Day 8: Helpful Thomas & Heat Exhaustion: Christianburg,VA to Wytheville,VA

The plan today was for solid mileage and a moderate recovery from yesterday’s 80+ mile hilly bonanza. The reality was that the accumulated fatigue really hit me hard. I had a good ride up until the last 20 miles, but my body has demanded a rest day and so tomorrow a rest day it shall have.Appalachian Virginia was cool temperatures and ethereal mists this morning. There was a fragile beauty to the scenery as I coasted by. The farmhouses and businesses had a feel of something between rural and suburban. Sort of a cosmopolitan rurality, if you will. And if you won’t, than perhaps I’ll just say the country folk round here watch a lot of HGTV. In support of this absurd argument, I present Snow White on the front lawn:

I continued along the New River. This river captures much of the water from the mountain basin I’ve been riding through for the last 100 miles or so, and the river is impressively wide given how early in its meandering I witnessed it.

Frequent steep hills on a gradually increasing incline tired me greatly… perhaps too much relative to some of my prior climbs. Eventually I ended up in Draper, VA at the Junction Bike Shop which is attached to the Draper Mercantile Exchange. The owner, Thomas, has in just two short years of opening his shop become something of a fixture on the TransAm trail. He regularly inspects cross country biker’s rigs and gives advice and expertise on the setup. His advice to me proved prophetic. He told me that on his TransAm trip in 2012 he got very fatigued and the low mileage days weren’t refreshing him. However, a full day off the bike completely recharged his batteries. He strongly advised me to take a rest day soon. In addition to his sound advice about personal care he inspected my cables and brakes and adjusted the latter. No charge, just being helpful.

The next 20 miles were an incarnation of evil itself. I’ve never been so exhausted in my life. It took almost four hours in the blazing sun to reach the town of Wytheville, VA. Long inclines and an unforgiving sun further sapped my strength. Running on fumes, I rolled up to a B&B that looked promising for a two day rest. The owner took one look at my sweaty biker appearance and promptly told me they were all booked up, contrary to their website information. A quick google search directed me to Comfort Inn suites, just UP the road. *sigh*

Fortunately, on my way up I met Phil and Linda, who are also traveling across the country. The three of us worked our way up to Comfort Suites with no small amount of grumbling and cursing the fracking hills. We were *very* tired. After some negotiation about where to store the bikes, I took a brief respite (i.e. I completely passed out for an hour).