Malcolm doesn't approve of motels

It rained until 10:30, so Mick and I left around 11 to begin our ride. Unfortunately, Mick's front dérailleur cable broke yesterday, so he had been in his granny gear since then. We got to the first bike shop and it was closed, so we biked to the next one, and got it fixed. He was ecstatic! I couldn't imagine being in my smallest chain ring for a day and a half. He took to drafting behind me during moderate downhills as he would spin out past 16 mph, and couldn't go any faster than that. 

I am now sitting in a motel room with Mick, drinking steel reserve and eating Chinese food. The beer and the food is great, but the motel is horrid. I'd much rather be sitting outside than in this expensive, stuffy room. 

However, Christiansburg, VA had no other options, so here we are! I'm giving the bed a strange look, I haven't slept in one of those since Missouri, and before that since before the trip started. 

The ride today was beautiful! After the rain ended, it stayed overcast and cool all day, which is a blessing. I'd rather get that than the 80 and 90 degree weather that should be occurring. 

Virginia is especially verdant after all the rain we have been getting - it feels almost tropical at times. 

There are 12 adventure cycling maps, and today marks he beginning of the last one! 368 miles to Yorktown from here, and we plan on doing 50 and 60 mile days until we split up, at which point I shall blast to the coast and be done around the 17th or 18th!

Love,

Malcolm 

My kingdom for a bike-sized umbrella!

Mick and I are sheltering under the pavilion we slept under last night, waiting for the rain to ease off to start pedaling. The little trickle of a stream in the park last night has now become a raging torrent, I check on it every so often to see if it has burst its banks yet. 

The beauty of slowing down and doing 50-60 mile days is that you can afford to stay in camp until 8, or 9, or 10 since there isn't as much of a hurry. Mick is writing his journal (he hopes to turn it into a book, eventually). I am reading my kindle, and we both wait as the rain appears to lessen a bit. If not, we might end up sleeping in the pavilion tonight as well. 

In other news, this tour might be changing from "Malcolm bikes across America" to "Malcolm breweries across America". There's so many microbreweries, and they are great! Mick is more of a wine guy than me, and Virginia has a lot of wineries, so we may also go through a lot of those. 

Life is good, touring with a companion again is fantastic (I can't believe I biked alone for around 40 days), and I'm now prolonging this as long as I can. The end is gazing straight at me, but I can still hide from it for a while. 

Love, 

Malcolm 

Mountains, rain, and an Irishman

So my plan failed. 

Second day, the rain was so hard and i was so tired I ended up doing 60 miles. 

However, I met Mick, an Irishman who is biking the transamerica from San francisco to Boston. He is 58, and this is his retirement gift to himself. Since I'm not in a hurry while I'm with someone, we're going to ride together for the next few days. 

Due to the rain and fatigue, we took a short day yesterday and went to Damascus, which is basically the Mecca of the AT. We stayed in a hostel, went out to the local brewery, listened to some live music, and had a fantastic time!

Today, the weather was really humid but the rain didn't start for real - we just had a very halfhearted drizzle near the end. Since we were nearing our destination with time to spare, we stopped at a winery and did some tasting. 

We also finished up with the western Appalachians! We have a huge mountain in about 150 miles, but until (and after) that it's all flat or downhill. Yay!

Life is much better with a travel partner, and I'm again enjoying the trip rather than trying to blast through it. 

Love,

Malcolm

Beautiful Appalachia!

Hi hi.
Yesterday's 100 miler went well. The Appalachians are super fun to ride up, and really satisfying to ride down - however it's been drizzling today so far, and that has been undermining morale.
I stayed at the Freeda Harris Baptist Center last night, and it was fantastic! I arrived right as food was being served for the church camp, and everyone was really nice! I chatted with a bunch of people, and had a really fun night.

Also, for all of you that are facebook friends with me - so sorry about yesterday. I guess I should be careful around sketchy free wifi.

As of now, I'm not sure if I can push the next 68 miles to Damascus, but we shall see!
Oh, and as a side note, I entered Virginia this morning!

Love,
Love, (since I forgot to say it last time)
Malcolm

Off to a bad start

I just had he worst nights sleep this whole trip, so the next two days don't bode well. Let me explain:

First, the bivy was great for the cold western nights, but when it's 80 all night, it becomes a sweltering sauna. Also, it offers 0 protection against any kind of insect, as I have to leave it pulled down to my waist for even a semblance of air flow. Problem is, there's always a chance of rain, and I'd rather be safe and not get poured on. 

I went to bed at 8, tossed and turned and swatted Mosquitos for the first hour or two until he sun went down and the temperature lowered until slightly over bearable, and fell asleep around 10:30. Woke up sweating and itchy everywhere at 12:30, and that's when the neighborhood loose dogs started showing up. One of them literally barked from 12:30 to 3:00 (I checked the time constantly), and then they started wandering around, and in fear of them getting pissed off at me / trying to eat my food I took refuge on the nearest playground drawbridge. Needless to say, it took me another hour to fall asleep. I was planning on waking up at 5, but after waking up at 4:30 and realizing I only had two and a half hours of sleep, I decided to luxuriously sleep in until 6. 

It's gonna be a rough day. 

Silly plan for the next few days

After my rest day, I have now entered the Appalachians!

Did 70 miles today, and since I want to get this last mountain range over with, I'm planning a 99 miler tomorrow, and a 95 miler the day after that. 

...I'll let you know how bad of an idea this plan is in two days. 

Love,

Young, rash, impatient, foolish Malcolm

Kentucky fun times!

I'd like to start off by saying that Kentucky is absolutely fantastic. I knew nothing about this state, and after hearing about the rabid dogs, I imagined hovels of trailers lining the roads, with hordes of mongrels slobbering angrily at me as I fearfully biked past. 

Thankfully though, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Kentucky is absolutely beautiful! It's mostly farmland, with lots of rolling hills and forested areas. When I get up in the morning everything is foggy, giving a soft edge and lending an eerie beauty to everything, even the most boring trees and telephone poles. 

I have had some interesting experiences, to say the least. Here's a sample:

I was riding and this guy waved at me, stopped his car, introduced himself, asked how I was enjoying riding through Kentucky, asked if I was riding alone, and if I had a girlfriend/boyfriend. He then said it was a pity (I answered no), said I was good looking, bid me a good afternoon, and drove away. I was flattered? I might need to stop biking around wih my jersey completely zipped open. 

I've gotten in the habit of waving to absolutely everyone on the road, be it cars, pedestrians (not many of those), motorcyclists, porch sitters, or lawn mowers. However, a few days ago I was absolutely exhausted and out of it, saw a pair of moving eyes, and waved... to a horse. I felt silly. The horse probably felt confused (and I hope, important). 

Outside a grocery store, this man came up, introduced himself as Newby, and got super excited about what I'm doing. He then insisted on buying my groceries, and went around the store talking to absolutely everyone and telling them what I was doing - I felt like I was shopping with André. 

As I was camping at Lincoln Homestead State Park, a gaggle of Amish folks  showed up on a wagon. They came over and chatted, and one of them (age 16) mentioned he biked over with some friends. We talked biking for a while, he left to let me have dinner, and came back with a $3000 full carbon Specialized road bike. The juxtaposition between his suspenders, bowl cut, traditional garb and the fancy bike was fantastic. He's riding down to Tennessee in a few weeks. Woo!

Also, that same night as I was sleeping on a picnic table under the pavilion, I woke up in the middle of the night to a pack of cayotes yelping all around, a pack of loose dogs barking at them, and the most stars I have seen in years. 

I met Chelsea, the second solo female rider I have encountered so far. From South Carolina, enjoying her ride immensely, and got super excited when I mentioned the treehouse available for bikers to spend the night in (more on that later). One beautiful thing about this tour is that while meeting other riders, the dynamic is completely different from meeting strangers. We're all a part of a big family. There's no ackward small talk. We wave, one person veers into the other side of the road, we stop, and chat. We swap stories, exchange tips on the road ahead, laugh about some shared experience, even if we're going in opposite directions. It's incredible how many people you know in common, considering you're stuck in a 60 mile "bubble" of bikers. You part ways after only a few minutes, but I always feel like out of all these people, given the chance to spend some actual time together, I would be firm friends with most of them. 

Every person I meet deserves to have way more than the paltry line or two I write about them. Everyone has such different reasons to tour, outlooks on life, philosophies, and values that are apparent even in a few minutes. My one wish about his tour is that it would be possible for me to see all the wonderful bikers I meet again. I mention this because Chelsea is the first biker I see in about a week, and I've had a lot of time to think about my fellow tourers and how amazing every single one of them is. And crazy, too. You have to be a bit insane to hop on a bike and ride all day for two to three months. 

Oh yes, the treehouse. This lovely man owns a house on stilts he built in the woods near his house, and makes it available for bikers to sleep in. It was fantastic (pictures when I next have a computer). 

And currently I am spending a rest day in Berea, KY at this awesome dude Aaron's place! I have been wiped the past few days, so it's nice to relax, listen to music that's been stuck in my head for weeks, eat a lot, and sleep inside. 

Woops, I just realized how long this blog post has been. I hope you enjoyed it and didn't tl;dr. 

Love, 

Malcolm