The choice for today was either ride 50 miles to the next cyclist hostel or ride 96 miles to a US Army Corps of engineers campground. I choose for the second option. I started early and luckily the morning was clear and cool, so I could try to get as in as much miles before the afternoon heat. The three biggest climbs of the day were also early in the morning. The route this morning (and also yesterday) went through hillbilly country. The people tend to be rather poor, which can be seen from the state in which their houses or trailers are. The sight isn't helped by the huge amount of junk lying around everywhere. Reason for this poverty is that in this area is used mainly for mining of coal. There are therefore a lot of coal trucks on the road and you even find bits of coal lying along the road. The little history section on the map taught me that the mining in this area is leaving the local population very poor (and some others very wealthy)...
The secenery on the other hand is still very pretty. Slowly I am riding out of the Appalachians, which means that the ridges along the valleys through which I'm riding are reducing in height. Also the number of climbs per day is getting less and lot more cycling is on relatively flat terrain. The climbs are still steep though.
Upon arriving at the campground I met Linda, who is cycling the last three sections of the Trans America Trail west to east this year. She has been doing part of the route over the last years and this year she will finalize the route. Soon thereafter, David, who I ran into a few times today, also arrived at the campground. On the campground were also two couples of cyclists, John and Melissa (?) and Kevin and Faye. They are doing the Western Express and Trans America Trail west to east. Both couples are bringing their RV and hence alternatively drive the RV and cycle. They invited Linda, David and myself over for dinner and we ended up having a great time sharing experiences we've had along the road.
Today I also started to notice that I'm starting to get into shape. Even though it was a long ride today my legs (and also knees) felt great and could have done some more. The dogs also don't bother me that much anymore, as soon as I get out my can of pepper spray they stop their attacks. Seems they have been sprayed before and recognize the canister. Unfortunately I did start to get an extremely soar ass from my saddle. Part of the deal you might think, but this was way worse than that. Up to the point where I popped some pain killers in order to finish the last 10 miles and after that couldn't properly sit on a bench the entire evening. Strange thing is that the saddle I'm using is the same type of leather saddle that I used 5 years ago to cycle to Rome and it didn't give me any trouble back then. Also the saddle must have been broken in by now. As tomorrow is sunday, all bicycle shops are closed, so I'm planning to ride to Berea tomorrow, which is the next city on the route and not too far. Depending on how things go tomorrow I might take a rest day in Berea and get my saddle issues solved at the bike shop.
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