Day 45 – Breaks to Damascus
Tues 20th July 2010
The motel we stayed in last night was on a steep hill so this morning we were not given any opportunity to warm up before tackling the climbs. We expected a tough day with 80 miles to do over the hilliest sections of the Appalachians but the long climbs came early in the day while we were still fresh so overall it was an enjoyable day despite posting the second highest climbing total in a day.
Our road is in there somewhere
The highlight of today was the descent down into Hayters Gap, a very fast winding downhill for 4 miles. It was a lot of fun until we had to start climbing again towards Damascus.
We had some great roads during some of today's climbs
We reached Damascus at about 3:00pm by which time it was very hot and we were glad to get off the bikes. Damascus is a small town but it has three bike shops. It’s very much a tourist town which attracts cyclist and hikers alike. We plan to take a rest day here tomorrow and it looks like a good place to hang out for a day.
Wow, are we that close to home already
Hey Waddy - they even have shops for you here!
We rode for a while today with Ed and Matt and had dinner this evening with Ed before saying farewell to him. We’ve been riding with Ed for over a week now but tomorrow he will go on so this is where we part company. We’re going to miss him.
Daily Mileage – 78.9 miles
Time in Saddle -7 hrs 51 mins
Total Climbing – 6,632 ft
Posted on: Jul 21st, 2010 at 3:03 pm
what gorgeous mountains they are! So green!
Ha great sign! Not quite just down the road like the sign indicates!
Enjoy a very well deserved day off!
Love you
Tracey
xxxxxx
Posted on: Jul 21st, 2010 at 3:59 pm
And all this time we all thought you were miles away, and you were just down the road, ha ha. Enjoy your day off xxxx
Posted on: Jul 22nd, 2010 at 12:17 am
Hey guys great riding with you! Hope you had a fun rest day. I will miss the good company!