Preparation

Having done two previous transcontinental PAC Tours, I was confident that I would be able to do the proper training that would enable me to do the 30-day tour without feeling completely depleted at the end if each day. My goal was to ride every day at a steady and comfortable pace that got me to the hotel on the earlier end of the recommended time window. For training, I didn’t ride as many miles ahead of time as on previous tours, but I was still averaging 300-400 miles per week in the final two months before the start. I usually did longer back-to-back rides on Saturday/Sunday, but let’s just say that I never put my bike clothes on for anything less than 60 miles. At the same time I only did one 200-miler and only a handful of full 100 mike century rides. Earlier in the year, I did some fine tuning with my bike fit guy and got some new handlebars that turned out to be just right. I felt good on the bike and was pretty sure that I wouldn’t suffer any unusual aches or pains, which proved to be true.

Daily Routine

The main thing I like to do for an extended tour is to get in a repetitive routine and plan each day the night before as much as possible. This means setting out my clothing, checking the weather forecast, setting out my various vitamins and supplements, checking over the bike, setting the alarm, familiarizing myself with the next day’s route, and
going to sleep early.

While Riding

On the bike, I always had two water bottles, one with water and one with a mixture of Sustained Energy and HEED, both made by Hammer Nutrition. I regularly used the same stuff when training and I knew that PAC Tour would be supplying these powdered products at every rest stop. I also used Endurolyte tablets for electrolyte replacement and Anti-Fatigue Caps because I always use them, both also from Hammer Nutrition. I took two tablets of each per hour, alternating at the top and bottom of the hour to make sure I didn’t forget. That’s also when I took big swallows of the energy drink, alternating with plain water at 0:15 and 0:45 past the hour. Of course, much of the joy of long distance riding is eating a lot to maintain sufficient calories. So in addition to the rather clinical energy drinks, I ate lots of solid food at the rest stops and carried more with me for in between. PAC Tour supplies the usual power bars, granola bars and bananas, but they always had fruit such as cantaloupe, grapes, cherries, watermelon, and peaches. I also indulged in huge quantities of fig newtons, Oreos in all colors, chocolate chip and dozens of other cookie varieties and the occasional Twinkie. I always sat down for a full lunch every day, which PAC Tour is known for, and it might include four or five different salads, sandwich fixings, burgers, hot dogs, pasta, burritos or any number of other yummy things, plus chips and all the condiments. I always had dessert, which was usually cake or pie, plus canned fruit and pudding, sometimes all on one plate! After lunch, it was important to ride at “digestion speed” for 5-10 miles to avoid discomfort. At the end of the day, I made sure to immediately drink a full bottle of Recoverite (another Hammer product!) and a couple of anti-oxidant tablets and the rest of my daily vitamins. It’s hard to know if all of these things worked, but I can certainly tell that they didn’t hurt.

Mental Tricks

While all the physical aspects are very important, in the end all the long miles require mental focus to get through. When faced with a long day over hilly or windy terrain and perhaps roads that extend endlessly into the horizon, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that it will ever end and the miles seem to take forever. I usually just think about the distance to the next rest stop, which was never more than 30 miles, or I’d note some milestones during the day, some more helpful than others. For example, I would always take note when there was “only” 100 miles to go, which sometimes occurred a few miles into the ride and other times 40 or 50 miles down the road. I’d almost always mentally mark the halfway point or the two thirds point or the point at which we had only 20 miles, or better, just 10 miles to go. I can always talk myself into believing that I can complete a 10 or 20 mile ride if that’s all that remains, but there were days that the final 10 miles were the hardest of the day, due to wind, extreme heat or maybe congested traffic. But somehow, we always made it to lunch at about two thirds and next thing we knew we had completed 80 or 90 miles and the end of the ride was within reach. Mind you, I’m usually enjoying every mile and I make it a point to look around and notice all the great and sometimes bizarre sights, which always help pass the time. It also helps to have other riders to ride with, when the conversation or occasional comments can make the miles go by in addition to the usual benefit of drafting in the other riders’ slipstream.

Future Rides

As for the question of whether or not I’d do another transcontinental PAC Tour, the answer is certainly yes, but if I have any hesitation, it would be due to the time away from home and the burden my absence places on my wife. I also don’t want to get in the habit of doing these things too often, having now done three since 2002. However, I’ll definitely do another PAC Tour event of some sort, such as their Ridge of the Rockies tour, the Grand Canyon tour or maybe the Route 66 tour. I also feel like I’d like to see more of Europe by bike, having done a 12-day Provence trip and the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km event, but it all depends on finances and time. Another thing I’d like to do is ride my bike in some parts of Japan, where I spent 14 years of my life and rode as a junior high school student.

Thanks for reading.

Charles

The plan was to regroup a few miles before the beach, which ended up working out fine. The final 15 miles to the beach was on the Colonial Parkway, which connects Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, in kind of a wooded preserve, shielded from modern influences. It was a great feeling to have our first whiff of salty ocean air and a view of the water (actually the York River) as we made our way to the regroup point. After everyone had assembled, we rode as one big group in a double line for the final two miles, rather dramatic in our matching green Northern tour jerseys.

It was great to have my parents at the finish, where the PAC Tour crew was ready with a tape line and big banner. Considering that all of the ride across the country was done without much attention, it was fun to finish with a cheering crowd of friends and family at the beach. We spent quite some time splashing about in the sand and water, startling the surrounding beachgoers. After photos and whooping it up, it was time for one final PAC Tour lunch at a picnic spot on the water, which my parents were able to enjoy as well.

Then we had to ride back 15 miles to the hotel for the worst part of any PAC Tour, which is disassembling our bikes and packing them for trip home. It’s a terrible scene in the parking lot, signaling with great finality the end of the great ride we had across the country together.

But we weren’t quite done. All of us and visiting guests then went next door for a pizza party and then back to the hotel for a slideshow and awards presentation. It was really fun to re-live the tour through the many great photos that the crew snapped during the trip, accompanied with fun music. The 30 days had a tendency to blend together, but I was surprised how many specific scenes I remembered with great detail.

PAC Tour gave us each a commemorative plaque, with photo and also a unique t-shirt with an elevation profile from our climbing day on the Bighorn in Wyoming. It’s really amazing what Lon and Susan put together while we’re in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a 30-day tour.

I might post some final thoughts later, but I’m looking forward to going home and seeing my wife Holly and our two cats Henry and Burlington, who lost their sister Chessie while I was gone.

The final pictures are:

- Williamsburg town sign
- waiting at the re-group point for all riders to arrive
- made it to the beach
- celebrating riders
- map is now complete
- bike packing in hot parking lot
- our wonderful crew
- Lon conducting the traditional map auction

I’m really excited because my parents and their friends Bob and Audrey Fritts, who live in Williamsburg, will be coming to witness the completion of our tour. I can’t wait to see them!

So today, we had our final “real” ride of some distance, with a strenuous climb over the Skyline Drive Shenandoah ridge. We also had our final lunch on the road and our final afternoon rest stop. After the morning climb, It was a delightful ride through rolling Virginia countryside on mostly quiet back roads. We were also back in hot weather and down to only a few hundred feet above sea level, so we’ve been appreciating the frequent stretches of shade that the roads pass through.

For some reason, tonight’s hotel is a fancy Hampton Inn in Ashland, which is a very nice treat. The beds are very comfortable, which it turns out has been an important factor during this tour.

Today’s pictures:

- sunrise over Harrisonburg, parking lot breakfast
- final afternoon roadside rest stop
- charming Ashland depot on Railroad Avenue
- usual luggage arrangement upon arrival

We passed a couple of milestones today, including a sign marking the “Eastern Continental Divide”, followed by another informing us that we were entering the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This is significant because our destination in just two days is on Chesapeake Bay, rather than the actual Atlantic ocean. We also entered Virginia, the final state of our tour, and we did so in fine style. The Virginia state border was located at the top of the longest, steepest and final major climb of the day, after which we descended through the George Washington National Forest and rolling Virginia countryside. Tomorrow, we’ll climb out of the Shenandoah Valley to cross the Blue Ridge at Skyline Drive, which will then be our final obstacle prior to reaching Williamsburg. So we will have crossed the Cascades, the Big Horn, the Black Hills and Badlands, the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers and now the eastern mountain ranges of this huge country.

By the way, downtown Harrisonburg is charming and funky. I had a great post-ride smoothie at the smoothie bar inside a bike shop and I saw many interesting restaurants. It is the home of James Madison University, which may account for the hip vibe. Of course, our Best Western was out by the interstate, adjacent to an enormous complex of Walmart, Home Depot, and dozens of other such establishments. At least there was a Waffle House, which I had to go to in case this was my last chance. I had an omelet, grits, toast, hash browns and a waffle for dessert, then went over to Walmart for a small frozen parfait and an orange. I’ll still be hungry in the morning, I’m sure.

Today’s pictures:

- Eastern Continental Divide
- Virginia border, top of final climb
- Shenandoah Mountain, at Virginia state line
- long descent through National Forest
- county courthouse, downtown Harrisonburg
- Waffle House, just like any other
- my breakfast for dinner

The riding in West Virginia has been glorious, even with some extended stretches of riding on major 4-lane highways (not interstates). We were back in climbing territory, with over 6500′ of total ascending, which was nice after all the flat land we have seen. Today we rode about half the time on picturesque country roads through tiny villages and almost no traffic. These roads had lots of shade, good pavement, meandering curves and ups and downs. The rest of the time we rode in the 12 foot shoulder of US routes 50 and 33, I think due to the fact that no other roads took us where we needed to go. The shoulder riding was quite safe and the scenery was quite nice, but the drawbacks were the noise from the passing traffic and the debris that has a tendency to cause flat tires. I had my first flat tire of the entire tour today, from a small wire picked up most likely from the mess on the shoulder, and several other riders also had flats, either for the first time or for the first time in a while. My flat wasn’t an issue and I fixed it quickly, but I was secretly hoping that I would make it all the way across without a flat tire.

Today we had the unique chance to visit the Trans-Allegheny Insane Asylum, also known as the Weston State Hospital, which is where the PAC Tour lunch was set up. The building and grounds dominate the town of Weston and is slowly decaying since closing in 1994. The scale of the place was astounding and our tour only covered a small part of the grand main building. It was both interesting and depressing to see.

More West Virginia hills tomorrow and good weather forecast!

Today’s pictures:

- asylum main building
- lunch on the hospital grounds
- riders on the tour
- Randolph County courthouse, Elkins, WV

Other than wet feet, gritty clothing, and dirty bikes, the rain also makes the road kill wet and fresh-looking. As any cyclist knows, we encounter a lot of road kill, just about anywhere. On this trip, there have been a lot of deer and many skunks, as well as raccoons, squirrels, snakes, frogs, birds of all sizes, and maybe a fox or two. One of the Australian riders commented that road kill smells the same all around the world, though he is more likely to see kangaroo.

Anyway, the Hocking Hills region of southeast Ohio was a delightful change of scene today. The road was quiet, narrow, winding and more hilly than we’ve seen in a while. Although it might have been nice to see this area in sunny weather, the lifting rain had its own charms as we rode through some wooded areas. Later, we had a spectacular crossing of the Ohio River into Parkersburg and a first glimpse of some more hills that are on the route tomorrow.

Today’s pictures are:

- queue of eager riders, waiting to load luggage
- final lunch stop in Ohio (village of Stewart)
- lunch line-up was excellent
- homemade cookies from a rider’s wife
- Ohio River bridge
- made it to West Virginia
- cleaning up after the rain

The main memory of today’s ride was the humidity and heat. There were official heat warnings on all the local morning TV news shows and the Weather Channel people were very excited as well. They advised avoiding strenuous outdoor activity and remaining in an air conditioned environment. Of course, neither of those were options for our tour, which must go on. As is often the case on hot days, it was better to keep moving and every time we stopped, we were drenched with sweat. The forward motion was like a natural air conditioner, to some extent at least. With “only” 92 miles to ride, at least we didn’t have to push very hard and the gently rolling terrain of southern Ohio also was just right for the conditions (except not much shade).

The town of Urbana, Ohio deserves some special recognition today. We went through it at about mile 30 and it was the most charming place. Many blocks of stately old homes leading to a central public square with a statue and traffic circle. It was really quite amazing and left us wondering why it’s there. Then of course, the historic section abruptly ended and we passed through the usual commercial strip that looks like every other town — at least no Walmart in Urbana.

Sorry, just not in a picture-taking place today, I guess due to the humidity. So here’s one:

- courthouse in Mt Sterling, Ohio, Madison county seat

It was great to have a short day, which had everyone at the hotel by 1pm, even after some local sightseeing. I went and found the charming Troy city center, which has a unique public square and traffic circle, surrounded by historic buildings. It was one of the best looking downtowns I’ve seen on the whole trip and I was glad to find a nice local bakery for some snacks after the ride. Tomorrow is another shorter day, with similar weather forecast, but of course uncertain if we’ll be lucky with the storms.

Pictures today are:

- typical Ohio road today (still lots of corn)
- lunch spot in school parking lot
- Troy public square
- Miami county courthouse

In case anyone is wondering how I’m holding up, I’m pleased to report that I don’t have any unusual aches or pains, except my lower lip is crusted with sun blisters. Several other riders have the same problem, which is something that happens to me no matter how often I apply powerful lip stuff. I just got some more stuff at Target tonight, which I hope helps a bit.

Although I didn’t discover it until after I had dinner (at Ruby Tuesday), I spotted our first Waffle House. Those who know me are aware that I like to eat breakfast at any time of day and I have a thing about Waffle House, which of course offers breakfast 24/7. So we are apparently getting far enough south and east to start encountering Waffle House.

It was such a relaxed ride today that I forgot to take pictures, except for one. As always, there are links to more photos at pactour.com.

Today’s picture:

- this Indiana hill was maybe 50 feet

We had a number of guest riders with us today, including Brad Reid, from this area, with whom I rode in 2007. Also, Susan Reed on her recumbent and at least one or two visiting spouses. As we’ve gotten further east, there are more PAC Tour alumni and friends living nearby and they come to visit.

The new PAC Tour van was put into service today, with almost no interruption in our usual routine. When we came out to the parking lot this morning, there it was, hooked up to the silver motel trailer, nearly ready to go. It was a lot of hard work for Lon and his crew as they stripped the old van and moved everything over to the new one, until well past midnight last night. They continued to make adjustments and installations during the day, so that by the afternoon, everything was back on schedule. It was just an amazing feat of logistics and hard work. The new van sounds a lot more powerful when it swooshes past us on the road.

A few pictures today:

- getting the brand new van ready for its first day
- removing the rear bench took time
- Flatville, Illinois (perfect name)
- small post office in Collison, typical of the area
- the Map, showing progress