles, 83000 feet.

Today we continued on from Branson through the Ozarks.  It was a beautiful day, but it was hill after hill after hill.  So we did over 9000 feet of climbing, a similar amount of descending for a total elevation gain of only 49 feet!  But I like the short hills and now I'm quite a bit faster on them.  I'm very pleased with my 13 mph.  But my legs are jelly.  And tomorrow is another century in similar hilly terrain.  (In fact, the next three days are 109, 102, and 98 miles.)  Well, I hope I can make it.  My knee was feeling much better today, better than the two previous biking days and so I didn't have any trouble finishing the whole day (aside from the usual exhaustion, etc.).

Branson was a trip.  They call it the Las Vegas of the east, but that's gotta be a joke. The place is really tacky. They do have a half size replica of the Titanic including a fake iceberg (not kidding) with tidy-bowl-blue water spraying up the bow to mimic a wake. Oh, and there are no casinos, not even a cheesy floating one which I was expecting.  You have to go back to Indian lands in Oklahoma for any gambling. Our group also brought the average age of the people in Branson down a few years and the average weight down dramatically.  Tim is planning on opening a bike shop back in New York when he returns so has been visiting bike shops across America.  Needless to say, the one in Branson wasn't doing so well.

It was freezing cold and pouring rain on the rest day.  This gave me the excuse to stay in the hotel all day and watch movies--actually pretty pleasant aside from the hangover.  On Thursday when we arrived, I started drinking early.  I haven't had anything to drink except an occasional glass of wine for a month now, so I thought it was high time.  Bet gave me a beer from the cooler to start, then I went searching out a decent martini, then I had to have a margarita at the Mexican dinner and of course sample some of Chris' excellent private label wine that he has made for himself, and a couple of Irish whiskeys with Mike and a few others, and...  At least I didn't do anything foolish except fall asleep without calling my girlfriend because I was too drunk to figure out how to charge my phone.  Now she's not talking to me...

Today's route was up and down along the and across the ridges of the gorgeous mountains here.  There were lots of cows and general bucolic bliss with cold, cold fog in the morning, but with the sun breaking out by afternoon.  We lunched in a beautiful spot in Theodosia by the Bull Shoals Lake (dammed up White River).  My only real complaint was the scary plethora of 'full gospel' churches and gun shops along the route.  The hills were incredible.  I swear I must have shifted gears more times today than across the entire state of Oklahoma.

Oh, by the way, a cheery note: Dave "Big Wave" is doing much better.  He's hobbling around with only a single crutch and looking quite chipper--very little pain.  Says he'll be back on a bike by Nashville.  Bicyclists are such bad patients...

Oh, and I am buying my wonderful bike.  It's a Madone 6.5, red/white, and was brand new at the beginning of this trip.  I'm getting a great deal.  They aren't offering the regular Madone 5s that most everyone else is using, but something about not being many 6.5s and the dealers not caring...I didn't quite follow Dan's logic but am happy to be bringing home this fast little treasure.  Hope I don't crash it before Charleston :).

Happy biking!

Day 25, Mile 2112: Branson, Missouri

Today: 35 miles (of 90).

Cumulative: 22 days, 1582 miles, 74000 feet.

And my knee was still killing me today.  I did the first 35 miles and then decided to get off the knee.  The last time I kept biking on a knee that felt like this my training was set back by two and a half weeks.  Not something I want to repeat here.  And it turned out to be a good decision as we encountered some stormy weather (akin to a hurricane, actually).

Tomorrow is a rest day!

Day 24, Mile 2022: Neosho, Missouri

Today: 55 miles (of 112 mile course), 2500 feet climbing.
Cumulative: 21 biking days, 1547 miles, 73000 feet.

Missouri! 


One should never make public decisions like "I am going to bike every mile from here on out." I was determined to do so, but my knee started hurting badly and I decided it was better to break that pledge than continue and incur an injury.  I had to make the f..ing Missouri border though after days and days and days in Oklahoma.  (Don't worry, I didn't even come close to winning the state line dash!  Tim did.  Those guys are incredible.  I want to be like them when I grow up.)

By the way, the LiquiGas kit is my favorite, especially with the arm warmers.