Wheelsucker Blog - Week Thirteen

A big thank you to everyone who has visited my Just Giving site and donated money. Please continue to spread the word to raise as much money as possible for such a worthy cause. http://www.justgiving.com/Graham-Young-cycles-USA

Sunday 10th August

Fancy Gap, Virginia. 80 miles. Average speed 12.5mph. Left Lenior about 7.30am. It was drizzling with rain, not enough for waterproof top though. Then began the 20 mile climb to Blowing Rock. About 2 miles out it began to rain quite heavily and the mist came down. In Blowing Rock I joined up with Blue Ridge Parkway, it doesn't have a Highway number. The hills got bigger and steeper, and I climbed to 3,800ft. This is about as high as the road climbs, but because of the mist and rain it made for uncomfortable riding. Derek was supporting me in the car and was carrying my pannier bags for me, so this made the climbing easier for me, but it was still hard. Derek and I decided to my buy cheap 'pay as go phones' so that we could keep in contact on the road, and they have proved invaluable today. At 48 miles Derek caught up with me and gave me some food, I only saw one place today where you could buy food on the Parkway. For the first time on my journey my left knee started to ache, probably due too rain and continuous climbing, and it was starting to get cold! So I decided to climb off after 80 miles and get in the car. Fancy Gap is a very small mountain town and we found a really nice deli/restaurant, I needed hot food and drinks to warm me up. Picture shows one of the many signs of interest on the Parkway. It was to wet to take pictures and was frightened of getting water in the iPad.



Saturday 9th August

Lenior, North Carolina. Left Carterville about 8.45am and drove 300 miles to Lenoir, most of it on the Interstate. Had a snack at a Waffle House in Anderson and arrived in Lenior at 2.45pm. We are now in the foothills of the Applachain Mountains and 20 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, which will take us 500 miles through the mountains. Picture shows my poor bike stripped and ready for action, tomorrow I will ride with a small rear bag and bar bag.

Friday 8th August

Carterville, Georgia. Good news today, my bike is ready so we drove to Woodstock to collect it. The bike shop is called Out Spokin' Bicycles and is situated in Main Street, Woodstock. I've now got a rebuilt back wheel with an Tiagra hub, a 105 rear mech, and a SRAM chain and cassette. I took it for a little test ride and everything was working perfectly. They had also given it a clean up so it was looking in good shape for the final ride up to Boston. Picture shows Derek, Thomas (cyclocross champion), Kevin (owner), me and Dan (first class mechanic). Thank you all for your patience and friendship.

Thursday 7th August

Carterville, Georgia. Left about 10am and drove to Dawsonville and Dahlonega on the road I would have ridden to Cornelia. Beautiful forest roads but with big undulating hills. A chilled out day seeing the countryside. Picture shows Derek at the wheel of our hire car.

Wednesday 6th August

Carterville, Georgia. Received bad news from the bike shop today, they could only get me a 32 hole rear hub. They had to send away for a 36 hole hub which isn't going to arrive until Thursday. With any luck all should be finished on Friday. I looked at the old hub and there were cracks around the spoke holes, so I wasn't going to take the risk as we are going into the mountains where even more strain would be put into the back wheel. The temperature is in the 90F's so it was a nice day to have a look around. Another picture of that broken rear mech.

Tuesday 5th August

Carterville, Georgia. Jenny took us to Atlanta airport today to pick up the hire car, a White Toyota Rav4 which will be ideal for ferrying our bikes and luggage. Went on the Skytrain at the airport to the car rental area, checked the car over and then drove back to Carterville. In the meantime I received a phone call from the bike shop that the outer casing on the rear hub was cracked and so I needed a new hub and a wheel rebuild. Hopefully this will make everything okay and we can start our journey. Tonight Derek treated Jenny to our last meal out at the Crab and Lobster restaurant. Picture shows Jenny, me and Derek on Jenny's patio.

Monday 4th August 

Carterville, Georgia. Went hunting for a bike shop today in the Acworth area today with Derek and Jenny. A very difficult time was spent looking for one without success, so we decided to have some lunch. The staff at the restaurant then suggested a bike shop in Woodstock, so off we went. We found the bike shop quite easily for us, and they were really helpful and knowledgable. Hopefully everything will be okay and pick the bike up on Wednesday afternoon. Picture tries to show the damage when the rear mech broke.