Day &: We had super good intentions for this day. We'd planned a pretty big mile day just short of Wheeling hoping to finally get out of Pennsylvania and hopefully out of the mountains as well. Then we got to little Washington and sat around a bit watching the wind rattle the streetlamps outside. It turned into a nero. Obviously we're really good at this bike riding thing.
Day *: Finally! Finally finally finally I made it to blogging the same day that I lived. Because that is just so much easier to do. Once a day becomes not today it blurs together with all the rest of the not today days. There is nothing as specific as last Monday, yesterday, or the 12th. In my mind days fall into one of two categories, and two categories only. Today, and not today. If it's today, cool, if it's not today, whatever. And that's how I see it. But it's today! Oh gloriousness it is today! Today today today! Let me tell you about today! Because today was one of those days where it didn't really go as planned and it was all the more eventful for it!
I woke up feeling pretty good today. So did Stumbles. We both woke up around 5:30 and unanimously decided to go back to sleep for another half hour before starting to get everything together. Since we'd neroed the past two days I was feeling fresh and I swear my quads are an inch or two wider than the day I started this trip. Stumbles informed me that she'd booked a place for us 70 miles away. Okay cool, that means we ARE going to go 70 miles today. It's time to start getting at least a little bit of distance now that we are out of the Appalachian mountains. We need some street cred you know? Instead of being these two fools drinking wine and eating their way across America we need to be these two fools drinking wine, eating, and riding their bikes across America. I was cool with it. It was a great day for big miles, super overcast, but cold. And so we were off.
We were off and doing great. The hills weren't killing us, in fact they were just enough to keep me warm. The terrain was good and my ass wasn't alight in pain. All was well, we were hitting it good and feeling great too. Before we knew it we were at the border of PA and WV! Woo! Goodbye PA and good riddance to your mountain riddled southern half! Hello West Virginia, I hope we get along well.
I realized quickly we wouldn't get along because West Virginia is still living about 100 years in the past and doesn't know how to pave a road properly. Pot hole after pot hole after giant crack traversing the entirety of the road. Every 10 feet there was something unavoidable and it took its toll on my already bent rim. I felt something go, and, at first, I thought it was a flat. I looked down at my back tire and no flat, but something was wrong. I stopped and looked at it. Looks like I just broke a spoke. No problem, I can handle that. Stumbles borrows some wire cutters from the working crew that happens to be across the street and I just cut it off thinking I'll ride the 10 more miles to Wheeling and get it fixed there. Well... it wasn't just the spoke. The rim was bent more than it was before hand. It was bent, really bent. Bent like I was in Ireland bent. Completely unrideable... No way at all. My grandpa, always having the best words of wisdom, would say this to me: you're SOL, shit out of luck. Thanks grandpa.
What was there to do but try and hitch into town? Good thing I'm the best hitcher there ever was. Stumbles wandered off to see if she could find a ride while I good ol' fashion thumbed it. 10 minutes maybe, that was it, before Jeff picked us up (a well doing mom tried to help us before that but we couldn't fit the bikes in the car). Jeff is a volunteer firefighter and an EMT. He was just on his way to breakfast when he saw these two no good bicyclist on the side of the road and being a biker himself (motorcyclist) helped us out by taking us to the bike store in Wheeling!
The guy at the bike store fixed me up good with one of his wheels that he'd recently acquired, he was a super nice dude. Lovely little bike shop and enthusiastic about life. It was awesome! We then proceeded to have breakfast at an amazing little diner with Jeff where we got to know him a little better. Super kind and nice guy! It was great meeting you Jeff!
Since that took us a little while me and Stumbles decided to get on our way and hit it hard. Which we did for a while. We had to jump on the interstate once because we weren't going to take a 10 mile detour when we could just ride the interstate for one mile. Problem was half the interstate was missing...
We needed to do that same thing again later, jump on the interstate for a bit that is, by jumping a fence, hopping on the interstate, and riding a mile or two to the next access road. We decided to climb up over this little hill and the barbed wire fence to get to the interstate on the other side, but when we got to the top there was a little baby cow inside the fence. When I say little baby cow I mean, since I don't know anything about how to age a cow, he was probably like a 12 year old boy in human years. He was angsty and curious about us. We were considering braving him, but I was totally getting a rape vibe from him so we decided to ride back a ways and find a better crossing. As we rode off we heard a moo from a lonely cow follow us down the road.
When we were about to forge through the forest to the only fence stopping us a truck was driving by and we put our thumbs out mostly for fun and because it was a truck that could take our bikes too, Funnily enough mike stopped for us and drove us the 2 miles stretch of the interstate so we wouldn't have to ride it. It was awesome, thanks Mike!!
We finished out the last 16 miles of the day to make it to a total of 70 miles no problem, A really random day with a few twist and turns, but that's how adventure is supposed to be!
Be happy everyone!
Beacon
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