June 16, 2006
Day 15: Berea, KY to Harrodsburg, KY
53.04 Miles, 4:11:20 Ride Time, 12.68 Average Speed, 38.3 Maximum Speed
After a late motel-day start (my fault - Peter and Cay were up and ready long before me), Peter and I rode out around 9:30. We were only going to Harrodsburg, a relatively short day, where my Mother was going to meet us. The early part of the ride out of Berea was as flat as a pancake, although the terrain quickly turned to the rolling hills of central Kentucky, with which I am very familiar.
After about 15 or 20 miles, we met a couple of Eastbound cyclists. The younger of the two was completing his TransAm from the year before (I believe he had previously ridden from Oregon to Illinois). The older guy (his father?) was only riding with him for a short time. We did the usual comparing of notes about what was ahead, and I noticed that he was riding a road bike with a double, not triple ring - and he was pulling a BOB trailer. I warned him about the mountains in Kentucky and Virginia, and thought to myself that he would probably have some serious trouble climbing those hills without the "granny gear" - certainly there was no way I could do it. While we were talking, a mailman pulled up and asked if we were lost; we all said no, and he warned Peter and me that it would be very easy to miss the next turn onto Jack Turner Road. We thanked him, and rode on.
Sure enough, we almost missed the turn onto Jack Turner Road, which was a very nice, shaded, downhill (for Westbounders, anyway) lane. After Jack Turner ended, all too soon, we met up with Mark Snyder and Ryan Hill, two of the college guys riding East to West (I had previously met the third guy, Kyle French, several times on the trip, and had last talked to Ryan on day 4, as I rode back to Wyant's store to retrieve my left-behind helmet...). They were still riding unloaded bikes, but now they each had on backpacks; apparently, Kyle (and their support vehicle) were taking a few days off.
The next several miles were hot and unpleasant (for me, anyway - Peter maintained his "I'm on a bike ride!" good mood). I was craving gatorade, and the next three stores we stopped at didn't have any, nor did they have public restrooms. How does it make sense to sell live bait but no sports drinks?
We finally rode into the little town of Burgin (pronounced with a hard "g", I was later informed by one of its residents). The first place I saw was called The Kickstand, and I got all excited, thinking it was a bike shop. It turned out it was actually a place that sold motorcycle accessories, and had only been open for 48 hours, according to the nice lady who owned the place. She had a freezer of ice cream cones, Peter and I each bought one, and the lady told use we were her first ice cream customers. We compared motorcycling vs. bicycling for a while, then we left and walked across the street to the grocery store, where I finally satisfied my craving for "Rain" Gatorade.
The four miles from Burgin to Harrodsburg were on a busy stretch of road. When we got into town we stopped at a service station and asked someone where the motels were. Peter rode off to scout them out while I stopped at the nearby public library to check my email. This was the first time on the trip that I had used a library's internet connection, and it was easy - no long forms to fill out, and no strict time limit. I only stayed there 15 minutes, and then headed towards the motel. It was farther out of town then I had assumed - three miles on a slight uphill, with more traffic than I am happy to share the road with. When I arrived at the motel (a Day's Inn), I learned that the "Free High Speed Internet" advertised on their sign was not working. Great.
I cleaned up and changed clothes while Peter watched World Cup soccer on TV. After a while my Mom and her friend Louie arrived. They drove us to a nearby restaurant where I had the seafood buffet and about 8 glasses of Diet Pepsi - it had been a hot day, and I couldn't seem to get enough to drink.
Later, after Mom and Louie left (and I turned down a chance to give up the trip and return home) , I lay on my bed reading USA Today while Peter watched more soccer. I began to feel queasy, and despite my best efforts to wish away the impending nausea, I found myself not long afterward violently throwing up the contents of the buffet. Was it the fried shrimp and clam strips? The ridiculous amount of Pepsi I drank? I don't know, but in any case I felt much better afterward, and went to bed.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 865 miles (1,392 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |