RockFORD Road & George Williams Road Adventure

April 15, 2010

Today we learned there are usually reasons why "Ford" might be included in the name of a road. It was a very difficult day, partly because it was hot, but also because of hills and semi-trucks passing while rumble strips made it difficult to get onto what shoulder there was on the road.

Here is an example of the deep rumble strips cut into the side of the road. When attempting to escape traffic that was passing us too closely, the rumble strips would shake the bike so badly that it was difficult to maintain control. In one location there was actually a great shoulder, but TWO rows of rumble strips has been cut in, side by side, as if one row of rumble strips would not be sufficient to wake a sleepy driver.

Problems with rumble strips continued throughout Alabama and Mississippi. Since we saw only one other cyclists in both states combined, I guess the highway departments never even considered that in their efforts to make the road safer for drowsy drivers, they make it much more dangerous for cyclists. When I returned to West Virginia, I wrote to the WV Dept of Highways to make sure they consider the needs of cyclists when carving in rumble strips on state roads.

While navigating quick escapes across the rumble strips I realized that we could not continue with the weight loaded onto the tandem as it was. Several times, the oscillation created by the vibration of the rumble strips made it difficult to control the loaded tandem, as if the close proximity of the traffic was not dangerous enough. We decided we were going to give up on camping, ship 20 lbs. of gear home and motel it the rest of the way.

The one touring cyclist we met while in Alabama and Mississippi was a friendly gentleman named Laurence, also riding the Underground Railroad route.* He was traveling with a guitar, which made for an unusual bicycle loading profile.

Our problems today began after we missed a turn. Rather than retrace our route, we decided to take a shortcut on Rockford Rd. Things got worse after that!

Rockford Road was no longer a pleasant paved country road.

Rhona, I think we now know why it's named "RockFORD Road".

It took a while to unload the panniers, wade across the creek with the gear and reassemble the bike. Two guys fishing upstream appeared to appreciate our efforts and were most encouraging.

The "detour" added 8 miles and 2 hours onto today's ride which was already expected to be a long and hot ride. After escaping from the water, the next sign we came upon was "George Williams Rd." which appeared to be named after a good friend of ours. Of course we stopped for a picture.

As the day continued, I did not drink sufficient liquid until it was too late to catch up. Part of the problem at first was that I was reluctant to let go of the handlebar to reach down for a water bottle, never knowing when we might have to steer across the rumble strip gauntlet. Later, for some reason, I had a desire to conserve the water we had, although there were numerous homes along the way where we could have refilled. Regardless, by the end of the day, I had long since "hit the wall", having to walk up even mild grades. At the end of the day we pulled into a small rural general store for cold liquids. The owner was an elderly gentleman who was very interested in our trip, even taking time to give us a map and recommending routes. It was nice to sit in the store talking to the man as well as two other men sitting there, but the miles were still waiting and we moved on. It was great to finally get to a hotel, but in spite of trying my best, I still could not get enough water in me.

*Actually, we only saw two children riding bicycles in their driveway and one elderly man riding a bicycle on a side street the entire time we were in Alabama and Mississippi.

Today's ride: 76 miles (122 km)
Total: 132 miles (212 km)

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