Day 79 – Radford, Virginia to Daleville, Virginia

Avoiding the Rain– Again

Friday morning I was ready to go at 9:00 but the rain began, adding to some that had fallen earlier. So I sat around for a while writing Thursday’s post and by then it had stopped. The hourly forecast said it might begin again over the rest of the morning but not into the afternoon.

I had to go 12 miles to the town of Christianburg and stop at the post office. The maps I use are in twelve separate sections and I had somehow lost the 12th one after the stop in Lookout last Sunday.  So I ordered a replacement from Adventure Cycling and had it sent to the post office. It is possible to grab a regular road map and make your way, but the AC maps are full of good information and keep you from getting on roads that aren’t the best for riding.

It was windy and cold for nearly all of the day.  At some points it looked bad and I would have thought that rain was coming in, but the forecast was right.  It never started.

I had mentioned the other day that after dealing with numerous dogs in Kentucky and always hearing them barking or seeing them unleashed on the roadside, that they probably wouldn’t just magically disappear when I got into Virginia. Well, so far they have. Since I’ve crossed the border I’ve heard just a few bark and none of them have chased me. It makes you wonder what it is about Kentucky.

The 58 mile ride for the day was nice.  I was happy to get it in as I thought I might have had to sit out with how the forecast was a few days earlier. The cold, cloudy weather with gusts of wind made for a different experience. Still lots of climbs, but I was glad to see on the map that things are settling down a little as far as that goes. One exception will be the last major climb of the trip on Sunday.

Amina, the woman I was riding with last week, sent me a message asking if I was riding in the rain.  She is now three days behind me and was taking a day off in Damascus, saying that it had been raining there all day. I got lucky again and in looking at the forecast into next week and the finish, I won’t be dealing with it at all anymore.

So for the entire trip, 4,034 miles so far, I’d say I’ve easily spent less than 90 minutes riding in rain– although on Day 32 out of Lander, Wyoming  I was riding like mad to stay out of it, and I did sit out an extra day in Newton, Kansas because of a bad forecast. Still, it seems unbelieveable that you can spend this much time on the road and have it affect the trip as little as it did.

Just a few miles from reaching Daleville, the skies began to clear and it was turning into a nice afternoon. It’s such a difference to be riding with gray skies all day and then all the sudden the blue appears.

The forecast for the weekend is cold and very windy, but it looks like the wind might be in my favor.