Day 9

Mileage: 72
Cumulative mileage: 662

Today was a slower day, with lots of hills, and I learned a lot about how important it is to have both pedals functioning.

My intent this morning was to ride with the MS crew as far as Hindman tonight and then push on another 20 for Hazard. It didn't exactly work that way, but I'm super stoked with the way things shook out.

We descended from The Breaks into Kentucky early this morning and kept going down through Elkhorn City. From there the rest of the day was alternating between rolling through backcountry valleys and climbing steep hills to get from one valley to another.

The Kentucky scenes I've seen played out across the day have been straight out of your wildest stereotypes. I stopped at a gas station to fill up on water and saw a farmer filling up his pickup truck in cowboy boots, jeans, no shirt and suspenders. All day long there were dogs trying desperately to get off their leashes to chase me on my bike, and every little country store or gas station I stopped at had two old men sitting outside, shooting the breeze.

I had a bit of trouble with some of the hills, since my right pedal broke and doesn't clip in anymore. I still have a downstroke on that side, but no upstroke, and that's created some problems. First, climbing hills is just harder. It also puts a lot of pressure on my left leg and knee and on my right buttock. I had thought my days of saddle sores were behind me, but they briefly visited again this afternoon and I remember how much I didn't miss them.

Fortunately, I think I've got the problem solved. I got internet tonight and ordered a new set of pedals with a wrench to be shipped into Berea by Monday. I was planning on getting close to Berea tomorrow and blowing through the following morning, but it looks like my pace will be artificially reduced a little bit over the next two days.

On the up side, my pace now matches the next two days of the MS crew who I hung out with today and am sharing a church with tonight. It's been a great two evenings getting to meet everyone and just hanging out with other cyclists for a few hours at night. I managed to snag a photo with about half of them after dinner tonight, just so you can get an idea of the group I've been traveling with. I'm really excited to keep seeing them until we part ways after Berea.

For once I'm publishing this on time, it's nice traveling with folks who have nice stops set up in advance!

G'night!