Day 12, 45 hard miles, Waynseboro to Natural Bridge, VA
Day 11, 75 hard miles, Culpeper to Waynesboro, VA
Day 10, work day, Culpeper, VA
Sometimes it seems like riding takes up my entire day. I wake up thinking about it, I go to sleep plotting the next day’s route, the details of riding comprise too much of my thought bandwith throughout the day.
It makes sense. This is a 70 day xUS bike tour, after all. It’s about riding bike, nearly every day. But actual time on the seat (and a lot of time standing lately with all the hills of Virginia) only consists of between five and eight hours a day. That leaves many empty hours, some for sleeping of course. But what about the rest of the day?
Some people have asked: what do I do when I’m not riding? Where do I sleep at night? And where do I eat? Etc. So I’ll fill you in on the details.
Here’s my reality:
That is, this is a working trip. The way I am able to bike across the country and be away from home for three months is by working on the road. I packed my laptop and a few essential materials, and find 20+ hours every week to maintain my virtual presence. That means this somewhat sad scene of a mobile working office in hotel rooms.
It hasn’t been easy finding the time, but mornings work best, so I’m typically up at 6 a.m. working for a few hours before setting off on the bike. It also means more hotels than I would prefer, for the wifi. The entire first week was hotels because my work schedule was so jammed (and because there aren’t many places to camp between Boston and Washington, D.C.
But lately I’ve been working in camping, alternating one night camping with one night hotel. Camping feeds the adventure way more than a hotel room.
As for what I eat: usually a high-protein meal at a restaurant for dinner. While riding, high-protein snacks and energy bars.
All this is likely to change as I work my way west. That is, more camping, less working, more camping meals, different riding hours. I’ll keep you posted.
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Up, Up, Up
For now, day 12 of my x-country tour, I’m in Virginia, working my way across the Shenandoah Valley. Virginia is 1) beautiful, 2) affluent, and 3) hilly! Emphasis on #3 from my perspective.
The hills make for tough riding, because at this point I’m mostly gaining elevation. That is, I’m climbing a lot more than I’m coasting. I knew there was a reason I was taking all those cold rides up into the hill towns around the Pioneer Valley in March and April. The upside of climbing is the views. This could be Western Massachusetts, I thought.
And here’s the well-earned view of the Shenandoah Valley below, from Rockfish Gap leading into Waynesboro, VA.
I wouldn’t mind flatter terrain, but I can’t complain. At least I’m out of the city traffic. And when I reach Arkansas and Texas and the terrain flattens out, I know I’ll miss the variation of these hills, (though I won’t miss the constant climbing.)