Rural Retreat to Honaker 90 Miles
I picked a terrible place to sleep last night. I was on the side of a steep hill
with two foot high grass. I couldn’t get comfortable on the incline and was worried about the tent flipping over from the incline and the grass propping it up. But this forced me to get out of bed early and I was completely packed by 7:45. I had an omelet in the local diner and got myself ready for the tough morning in front of me. It was 30 miles mostly up hill and took me over two and a half hours to get to the top of the ridge. The ride down was great though. I hardly needed to pedal for 15 miles. I had Subway again for lunch in Damascus, VA. After lunch it was mostly down hill but I knew that another hard part was looming. Hayter’s Gap is 4.2 miles long completely up the side of a mountain. It climbs from 1600 ft to 3050. There are no rest areas or flat parts. It took me almost 45 minutes where I was averaging about 5.6 mph. I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the top of the hill. The way down was fun but not as much as expected
since I had to hold onto the break most of the way so I wouldn’t go off the edge. It was another 12 miles from the bottom to Honaker and I only had one more hill to go but I was exhausted. I got my bike up to 40.5 mph on the straightaway down it though which was fun but a little scary. I got to Honaker a little before 5 and headed for the library only to find that it closes at 1 pm on Thursdays. So now I’m killing time in another Subway eating more Doritos and having lemonade. I’m planning on sleeping out of my tent since it s a nice night and it will a little less attention. Plus the library 
doesn’t open until noon on Fridays so no one will be around. My hip isn’t hurting anymore and my butt is only slightly. My knees have been hurting right when I get start riding in the morning but its gone after a few miles.
I picked a terrible place to sleep last night. I was on the side of a steep hill
with two foot high grass. I couldn’t get comfortable on the incline and was worried about the tent flipping over from the incline and the grass propping it up. But this forced me to get out of bed early and I was completely packed by 7:45. I had an omelet in the local diner and got myself ready for the tough morning in front of me. It was 30 miles mostly up hill and took me over two and a half hours to get to the top of the ridge. The ride down was great though. I hardly needed to pedal for 15 miles. I had Subway again for lunch in Damascus, VA. After lunch it was mostly down hill but I knew that another hard part was looming. Hayter’s Gap is 4.2 miles long completely up the side of a mountain. It climbs from 1600 ft to 3050. There are no rest areas or flat parts. It took me almost 45 minutes where I was averaging about 5.6 mph. I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the top of the hill. The way down was fun but not as much as expected since I had to hold onto the break most of the way so I wouldn’t go off the edge. It was another 12 miles from the bottom to Honaker and I only had one more hill to go but I was exhausted. I got my bike up to 40.5 mph on the straightaway down it though which was fun but a little scary. I got to Honaker a little before 5 and headed for the library only to find that it closes at 1 pm on Thursdays. So now I’m killing time in another Subway eating more Doritos and having lemonade. I’m planning on sleeping out of my tent since it s a nice night and it will a little less attention. Plus the library doesn’t open until noon on Fridays so no one will be around. My hip isn’t hurting anymore and my butt is only slightly. My knees have been hurting right when I get start riding in the morning but its gone after a few miles.
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