Thursday, August 10, 2000

Today we rode from Wytheville, VA to Christiansburg, VA. The distance was only 56 miles but I shouted and Mary Kay and she shouted right back. We are both getting tired of riding the bicycle. The good news is we should be in Yorktown, VA in another 10 days.

In Newbern, VA we stopped at a museum where we took pictures of buildings that were on the property when it was converted to a museum. The building was very large and it seemed that every room was on a different level from a couple of inches to a foot or more. They told us that the original building was small and each new owner added rooms, as they needed them. The last owner ran the building as a tavern.

We had the rear bicycle wheel trued again. We also added some links to the rear chain. You could either shift the bicycle into the lowest gears or you could shift into the big chain ring but you could not do both. I think we added too many chain links and I will probably need to remove at least one of those links. After we left the bicycle shop, we traveled about 2 miles and had a flat tire. It appears that one of the spokes may have poked through the tube while he was truing the wheel. I removed the tube and replaced it with one that I patched two days ago, and it too would not hold any air. It was a very upsetting happening. I again removed and replaced the tube using a brand new tube and finally got the flat fixed. We did have a lady stop to see if we needed any help.

During the ride we passed through the same type of landscape that we have been passing through since we entered the Shenandoah Valley. We are going up and down hills almost all day. The adventure cycling maps seem to take the route that has the steepest or longest hills. However, their route usually has the least traffic.

Tomorrow Mary Kay and I are going to work real hard at not shouting at each other, which should be interesting as it may be a longer day then today.