Day 8: Waynesboro to Mallard Duck Campground - 46 miles (308 total) Saturday, May 21

Holy cow! We knew we would be climbing today but we had no idea it would be this much. Of the first 31 miles of the day, I think we climbed about 28 of them. Granny gears were used all around.

We woke up around 6:00 to get an early start on what we thought was going to be around a 70-mile day. We are desperate to get more miles logged since we had the unintended rest day. Temperatures this morning we so cold (low 40's) that we were actually looking forward to the climb out of W'boro. The roads were all closed to cars outside of our hotel as the town was getting geared up for a big soapbox derby run. We decided to chance a run-through on the bikes and only got yelled at by one older man. Not too bad. At least he yelled at Jeff more than he yelled at me. It is usually the other way around.

The climb out of the "boro" (as we called it) took us up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. And then we kept going up and up and up. It was a bit rough seeing nothing higher than 4mph on my bike spedometer. However, since every downhill turn meant that the wind sliced through to my bones and rendered my fingers numb, I had a hard time wishing for them either.
We peaked around 3100 feet or so, dipped to 2600, and then climbed back up to 3000 several times - brutal.

The views were spectacular and we had many of them. Though we never really leveled off, we were riding along the ridge of the range after the initial climb - though I can't really tell you where the initial climb ended and the middle climbs began.

After about 31 miles, we came to a stretch of road that we were ready for but also apprehensive about. It was a 3 mile downhill at 13% and you have to stop every so often to let your brakes and rims cool down. We decided to stop every mile and were still amazed at how hot our rims were. There were several cars going down that left a trail of burning brakes behind them too. At the bottom of the descent was a small town called Vesuvius. I knew there was a cafe here and I had been looking forward to it all morning. It didn't disappoint! Gertie's Country Store was serving thier special BBQ and we both had BBQ sandwiches, fries, and Powerade. Good stuff. We talked to three local cattle owners and I learned that a heffer is a cow that hasn't had a calf yet. Good to know.

After Gertie's, the road finally leveled out and we got to hit double digits on the computers. Yee-haw! I had to detour off-route to give a peppermint to a friendly horse by the road. Shortly after that, we came across the Mallard Duck Campground. After paying for two nights in a hotel, we really need to hit the cheaper campsites. It was either stop here or try to make it 30 miles and more climbing down the road to the next camping facilities. I called it and we stopped here. In the end it was a good choice wallet-wise as the owner let us stay for free since we'd donated to the Cookie Lady. What a deal!

Clouds are rolling in and they don't look so friendly so it is time to wrap it up and water-proof the gear.
AKB

P.S. (written by Jeff) We are both wishing Kang and Joe the best of luck in their upcoming qualifying exams at UCSD. Just remember to keep the cap on the dry-erase markers!