Last time I wrote I was saying how getting out on the gravel roads was a great way to deal with the winter weather. Turns out I’m actually a bit of a wimp. On Tuesday I jumped in the car and drove about 13hrs down to Asheville, NC. Dan Timmerman from the team this had lived there for awhile and thought I should give it a try, so here I am. After riding here the last 4 days I’m realizing that climbing is the common theme on every single ride. I have yet to average more than 24.6km/hr. That is slow.
Yesterday I also had the experience of riding through some tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Now I have ridden through some tunnels in the past, usually they are pretty short and not a big deal. But the first 2 I encountered were a little spooky. They are not overly long, but there are no lights, so when you get right in the middle it is pretty much completely black. I could not see the yellow line or my handlebars in front of me. Basically I was just focusing on the small bit of light I could see at the exit. It’s really quite a strange sensation. Â I continued on climbing up to around 4000 feet before turning around and heading back to make sure I made it home before dark with a little extra buffer time. This is needed seeing as I have no idea where I’m going. So far I have just been kind of making it up as I go…maybe I’ll have a look at that map now…
