Our Bikecentennial guidebook calls this the rolling Piedmont of Louisa and Hanover counties. Contemplating the issue of gravity on the porch of Kent's Store, I decided I'm carrying too much stuff.
These might be called rollercoaster hills, but they aren't as much fun as an amusement park. I speed downhill at top speed, cross a creek, then begin the uphill then begin the uphill struggle. All that momentum is lost the moment the slope changes. Even though I had installed a triple chainring, giving me 15 gears, I can't downshift fast enough to sustain any speed. I'm either jamming the chain or dropping down to the lowest gears, spinning the pedals furiously to make any progress.... more»
I jumped out of the sack before 6, but we still didn't leave until 8. Three packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast. It's still friggin' cold (see Bruce in sweater, left).
After pedaling around Ashland, we headed up some narrow roads to Scotchtown, the home of Patrick Henry. We ate an early lunch there and met the groundskeeper, an old guy in beatup overalls. Talking to him about how long ... more»
After another breakfast of instant coffee, Pop-tarts and juice, we followed the campground owner's directions to the TransAmerica bicycle route via the historical Washington-Rochambeau route.
Today was chilly riding. Bruce wore polypro bottoms and tops, sweats, turtleneck, wool sweater, gloves and a hat under his helmet. Yesterday's warmish 80 degree high makes the weather today seem that much cooler.... more»
We awoke to roosters crowing Monday morning. They walked down the hill from the house and strutted around our campsite.
Bruce and I climbed out of the tent at 5:45. It took us two hours to get ready, and most of that was just repacking our panniers so that the stuff we'd probably use first was at the top.
After pop tarts and coffee (the water heated on a one-burner Coleman stove), we were back on the road at 8. ... more»
Pre-Ramble: My friend Bruce and I rode our bicycles cross-country in 1984. I've posted our day-by-day combined journals here since I started this blog in 2005. Many of you have seen them in previous years, but I get a kick out of seeing them again. Anyone taking a recent TransAmerica bicycle tour might enjoy seeing how much things have changed, or stayed the same. Read more journal entries at TransAmerica Tour 1984.
Our first day on the TransAmerica bicycle route started with butterflies in our stomachs, a flurry of goodbyes, and a frantic search for a campground that no longer existed.
My bicycling buddy Bruce and I unpacked the car at the Yorktown Victory Monument, a park that commemorated the surrender of Gen. Cornwallis at the end of the Revolutionary War. You could say it marked the end of the road for the British, and the beginning for us .... more»
I can't close off this cross-country bicycle trip without a postscript, because the tour really didn't end for me when we arrived in Oceanside. Still suffering from wanderlust, the trip ended for me up the Pacific coast with a chance meeting with another cyclist who had ridden ahead of us on our bike tour.
It made me realize that while we cross-country bicycle tourists are pedaling through the world, we're also cycling in our own world... more»
OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA -- Bruce and I achieved the goal today -- to ride from coast to coast -- that we'd made up our minds to accomplish two years ago. It seems like the end arrived too soon.
The whole dynamics of the cross-country bike tour had changed. We set out as two riders and finished as a group of five, including the driver of the fully provisioned blue van. This morning that didn't upset me anymore. We set out in the clear, dry mountain air as if it were just another day on the bikes. ...
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LAKE HENSHAW, CALIFORNIA -- The last full day on the road ended in warm camaraderie making toasts around a picnic table. But it began much chillier than that for me.
I was slow waking up as I felt totally exhausted from the day before. I was finally breaking camp when I heard the crunch of tires on the road leading to ... more»
ANZA-BORREGO STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA -- Too much heat? Not enough water? Too much pedaling through the desert? Too close to the end of the trip? I can't explain it, but I isolated myself from the group today and rode up to a solitary campground in the desert. Expecting another hot day, we set the alarm for 4:30 but didn't really ... more»
YUMA, ARIZONA -- There are days on this cross-country trip that I anticipated from the first time I spread out the maps on the table in my apartment in Annapolis. One was the climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia; another was going up and over Monarch Pass in Colorado. Today was another -- 80 miles across the ... more»
QUARTZSITE, ARIZONA - I awoke about sunup this morning and ... no Bruce.
It had been so hot and dry, we didn't see the need to pitch the tent last night. We threw the tarp down and just slept on that, until, at some point in the night, I realized all kinds of insects were walking around on me. I took my mat and put it on a picnic table and went back to sleep. Jim had already booked the other table .... more»
AGUILA, ARIZONA -- We're camping at the City Park here tonight. We've left all the cool, shady mountains behind us, and we're out where it's dry, sunny and hot. The park doesn't have much; just a picnic shelter and a small building for restrooms. At the back of his building is a water spigot that drips. In the puddle underneath there sits a toad. I noticed him ... more»
PRESCOTT, ARIZONA -- We spent much of today in the small gears, the stump-pullers, the grannies.
We started our climb almost immediately after leaving Dead Horse campground. Jim had already left -- we told him we always got a late start -- and we gingerly picked our way across that slippery low-water bridge.
The old ghost town of Jerome was ... more»
Cottonwood, Ariz. -- We've liked everyone who has crossed our path as we cycle cross-country. Today is the exception. The scenery here has been beautiful, though, and the terrain has been in our favor.
We faced a major chore breaking camp at the Motel 6 -- our laundering and bike cleaning resulted in our crap strewn from one of the ... more»
FLAGSTAFF -- We stayed here in Flagstaff another day to parcel out our time. We want to meet up with our friends from the UK in a couple of days further down the road.
It's hard to do nothing. We cleaned our bikes, did laundry, sat out by the pool, drank a couple of beers and it started raining. Back inside, the housekeeper slipped us a key to operate the TV -- this was a Motel 6 and we hadn't paid the extra few bucks for the feature. ... more»
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. - We rode through hail and back to get to Flagstaff today. Why we left the Grand Canyon, I have no idea. I guess we're just too accustomed to hitting the road everyday.
We awoke at dawn this morning, and took all the gear off our bikes for a ride out to the South Rim for more sunrise pictures. We flew along without the panniers,and I found it difficult to steer the bike straight. Returning to camp, we loaded up to our old sluggish selves and left by 9, stopping at the camp store ... more»
It's nearly two months into our cross-country bicycle tour, and I finally get off the bicycle for a hike. There's just no way to get into the Grand Canyon on a bike.
Before dawn Bruce and I broke camp and started our ride along the South Rim road to Grand Canyon Village. It was a short ride but it took forever -- just too many picture possibilities. Dawn and dusk are the best times to shoot the canyon because the low sun adds shadows that gives depth to the formations.... more»
Although I had visited the Grand Canyon a couple of times before, I never really appreciated in a personal way how it was formed until I rode there on my bicycle.
All the books (well, the scientific ones) say that eons ago, a plateau rose up in this area while a river cut through the rock. I always understood the erosion part, but I didn't get the rising plateau part until I realized I was climbing a big hill on my bicycle to get to the canyon ... more»
TUBA CITY, ARIZ. - We passed through the Hopi Reservation today, in an area where age-old conflicts and rituals still exist.
The Hopi generally live in settlements on three mesas, that look like three fingers jutting from a high plateau in the north. The road passes south of the First, but climbs over the Second (above) and Third. The Hopi have lived on these ... more»
Our Bikecentennial guidebook calls this the rolling Piedmont of Louisa and Hanover counties. Contemplating the issue of gravity on the porch of Kent's Store, I decided I'm carrying too much stuff. 
I jumped out of the sack before 6, but we still didn't leave until 8. Three packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast. It's still friggin' cold (see Bruce in sweater, left).
After another breakfast of instant coffee, Pop-tarts and juice, we followed the campground owner's directions to the TransAmerica bicycle route via the historical Washington-Rochambeau route.
We awoke to roosters crowing Monday morning. They walked down the hill from the house and strutted around our campsite. 
Pre-Ramble: My friend Bruce and I rode our bicycles cross-country in 1984. I've posted our day-by-day combined journals here since I started this blog in 2005. Many of you have seen them in previous years, but I get a kick out of seeing them again. Anyone taking a recent TransAmerica bicycle tour might enjoy seeing how much things have changed, or stayed the same. Read more journal entries at 
I can't close off this cross-country bicycle trip without a postscript, because the tour really didn't end for me when we arrived in Oceanside. Still suffering from wanderlust, the trip ended for me up the Pacific coast with a chance meeting with another cyclist who had ridden ahead of us on our bike tour.
OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA -- Bruce and I achieved the goal today -- to ride from coast to coast -- that we'd made up our minds to accomplish two years ago. It seems like the end arrived too soon.
ANZA-BORREGO STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA -- Too much heat? Not enough water? Too much pedaling through the desert? Too close to the end of the trip? I can't explain it, but I isolated myself from the group today and rode up to a solitary campground in the desert.
QUARTZSITE, ARIZONA - I awoke about sunup this morning and ... no Bruce. 
Cottonwood, Ariz. -- We've liked everyone who has crossed our path as we cycle cross-country. Today is the exception. The scenery here has been beautiful, though, and the terrain has been in our favor.
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. - We rode through hail and back to get to Flagstaff today. Why we left the Grand Canyon, I have no idea. I guess we're just too accustomed to hitting the road everyday.
It's nearly two months into our cross-country bicycle tour, and I finally get off the bicycle for a hike. There's just no way to get into the Grand Canyon on a bike.
Although I had visited the Grand Canyon a couple of times before, I never really appreciated in a personal way how it was formed until I rode there on my bicycle.
TUBA CITY, ARIZ. - We passed through the Hopi Reservation today, in an area where age-old conflicts and rituals still exist.
KEAMS CANYON, ARIZ. - We started riding across the wide expanse of the Navajo Reservation this morning and added to our tribe.
