Today was another day of hills. I should have known this right from the beginning because the first town I encountered, after leaving Berea, was called “Bighill”. It was a bighill, maybe for Kentucky standards but nothing like the hills and mountains climbed in the west. On the way up I encountered two young cyclists heading for San Francisco. They were the first cyclists that I encountered that rode without shirts. It was strange. They took almost 20 days to get to this point and if they don’t pick up their speed they better get some skis for the mountains.
The ups and downs are there. They are a fact of life in Kentucky. So is being chased by dogs. What is also a fact is the poor road construction. No shoulders and often times huge chunks of the road have fallen from the road and down the hillside. The roads, in Kentucky, this route takes me is narrow and sometimes too narrow for a yellow strip down the middle, no shoulders or shoulders that suddenly disappear, or if there is a shoulder there is a rumble strip in it. But even with these shortcomings the scenery is still spectacular.
Today was a race against sunlight. I was hoping to get farther than I did and stay at a hostel in Hindman but settled for the community park in Combs, KY. The park there was very nice and they are very open to cyclists camping in the park. Fortunately the swimming pool was open late so I was able to get a shower before cooking dinner. Overall it was a long day.
Today’s stats: total mileage 95.33 miles; average speed 11.5 mph; max speed 37.0 mph; total elevation gain 6506 feet; elevation descent 6755 feet.
Footnote: There are many more hills to climb east of the Rockies. They are shorter but steeper and I have noticed that my overall elevation gains are sometimes greater in the midwestern states than they are in the mountain states.