(Max Meadows, VA -> Roanoke, VA)
I (Anna) have a situation to present to you: you’ve biked 40 miles and you come to a sign that says: Road closed, local traffic only, detour left. You have 3 choices: 1. Continue on the road and hope that there is a way through the road. 2. Go on the detour route (which goes under the highway and appears to go the long way around). 3. Go on the interstate for 1 exit and get back on the road. Be aware that it is illegal to bike on the interstate… Please choose one path.
As it turns out, we are different people. Travis forged ahead & convinced and angry construction worker to take him across the bridge that was being built. Sean was thinking ahead & called Travis. Now warned about this angry construction man, Sean still chose to forge ahead but was rejected at the bridge and had to bike back. He then chose the interstate, and in a further stroke of bad luck, was pulled over and given a ticket. Maceo decided to brave the bridge too, and was greeted by a more friendly construction man (maybe the other guy was on a break??) who kindly let him cross. Cole & I decided to go forward too, until this man in a pickup stopped us and said that there was physically no way to cross the river because there was no bridge (which doesn’t really seem to be true?!) and also he had seen a cyclist who had gotten a ticket on the interstate (...). So we took the detour, which was really extensive and added 5 miles and an extra 1,000 feet of climbing to our route. Sad. Asia avoided this conundrum by driving.
We had started the day biking off with our host, who took us down some backroads that even the Internet did not know existed. Asia was the driver today. Her only consistent visitor was Maceo, though. Cole & I did a self-support, and Travis and Sean are too fast to keep up with ;)
Anyways, we all arrived in Roanoke by one way or another (Travis and Sean both got flats later on). First of all, our incredible hosts in Roanoke own a coffee shop! This is my dream. And they kindly let us eat there, and I had a latte and homemade yogurt and it was a very good day.
