Morgantown WV to Columbus OH

An early start from possibly the poorest Motel in an industrial town that seems to have better days somewhere in the past, the room offered blood stained sheets, dirty floors, broken sockets and rattling air con, but all of this was forgiven because of a bath and hot water, and yes, fell asleep in the bath for over one hour!

Light showers and a cloudy sky gave the impression of a cooler day than the searing temperatures out of Washington the day before, I couldn't have ridden in that heat again, tough relentless climbs in such high temperatures is debilitating to say the least. We rolled out of Morgantown to a slightly adjusted route, re-calculated from just over 200 miles to 179, you learn a lot about the local roads and Highways when you're out here.

The riding proved virtually as tough as the day before but without the extreme heat, only 95 degrees!

Highway 7 follows the valley bottom for a time but then rolls higher and higher through isolated towns.

At a supermarket in Cameron there was an opportunity for shade, beek jerky (protein), Gatorade and water. James duly arrived in the support car five minutes later armed with extra supplies.

Out here is interesting, you take the opportunity to ask (for re-assurance) if the Highway 7 is the right route to Barensville, not that far away.

Many of the replies you get are along the lines of 'that's over 20 miles away, I've never been there, or, that's over the State line, I ain't ever going over there'. We settled for our own route and directions.

With all the planning in the world you have to keep an open mind to unexpected eventualities, nearing Barnesville, James, along with a line of other vehicles and then following close behind, myself on a bike, were all held up by a slow moving, in fact stationery, in fact stuck,  huge vehicle.

The Sheriff gave me authority to carefully try and pass but the head of the Convoy Control gave a very affirmative 'wait there' which I duly did for a long time, in the sun!

The moment came to pass the road block and riding further on along what was now virtually a closed road I passed the final Sheriff's car blocking the road to oncoming traffic, a friendly exchange of waves was surpassed by the booming megaphone from the police car 'looking good young man, LOOKING GOOD'.

The dark glasses and helmet obviously disguised the reality of being not so young, and the impression of looking good was at odds with feeling absolutely hammered.

I rode on, momentarily uplifted by the compliment.

The rest of the day proved to be just as challenging and probLematic.

To make up time James hit the Inter State only to be held up a long road block, our only way of staying in close communication is through the cheap $14.99 cell phones that we bought in WDC, without these the idea of using our own phones is just impossible in remote areas, no signal, no wi fi (generally) and no internet.

We eventually met 25-30 miles outside of Columbus, I got back in the car realising from the city skyline ahead just how big this place actually is, different to what we'd expected, it was a good decision, before 5 miles the Highway effectively turned into an Interstate, heading into and through Columbus.

At the second attempt we found an ok motel, on checking on we were asked 'where are you guys heading' the reply 'he's riding to San Francisco' the response 'Oh my God, I will pray for you' we both took the support offered.

The end of a long gruelling day, looking forward to flatter roads and no mountains the following day, through Ohio into Indiana.

(More detail to follow when there is more time)

Washington DC to Morgantown

Will elaborate a lot more and add photo's when there is more time, the days bring unexpected challenges and situations, it's tough just sticking to the plan, there is so little time left to get to a motel, eat and SLEEP!

The start of the ride on Day 1 out of Washington DC was perfect, following the Washington and Old Dominion trail, closed to motor vehicles and fairly flat, a perfect way to get nearly 50 miles out of the city.

After that, it was punishing beyond belief, crossing the Appalachians in temperatures reaching 110 degrees, not the highest mountains every ridden but super tough, just on and on and on. Rode into Winchester at 80 miles and felt really rough, shivers & shakes, double strength neurofen for the rest of the day.

The day ended without and frills, possibly the worst motel in town, got bitten by flees, no wi fi to update the Blog and a room that hadn't been cleaned for some time, the main thing was hot water and bath, to aid the recovery. Ride and crew slept well.

the end of the beginning, it all starts here...

The end of the beginning, it all starts here for real!

An early 5am start from Essex to drive to Heathrow Terminal 3 (thanks Brian) for an 11am flight to WDC. Thanks to Virgin Atlantic for all their support beforehand and today, great service as ever, rider, crew and bike boxes all safely arrived in Washington.

Picked up the red Dodge SUV (probably lots of photo's of this will appear alongside the bike over the next 15 days) and now in Candlewood for two nights of rest and a day of prep before hitting the road early on Sunday morning.

Lady luck seems to be on our side, intermittent thunder storms will disappear to a clear day on Sunday with temperatures forecast around 104 degrees, possibly a little too hot for Day 1 but no complaints.

More to follow tomorrow on our final preparations and more on Sunday's route out of Washington to Morgantown via the Appalachians and 200 miles of road, crossing over the first State boundary as we go, the real beginning after 8 months of planning..

A good 10 hours sleep after a long day of travelling and adjusting to the different time zone, felt pretty bushed last night but a lot better this morning.

Breakfast from the local supermarket followed by unpacking and re-assembling the bikes, all went to plan and no mechanical issues which is a relief.

Spent the afternoon checking the routeout of Herndon, Washington  to get onto the route to Morgantown. After the first few miles the initial main stretch follows the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, 25 miles West on what is effectively a closed road, an old rail line out of  Washington, a gentle controlled start before hitting (@greenlizardbike) Highway 7 for most of the route. At the start of the Trail we found Green Lizard Cycling, a wonderful bike shop and cafe, taking good local advice from Bernard and finding out from Beth later his quite remarkable background and involvement in cycling, a perfect way to spend the final afternoon before hitting the road. We'll keep in touch (Beth and Bernard) along our journey to San Francisco, hopefully we'll be able to tweet a photo of the Green Lizard sticker at the end of our challenge.

Looking at the weather forecast tomorrow, the aim is to set off at 5am to get some miles in before the heat kicks in, forecast is very, very hot!

Next update should be from Morgantown....

(''the scariest moment is always just before you start'' - Stephen King).

...higher mountains, before longer roads!

'Maratona Dles Dolomiti' or Race across the Dolomites has got to be one of the most beautiful days on a bike and possibly the most beautiful place to ride. From the rolling roads of Essex back home in the UK to high mountain passes many of which are made famous by the Giro D'Italia, four days of riding with Matt Haigh and Nick Hobbs.

Closed roads, 85 miles of climbing & descending (there are no flat sections in this race) and just short of 15,000ft of climbing make for a tough but beautiful day. Riders receive a Blessing before the start of the race and this gives an insight into the traditions, passions and beliefs of Italy, they take cycling serious here and have a passion that it is very special, probably unique.





The towering white monuments of the Dolomites and the Sella Ronda, our base for five days, rise into the sky to provide a gateway to roads that pass through this UNESCO World Heritage site, it's a privilege to be able to ride here.

 

Four days of tough riding in temperatures touching 30deg's was a great way to test out new clothing for TransAm, designed and provided by Blackmore Apparel back home in Essex, the kit certainly passed the test, so next stop Washington DC.

From higher mountains, to longer roads!

...there is no such thing as a bad day, life is full of surprises

A short, but very important update on support for TransAm, the original idea was to keep updating the previous post '...and our thanks go to' to convey the continued kind gestures & commitments of support.

But sometimes, just sometimes, out of the blue there comes one of those very special moments where life is truly full of surprises.

In an otherwise ordinary early morning moment edging along the end of the southbound M11 you receive an email confirming an extraordinary level of support for TransAm, to cover an aspect of the challenge that not only better enables the whole idea to really come to life but that gives you that extra level of belief.....support that you transfer into added commitment.

What makes it very special is in receiving support from somebody who you've never met and who you've never spoken with, it's so special that it causes you to remember those things that really make the world go round!

David Hammond, Camden Ventures, thank you, this is a very, very big part of TransAm....

...and our special thanks, so far, go to.....

(At 24th June, fundraising support sits at £2,000 including pledges, which is fantastic and something we really appreciate, it encourages us (rider and crew) to hit the road with even more purpose. This means that the fundraising total is already 1/5th of the way to reaching the target of £10,000 and aligned to the TransAm route, 1/5th of the way (just outside Indianapolis) along the road to San Francisco, our destination!)

www.action.org.uk/sponsor/transam3000

As the TransAm challenge draws closer to hitting the road in July we hope to continue to attract interest and support to achieve our fundraising target of £10,000 to help children such as Alfie and Aiden through the continued funding of research into illness and disease that affect babies and children.

So far, our very special thanks go to the support from Scott Sports, Virgin Atlantic and British Cycling for helping to get the TransAm idea off the ground and on a more local level in Essex our special thanks go to Blackmore Apparel, UK Shelving, Cyclebox, First4Commercial, Les Cycles, Central Mortgages, without support most ideas would never become reality.

For helping to kick start the TransAm fundraising campaign to support Action Medical Research our very, very special thanks go to British Cycling, Team SKY, CNP, Eire Eng, Schaefer, ISD, B+K Construction, ISG Construction, MBA, RPS Architects, JLA Architects, Phelan Construction.

We hope to write more names on this post as the TransAm challenge continues and the fund raising continues to grow (and hopefully, pounds per miles, the fundraising will stay ahead of the cycling challenge on the road).

Riding 3000 miles to raise at least £10,000 means raising just over £3 per mile ridden, we look forward to seeing whether the riding or fundraising will reach San Francisco first, a solo cycling challenge of two targets!

The link to our fundraising page can be found on the Blog.....

....our route from Washington to San Francisco

Riding away from 15 sunrises and into 14 sunsets, to cross 12 US States, 3000 miles, 140,000 of vertical gain, 2 mountain ranges, the Great Plains, 2 deserts in 15 days. There's a script from an old TV Ad that I remember watching, I think it was 'visit Scotland' that reads something like ''only by crossing such a distant landscape can the mind map from abstraction such a territory''.

Every aspect of TransAm 3000 is self planned and organised, it is not an event and there is no external support other than James, the one crew member who, at a young(ish) age takes responsibility for all logistical aspects of TransAm 3000. Together we take on the challenge at our own risk to share experiences and a story that will hopefully interest others, to find new limits for ourselves and most of all to bring to life the stories of Alfie & Aiden (both from our home region of Essex, UK) to help raise money (£10,000) for the UK children's charity Action Medical Research, to play our small part in continuing a long history of finding breakthrough cures into illnesses and disease that affect babies and children. Every bit of fundraising support that we receive will become part of the TransAm challenge, in many ways the most important part, the link to our fund raising page and the stories of Alfie & Aiden can be found next to these posts on the Blog.  

The TransAm route from Washington across to San Francisco was put together over many long nights, researching different routes across, and different roads across each State, the draft route was then finalised with Neil Hanson, a proven TransAm cyclist and author of Pilgrim Wheels; Reflections of a Cyclist Crossing America. Neil's knowledge and experience of riding across the US has been a great help and we hope to meet up with him when crossing through Colorado.

The chart below summarises the day-to-day stages of TransAm 3000, our start and end points each day and from the 19th July the 'map' shown on the Blog will become a live link to our location on the road, we will aim to tweet regular updates live from the road to share our progress and our experiences!

'.....into the unknown, is where the magic lies'