Wythesville, VA to Damascus, VA – 60 Miles
Early start today. Woke up around 6:30, made some coffee and oatmeal, packed up, and we were on the road by 7:30 at the latest. It was a good thing too, because the morning was cloudy, but by the afternoon the sun was scorching and the high was in the 80’s.
The beginning of the ride was pretty uneventful. The route paralleled I-81 to Rural Retreat then started to head south toward Mt. Rogers.
After Sugar Grove, Va we started the last big series of climbs to get out of the Appalachians. I guess the Appalachians are actually two mountain ranges separated by the Shenandoah Valley. The range farther west that we were going over today is the younger of the two ranges. Our destination for the day was Damascus, Va which is an AT through hiker town.
Although the climb was fairly long it wasn’t too steep. There was a short descent and then finished the climb just south of Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. On the second climb we got chased by our first set of dogs. They started out after Max, and since I was behind him went for me when they couldn’t catch him. As they were running towards us I thought maybe there was an electric fence and they’d stop once they hit the property boundary. They didn’t. One of them, a herding dog of some sort, came right for me. I grabbed my water bottle and attempted to squirt him as he was biting my rear pannier. After one bite of the pannier he relented his chase, but the experience definitely made it clear what we are in for through Kentucky. I hear they are a real problem for cyclist on the Trans Am through there. When we got to Damascus I grabbed some dog spray at a local bike shop to hopefully keep fido at bay next time. Also patched up the holes in my pannier from his teeth, at least it wasn’t my calf.
The ride down the mountain into Damascus was awesome! Best downhill of the trip so far. I hit 50 mph! Tried to take video of it with my phone, but the hard drive filled up before the good stuff. Oh well.
We went to try to meet up with a guy who manages a bike shop here, Pepper, who had done a few Bike the US for MS rides, but he wasn’t working today. Decided to camp at a hostel run by a church in town. After scoping it out we went and had a beer at a local restaurant, the Old Mill. Since we got to town early and it was a somewhat short ride day we had a lot of time to kill. When the Old Mill closed around 5 PM we went and officially checked in at the hostel.
To kill some more time I went to another restaurant, not even sure what it’s called now as I sit here typing this post. Met a guy here names Joe who is through hiking the AT. Used to be a medic in the Navy and was essentially on the front lines in Fallujah, Iraq going house to house with the Marines. Now it sounds like he does jobs for the government here and there. Cool incognito stuff. Going to head back now and try to set up my tent before it gets too dark.
