Appalachian Rain

2016 Bike Tour

By Michael Riscica / June 4, 2016

Click Here to Visit The Table of Contents
Click Here to Visit Previous Page: Camping, McDonalds and A+ Country Riding – Day 11
Click Here to Visit The Next Page: Day off in Damascus VA; Staying with Crazy Larry – Day 13 & 14

Wytheville VA To Troudale, VA
Day 12 – June 4, 2016
35 Miles for the day
498.5 Total miles for trip
3:22 Ride Time

So last night when the thru hiker came back to the park with his dog he had this crazy women following him. She talked to herself all night. I don’t think she even slept. She tried talking to me several times, but I wasn’t having any part of it. I was too tired and wanted to edit my video and then go to sleep.

In the morning I heard her rambling about the cops and she said something about donuts and coffee, and it immediately reminded me that I had about 5 donuts in my bag that the church lady made me take yesterday.

I shared my donuts with my new friends and the crazy women was really happy. Since I ignored her all night and was I leaving shortly I chatted her up and won her over. I kept trying to convince her that she should join me for the rest of the bike ride across America, but she kept saying “no way” and called me crazy.

The Plan

The plan for today was to haul ass 58 miles into Damascus, check into the Appalachian Trail hostel, go out and drink alot of beer with the hikers and then take tomorrow off. I have 2 really big climbs today, but thats ok. I’ve been killing it in the mountains lately.

The roads were on par with all the excellent Virginia cycling I have been having the past week.

My Plan was Foiled.

In the Appalachians, they divide up the counties along the ridge of the mountains. So one side of the mountains belongs to one county,and the other side belongs to another county. During my first big climb for the day, just as I crossed over the crest of the top of the mountain and moved into the new county, the sky just opened up and pounded me with hail.

About a mile down the road was an abandoned old restaurant that had an awning that took shelter under.

Magically Finding a Hostel

I stood there for at least an hour worrying if was going to be screwed and I had to setup a tent out here in the middle of nowhere. It was starting to get really cold. I eventually noticed that there was an Appalachian Trail hostel on my map just in the location where I was at. The map said the hostel was at the Troutdale Baptist Church. So I looked up the road and BAM there was a church one block away.

I found the hostel and checked in for the night. I kind of regret throwing in the towel early, because the weather cleared up at one point and I probably could have made it into Damascus before the sun went down.

I met a few AT thru hikers and shared a bunk room with a hiker named “Frog”. She was from Bend Oregon. She’s hiking half the AT this year and the second half next year. Her husband didn’t want her to be away for 6 months, so she broke it up into 2 summers. I had alot fun talking to Frog. We both passed out shortly after the sun went down. It rained all night pretty hard.