No Plans to Mile Zero, Day 5

Short Ride to Together

Tue, Apr 17, 2012

Copyright(c) 2012, Jim Beachy

Once more I sleep in, as  I have only 380 miles for today’s ride.  I check the Weather Channel and see that a large weather front is approaching, now lying west of the Appalachians and advancing northeast.  I check Weatherbug on my BlackBerry and see that the forecast for home calls for rain by nightfall.  This trip has been completely rain-free and devoid of any stormy weather.  This is indeed a rarity:  Weather systems seem to seek out my trips just for old times’ sake, especially during the unsettled weather patterns of April.  But it appears my good fortune may continue.  At least if I don’t laze around too long this morning.

It is already hot and the sun is well into its daily arc as I work my way onto the northbound lanes of I-77 toward home.  Eventually my GPS icon slides over the line into Virginia and I begin the long climb across the Appalachian ridge.  The highway climbs from an elevation of about 1,000 feet to a high of 2,800 feet where it crosses beneath a bridge over which runs my old friend the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This is one of my favorite vistas, but is best viewed running southward.  The dizzying drop over the side of the mountain offsets the plain below, where you can see Mount Airy, the fictional town of Mayberry where the Andy Griffith Show was filmed.  Pilot Mountain, some 25 miles distant on US 52 in North Carolina, dominates the backdrop.

The old adage “You go where you look” is almost inviolable, especially on a bike where the center line of the vehicle coincides with the rider’s eyes and head.  During this trip, I’ve frequently amused myself as I often do by playing a little game, trying to ride the bike between the reflective markers as I move been Interstate lanes.  It’s hard to do because my natural instinct is to look at the very marker I’m trying to avoid.  And sure enough, my tendency is to ride right over the thing rather than between the markers.  The trick is to avoid looking at the marker (or the pothole or the object in the road) that you’re trying to miss, and look instead where you want to ride.  The psychological need to watch what you’re trying to avoid is almost overpowering.  I hope this little game helps keep me in practice for the moment when I really do need to avoid something in my path.  The same happens when turning your head:  Almost invariably, the bike will wonder in the same direction you turn your head.  Still, I risk a one-second head swivel over my right shoulder to see the scenic view as it lies behind me on this trip northward.

Along with the 1,800-foot climb over the Blue Ridge Mountains, I’ve been riding closer and closer to the weather front and the leading edge of dark clouds obscuring the sun.  The temperature has dropped by 20 degrees to 65 F.  Mile by mile I’ve been closing first my jacket flaps and then the fairing vents.  By the time I catch I-81 in Virginia not far from Wytheville and head northeast, the front has steadily moved closer and the temperature drops even more to 61 degrees.  By this time I’ve closed the fairing’s cooling vents and opened the heat vents along the bottom of the engine cowl, and switched the lower fairing vents to “heat” mode.  The warmth flowing over me is a welcome change.  Even so, there’s no apparent threat of rain as the cloud cover becomes ever thicker on my trek northward.

At Mile Marker 300 I hit I-66 and ride the last 60 miles home.  Now traveling east, I almost immediately run out from under the cloud cover and the temperature rises 10 degrees.  Home, where Kitty is waiting as I roll into the driveway.  Several years ago in Nova Scotia we’d discovered and stayed in a delightful bed-and-breakfast-restaurant-hardware-store establishment with a sign in the tiny dining room that became the name of that trip and has since become our mantra:  "Together is the best place to be."

It is good to be home.  Together.  I am fortunate that Kitty understands and occasionally even encourages Solo Guy, who emerges from time to time to drink in the Long Road, enjoy the Big Silence, and to collect a variety of insects on the fairing from very far-off and often unplanned places.

Normally I clean the bike at the end of every ride.  But today, in my transition to Regular Guy, Solo Guy asserts one last claim:  I leave the bugs on the bike until tomorrow.

GPS Statistics:

Overall speed 63.6 mph; Moving speed 69.0 mph
Overall time 5:58; Moving time 5:30
Distance 380 miles to home

GPS Track, Day 5

GPS Track, Entire Trip