June 16 Crossing America

Hodgenville, KY – Rough River Dam Resort and State Park.
Distance 58 miles

First to rise, pack and out of camp by 6:50 AM, actually the others were waiting for Amber’s dad to arrive as this is her last day and they are going to ride with her as a group.  I’m too slow to be part of the group thus went solo which works well for them and me.  I will miss Amber she is so full of energy and life much like a good bubbly Champaign.
She’s a grad student majoring in education; her students will be blessed with a positive experience.

The first 34 miles today we wormed out way through gentle rolling hills.  It would have been a great day to be on my S-Works if I could get it to shift into the small chain ring up front.  Spirit is like a farm/draft horse for pulling a load but not going to win any speed contests.   While my S-Works is like driving a Ferrari though be it powered by a VW
engine, that’s the Old Guy.

At 38 miles there was a .2 mile hill which began with about a 9% grade finishing with a 19% grade.  Ever get something in your head and not be able to get it out.  That’s me when it comes to climbing hills especially steep ones like this one.  First I keep repeating to myself, “I think I can, I think I can, chug, chug.  I know I can, I know I can, chug, chug.  I knew I could, I knew I could, chug, chug”.  My second weapon in my arsenal for climbing hills is thinking of all of you who believe in me, I’ll be dammed if I let you down.  Thank you one and all for your supportive words.

After “The Hill” the hills became a bit steeper and longer for the remaining 20 miles.  We’re staying in another State Park, this one not nearly as good a shower facility as we only had cold water but at least it was a shower.  So far in 16 days, we’ve gone four days with no shower, two days with hosing off with a garden hose, two cold shower days, leaving 8 days we actually have had a decent hot shower after a hard day of riding.
On this adventure that is a “luxury”.

Did have a close call within the first 3 miles this morning turned onto a rural road and
was approaching a slight rise in the road when a woman in an SUV came barreling
over the hill on my side of the road.  I tried to make eye contact with her but it was like she was a zombie staring off into never never land.  Finally I had no choice but to take to the ditch, it was a shallow ditch and the grass was soft so didn’t break anything on my bike or me.  For the remainder of my ride on this narrow twisting road I did hug the far right side and kept my eyes open for any other zombie driving women.

The only other incident today was that Chris was bit on the calf by a dog as he was passing a home that had a pack of about half dozen mutts.   Chris is such a nice kid, damm dogs.  No make that damm ignorant people who own them.

Being the first on the road, the rest of the group riding together and taking minimal breaks members of the group didn’t begin passing me until about 40 miles out.  I finished toward the end of the pack by the time we got to the park.  It was nice to have another short day as I could check out the beauty of the western Kentucky.  Saw a turkey run non-stop through two fields about ¼ mile, a couple more deer and took a couple pictures.

This evening Pepper worked his magic on my shifting problem and I’m going to try riding it in the morning.  As we approach Illinois the terrain should be a little more flat and probably won’t need all my low end gearing anyway, hopefully.

I wish for all your dreams and wishes to become a reality for you.

That’s all the news from the Old Guy for today.

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