The highway engineers in Virginia and Kentucky all attended the same school, where the primary instruction consisted of this: “If it’s between 8% and 12% grade, it’s perfect!” Today’s route featured three reasonably long climbs that all adhered perfectly to this range!
I also survived my first real rain. It wasn’t bad at all, because it never went below 65°F. I did put on my rain jacket, but I was drenched anyway because of the hills. Since I have at least a week of rain ahead, it was good to confirm that it’s not too unpleasant to ride in.
I had my first run-ins with the notorious dogs of Kentucky. Only one seriously scared me, though. I was riding up a steep hill, and I saw him at least 30 feet below me, down a steep embankment. He was barking and running parallel to the road. Thinking I was out of his range, I looked away. A second later, I saw him launch himself over the edge of the embankment straight towards me. I screamed, “No! Bad dog!” but, instead of sounding commanding, I sounded terrified, and this had no effect on him. He launched himself at my bike, and I heard him attack my rear pannier. I felt the drag of his body for a second, then he let go. I grabbed my policeman’s whistle that I keep on a lanyard and let out an ear-piercing whistle, but he’d already lost interest in me. I am glad it was my pannier instead of my leg! Incidentally, the pannier is fine. Ortlieb makes tough bags!
I finally met another bike tourist! I’d been hearing about him every couple days, because he also started in DC. When I told people I started in DC, sometimes they’d say, “Oh, I met a guy a couple days ago who is doing that!” Well, when I got to my stop for the night, he was already here. We shared stories and had pizza together, and he encouraged me to get rid of some things, so I went down to the post office and mailed off a couple things I hadn’t yet used: Camera, extra pair of MTB shorts, computer mouse case, and a selfie stick!
Jim’s blog is here: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/scruffyboysbigadventure2019
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