Wytheville to Blacksburg

Miles Today: 54.89
Average Speed: 9.5mph

Total Miles: 3421.53

I didn’t think I’d start my morning with the phrase, “there’s an earwig in your pannier,” but this morning began with just that. Normally, I don’t take my panniers off the bike, but when approximately 23 earwigs decided to warm up in a sun-warmed, cozy place for the night, then scurry about when I so rudely disturbed them in the morning… There was cause for pannier removal.

And pannier shaking, pannier beating, pannier throwing, dumping, and The Cursing Of The Earwigs.
Then we got on with our days, I reassembled both my composure and my bike setup, and off we went to the bathroom pavilion for some toothbrushing.


And stink bugs. I accidentally washed this guy down the drain. Really, though, it was an accident. I didn’t expect the water to come so forcibly from the tap, and he didn’t scurry away like I thought he would, so down he went. I feared his stink, and thusly couldn’t bring myself to rescue him.
Once we discovered one more earwig in my fanny pack and zipped him up securely inside for the ride, we left Wytheville by crossing over and under two freeways and passing the Gatorade factory. The landscape was pretty, and we could see mountains in the distance.


It’s interesting to think about the differences between the lush, green, round Appalachians and the pointy, tall, and rocky… Rockies. I guess that’s why they’re called what they are!
We really liked seeing the route sign that had both a goatee and an Afro. There have been many signs in Kentucky and Virginia that, surrounded by so much thriving greenery, have no choice but to be overcome by leaves and vines that grow right up through their posts.


About halfway through our day, after passing three cyclists, none of whom stopped to say hello, we witnessed the pulling over of three other cyclists.


Abi, Thomas, and Michael are riding together as the result of an Adventure Cycling “companions wanted” ad! Thomas and Michael will be riding toward Oregon on the full TransAm route, and Abby will be continuing on toward San Francisco, the same way I came. We were pretty excited to find out that Thomas works in a bike shop in the town we were headed for, Blacksburg, called East Coasters.
We talked for a while, and as we have been doing with every cyclist headed toward Salida on the Western Express, we told Abby that she’d be more than welcome to stay at our house once she gets there. We sent them on their way, and marveled at Abby’s Vans tennis shoes, and the fact that they were riding with a little radio playing.
Not even five miles later, we saw another cyclist!


Hayden is 18, and he has made his way from Virginia Beach, VA, using only his wits, intuition, and something other than an Adventure Cycling map. A soon-to-be sophomore at JMU in Virginia, he is riding to raise funds for a rare cancer that attacks involuntary muscle groups (think eating and breathing organs) called Leiomyosarcoma.
We felt pretty stinkin’ proud of this guy, who is, in the best sense of the phrase, ‘winging it’. We were able to give him some advice on hydration and electrolytes, camping, receiving packages while on the road, and even how to find hosts on Warmshowers! We got his solar panel up and running, and offered everything we could in the way of advice, question-answering and general affirmation. I told him I’d comment on his fundraising page so that his parents could see that he was doing OK out there in the world, after he excitedly saw my Razoo page on my business card and told me he was fundraising through Razoo, too.
What a blessing Hayden must be to his family. He is so incredibly full of excitement and willingness to have this adventure. Please go visit his page, and show Hayden that he’s got support from all over the place. You can find his fundraising page at From Sea to Shining Sea.
I felt pretty pumped up after meeting this ambitious guy, and it was a good thing because we had some climbing to do. We went back into the dark woods, of which I will never tire on a hot day.


After climbing on a shallow, steady grade alongside a river for a long time, we came to a busy road and crossed the river into Radford.


I’m going to leave out all description of Radford, because it sucked. The hills were too steep for our liking, and it was hot and busy, and after we thought we were done, we got slammed with the 19% graded hill to end all other hills.
Instead of whining about it, though, I’ll show you some goats.


These goats were at the bottom of a hill (FYI, the goats did NOT make up for the terrible uphills of Radford). As we watched them, a woman came out of her driveway and told us we should come back and play with them sometime. I wish we could’ve told her we’d be back next week! What an opportunity. There were the sweetest little kids in a variety of colors and all were kicking and skipping and tail-wagging! (aren’t you glad I told you about goats and not Radford?)
We had just a bit more grueling climbing until we got into Christiansburg. It was definitely not on the scale of the Radford hills, but after using every last ounce of energy we had to get over those, there wasn’t much left for Christiansburg.
Enter Mason!


We were blessed by last-minute responses from all of the warmshowers hosts in Blacksburg, which is a couple of miles off-route from Christiansburg, and in addition to our luck in being offered numerous backyards and sun porches (thank you so much to the Abrahams for your patience as we came toward Blacksburg, and we hope to meet you next time through!), a nice guy named Mason offered up a ride into town in his swanky van.
Mason is one of the founders of Bike the US for MS, an organization that runs several US tours every year in order to raise funds for research and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. This year, they’ve already raised over $180,000 and the tours haven’t even started yet! Money goes to a clinic in Charlottesville, VA (that’s where I’m typing from this very moment), and also toward home modification projects across the country. You can check out the organization and the awesome work they’re doing at Bike the US for MS.
So Mason came to the rescue in a huge van emblazoned with the Bike the US for MS logo, and tossed our bikes up top. We were so absolutely grateful to not have to bike on sketchy roads into Blacksburg. There would’ve been a bike trail for a portion of the ride, but we honestly were exhausted and ready for a meal and some relaxation.
We grabbed an awesome meal at The Cellar, and met Mason’s roommate Kristin, and then as we were leaving I saw this awesome bug.


The caterpillar hunter comes out in the night to eat caterpillars, and this one was sitting in a gutter, not hunting caterpillars. Guess he didn’t get the memo.
When we got back home, we were greeted by a dog named Lena, a cat named Claudia, and a fish tank full of coral and a striped fish. Lena was the only one willing to pose for a picture.


Blacksburg is a nice town. We decided to stay another day here, since our rest day in Damascus was somewhat of a flop.
The rest day resulted in Evan getting a new iPhone (his bit the dust a week or so ago), a lot of coffee and blogging, a birthday present purchase for my sister, whose birthday is May 22 (happy birthday, bug!), and an evening with the route leaders for this year’s Bike the US for MS tours–they had driven from Carbondale IL to Blacksburg, and descended upon Mason’s house for a cookout!
It was a much more successful rest day in Blacksburg, and our evening with the other bikers, and multiple dogs, was fantastic.
I wish I could’ve caught a picture of Aroo, Lena, Martin, Emma, and Ivan all playing together, and of the bikers hanging out after a long day of driving. It got me thinking about doing a group tour… But that’s for another year.