Day 81: September 24, 2024 - Murphy, NC, to Cherokee, NC
End: Cherokee, NC
Miles: 47.0
Feet climbing per mile: 69
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/224422375
When I started to fill the front tire it had only 30 psi, much less than the 70 psi to which I fill it at the start of every ride. Remember that two days prior it had only 40 psi when I started to fill it. This morning I concluded the patch I applied in Chattanooga was not effective and I replaced the tube. But after dinner I was unable to find a leak in the tube that was at 30 psi this morning. How does a tube go from 70 to 40 one day, from 70 to just a little less than 70 the next day, and then from 70 to 30 the following day? Is that tube to be considered reliable?
Although I would often be on roads with lots of traffic and no shoulder, during the early part of my ride I was sometimes on roads with little traffic.
A walking bridge brought me to a bike path that provided relief from the traffic.
When a small dog started to attack me I gave it a shot of the repellent. The dog backed away but came at me again, so I gave it another shot, and it again started to come at me. I’d like to have a repellent nasty enough that one shot would persuade dogs to stay away.
My right shoe slipped off the pedal because the cleat had broken just about the time it started to rain heavily. I took shelter on the porch of a campground office where I replaced the cleat. There I met the owner of the campground who advised me about how I might avoid roads with heavy traffic but no shoulder.
From mile 30 to 35 I was on a winding road with fast heavy traffic and no shoulder. At mile 35, after being buzz-passed a few times, I decided I would hitch a ride to where I had been told the four-lane road would have a shoulder. I stopped at a pullout and there I met Gene, whose truck that had blown a head gasket. He was waiting for his friend Bill to come get him. I stuck out my thumb and two drivers stopped to possibly offer me a ride, but both of their trucks were too loaded to have any room for my bike. When Gene called Bill and told him my situation, Bill agreed to give me a ride. Bill took me to the four-lane road with a shoulder where I would be out of the danger. Unfortunately the shoulder was not generous and more than half occupied by rumble strips, so my progress was slow.
The surface of the four-lane road was beautiful asphalt. I considered it shameful that its shoulder was so poor. There were times when there were gaps in the traffic that would have allowed me ride in the right lane and make good progress, but I was tired and didn’t trust myself to do that.
I was to be picked up at my hotel at 5:45 by Bob, a classmate from graduate school, and his wife Anita, for a 6:00 dinner reservation. Bob and Anita were driving up from Lakemont, Georgia. When I realized I would not arrive at my hotel until at least 5:45, leaving no time for me to shower, shave, and change my clothes, I called Bob and arranged to have them find me on the road and drive me to the hotel.
It was great to have dinner with Bob and Anita. I hadn’t seen Bob since we had dinner during my bike trip five years ago, and Anita and I couldn’t remember seeing each other since we met at a party given by the Department of Economics when Bob and I started studying there in the fall of 1976.
My rides from Chattanooga to Ducktown and from Murphy to Cherokee were both full of dangerous roads. Is there a safe way to ride from Chattanooga to Cherokee? Maybe not.
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