12:03pm
10.29.20
i’ve been staring at my computer, for about an hour, messing around with route planning. chris and i are planning out another bike packing trip for the week of november 9th. we picked the greenbrier river trail in west virginia. honestly, the only reason i know about it is because, a local richmond bike packer that i follow on instagram had taken it on, and it looked pretty awesome! we’re trying to decide if we want to bike the trail in/out, or make some kind of loop? so we aren’t seeing the same things we already rode by.
it’s looking like it will be around 150-180ish miles total. this ride will be the longest trip that i’ve attempted. i’m sure this will kick my butt. also, the temperatures are looking like they’ll be getting down to the 20s at night. yikes! i guess we’ll just have to pack the right gear/clothing to stay warm.
i’ve picked up a couple new items and gear since our last trip. a new revelate saddle bag. which i love already! i’ve been biking around town with it filled with nonsense, just for the thrill of having it attached to my bike. also, picked up some arm warmers, a handful of voile straps, and water cages, so i don’t have to carry a camelpak anymore.
all in all, i’m feeling excited for this trip, but anxious for the election results next week.
will check in soon.
2:38pm
11.8.20
i’m just about packed up and ready to head out. meeting chris at the trailhead in cass, wv, around 8pm. think i might stop by rei on the way out to see if they have an inflatable pillow i can scoop. i’m feeling energized and excited! wish we were riding today, it’s beautiful out in richmond at around 75 degrees. also i can feel the positive energy in the air now that biden has won the election. woof. what a week.
3:07pm
dang! i forgot my helmet. gotta go back. luckily i haven’t gotten onto the highway yet.
3:48pm
just scored big at rei from their “garage sale” section! found a big agnes single person tent for $70, used. typically goes for around $300. feeling real jazzed about that find! even the person at the register was stoked on the deal.
7:27pm
i’ve made it to the greenbrier trailhead in cass. yeesh! what twisty-turny drive over the mountain. the last 2 hours were dark, which made the drive feel so much longer than it should. i passed a handful of deer, 2 raccoons, a skunk, and an opossum.
there’s nobody else around. unsure if we’re allowed to stay here over night? there’s a sign that says no camping. does sleeping in the van count as “camping”? chris said he’d be getting here around 9pm. unfortunately, i don’t have any service to check in with him. we’ll just have to wait. maybe i’ll set up the back of the van to sleep. also try setting up the new tent outside, and break it down.
8:55pm
the back of the van is all set up to sleep, with an inflatable pad and pillow. simple set up. my bike stands upright, to my right, when i lay down. i took the time to put together the new tent. it needed to some tightening in the pole strings, but honestly not bad. pops up quick and packs up quick. can’t complain. curious about the weight on my bike. i guess we’ll see in the morning. hopefully chris will be rolling in any minute now.
9:46pm
i’m sitting in the front seat reading with the van lights on. suddenly, i notice headlights in my rearview mirror. kind of spooked me! it’s only been me, sitting in the dark, for about 2 hours now. i haven’t seen a soul since i pulled into the lot. i’m sure it’s chris, but definitely had a thought that it might be somebody telling me to get lost. thinking about that sign that read “no camping”.
it was chris. am i glad to see him.
we share our hellos and chatted a bit. talked about the rain on wednesday and how we may have to cut the trip a day short. we don’t have waterproof gear. decided on our departure time in the morning, and called it a night.
10:17pm
going to bed. i’m laying in the van, my bike to my right. 6:30am wake up
6:30am
11.9.2020
alarm wakes me up. the sun is just coming up through the van windows. it’s a little chilly. i hop to it! climb out of my sleeping bag, reach for my bike shorts, leg warmers, arm warmers, pants, socks, shoes, gaiter, skull cap, windbreaker. suit up. stuff the sleeping bag into the saddle bag. roll up the sleeping pad, deflate the pillow, and throw that into a dry bag. climb out the back door. i’m ready to take on the day!
pull my bike out, and start laying all of the stuff i need to bring, on the pavement. chris turns his van on. i’m sure its to blast some heat before he emerges to the outside world.
i brush my teeth and pace around, checking items off in my head, on my supplies list. i spit out the foamy toothpaste. swish around some water and spit again to get the rest. start packing things into bike bags and strap the tent to the top of the saddle bag. dry bag to the front handle bars.
7:47am
we’re all packed and it’s beautiful out today. a lot warmer than anticipated. have my new tent strapped to the bike and looks great! just ate a berry rx bar and drinking water with a berry flavor nuun tablet in it, with caffeine. it’s a berry kind of morning!
7:55am
our ride begins. hopefully our vans will be here when we get back.
9:27am
we stopped at the first tunnel. about 15 miles in. hopped off our bikes for a photo-op. it was too cool to pass right through it.
10:06am
we rode over several bridges, some short, some long. i goofed on one of them and ran my shoulder right into the railing. completely racked my front handlebars out of alignment. chris is behind laughing. i was so focused on the view down the river, that i completely forgot that i was on my bike. doh! a quick realignment and we head on. chris still giggling.
10:28am
we just passed through the town of marlington, wv. a small town with a gas station and little place to eat called “lucy’s”. maybe if not for covid, we might have taken the time to pop in and grab a snack.
we’ve stopped on a bridge, just on the other side of town, to take pictures and shed a layer of clothing. i notice that i hit my shoulder a little harder than i thought. left a pretty good scrape. nothing concerning. we both laugh about it again. as we take the time to refuel on a water and a snack. we hear sounds of an outdoor aerobics class back toward town.
10:38pm
we ride by a big open field to our right. there’s an outdoor skatepark! nobody around. we had to check it out and ride our bikes on it. found a path from the trail that led to the park. we both shared turns rolling up and down some of the pyramids and ramps. that was fun! back to the trail.
11:09am
stopped on another bridge, over a creek. a spot in the sun. we’ve been riding in the shade for a bit now. lunch time. grabbed myself a diy, prepackaged cereal, in a ziplock bag. granola, dried fruit, dark chocolate chunks, craisins, almond meal, dehydrated coconut milk. just add water, seal it back up, and mix it up. it’s hitting the spot. chris is taking pictures and having a snack as well.
12:36pm
stopped to take off arm warmers. passed a few other riders with full packed bikes. a friendly wave as we kept on moving.
1:23pm
we’ve reached another tunnel. this one spookier than the last. like a scene from scooby-doo. it looks like we can climb up to the top. gotta check it out. we took some pics and videos. we’ve really up’d our content game since our last ride. taking a lot more pictures this time around.
we’re about 50 miles in. feeling good.
1:51pm
ride up to another one of those cool self pump water fountains. we top off our water bottles. we decide to cut off going all the way to end of the greenbrier trail, and start our loop back up into the mountains, once we make it to anthony, wv. this will cut off about 20 miles of our ride. we’re ok with that.
3:18pm
we’ve made it to our turn off in anthony, wv. stopped at the boat launch, just under the bridge, that we’ll cross over. we’re gonna fill up water in the river before we start climbing up to where we’ll camp.
4:22pm
stopped to take off my leg warmers. we’ve been climbing for what feels like forever. i’m sweating for the first time all day. needed to stop, and peel the leg warmers off my body. it was a nice change from riding on flat terrain for first 60ish miles.
4:44pm
we’ve reached the high point, before the next big downhill, on the route. we start to look for a place in the woods to camp. we leave our bikes by the trail and wander into the trees. stretching our legs while looking for a good, flat place, to drop our tents. we find a good spot about 50 yards away from the road. we go back and retrieve our bikes and hike them into the woods. the sun is setting through the trees and it will be dark very soon.
we get to it. unpacking our bikes and setting up our tents. excited to sleep in my new tent tonight.
5:48pm
we’re cooking. we’ve walked a good ways away from the campsite. can’t eat where we sleep. we’re having our “go to” dinner meal of dehydrated chicken and veggies with instant mashed potatoes. we sit on a downed log waiting for our water to boil. both of us with head lamps on. turning them on and off to see the stars above. we hear a car drive up, down by the road. we can’t see them. they can’t see us. they must be camping on the other side of the road somewhere. we wonder if they’ll be loud tonight, or just trying to catch some zees.
we eat our dinner and pack up the stove and bowls. everything goes into the bear bag. we sling it over a branch with stick tied to the end. we hoist it up pretty high. there’s no way an animal could reach that. we tie it off onto a near by tree. we head up to the tents. we’re beat.
6:27pm
already in our tents. the sky is clear enough to see the stars. pretty wild. don’t think i’ve attempted to go to sleep this early since i was a kid. the sun comes up at 6am or so. the plan is to try and get going as early as we can. we’re trying to do the rest of the ride tomorrow, which is about 74 miles. it’s gonna be a doozy for sure. a lot more climbing and a few descents. we just need to make it back to the vans before the ran wednesday morning. pretty sure we’re going to be riding in the dark the last chunk. good thing we have lights. the rain on wednesday is not looking like its going to let up.
i have phone service for the first time. i catch up on scrolling to help fall asleep.
6:40am
11.10.20
woke up. surprisingly warmer than i’d thought it would be. time to get dressed and break down the camp site.
7:57am
our tents have been broken down, bikes are packed. i finished taking my morning poop. chris eats his breakfast, up by the bikes. it’s nice to not feel so cold this early in the morning. i didn’t feel the need to put leg warmers on today, just arm warmers without a windbreaker. ready for a long day of riding. day two baby!
10:14am
found a creek to fill up our water bottles. both of us slipped. chris’s whole foot went in. i slipped sitting down... not sure how that happened.
we’ve been cruising at this point. gradual climbs to help get our blood pumping, descents to cool us down. it’s been all gravel road. i think i like riding with more changes in terrain and elevation, than just long and flat. today has been fun so far.
11:25am
made it to the top of our steepest climb yet. woof! that was a grind! now we eat lunch. diy cereal. passed a few little hunting cabins. honestly, wouldn’t be a bad place to crash for a night, minus the hunting. we rode by a pick up truck with two dogs hanging out the back. always nice to see some dogs. they kept on driving by. we didn’t say hello.
12:13pm
that was gnarly downhill. super rocky and some pretty tight turns. my whole body is vibrating.
1:24pm
we went the wrong way... we’re going to back track. walking the bikes a bit to get some relief. we think the trail map hasn’t been updated in a while. both of us scratching our heads under our helmets.
2:04pm
stopped for a snack and a good break. we’re on the right path again. we’ve been walking our bikes through big puddles and mud. some rocky hills. we’re both feeling a little defeated. also, feeling a slight sense of urgency, since we’re not covering much ground. we’ve covered 28 miles so far. we’ve decided to hit the next bail point about 6 miles up, which will lead us back to the greenbrier trail.
if not for the rain tomorrow, we would keep on this wild route we planned.
the idea of keeping on this path in dark feels daunting. we have about 3 hours of day light left and about 44 more miles to cover.
3:00pm
hiked our bikes through endless puddles. puddles the size kiddy pools and small ponds. we are covered head to toe in mud. shoes soaked. bikes are caked in it too.
3:10pm
we found gravel road! what a relief!
3:24pm
we reach the entrance of watoga state park. our bail point. the road looks to be paved ahead. this will be a nice change of pace, but it looks like we’ll have to do some climbing again. we go onward. focusing on my front tire. taking deep breaths, big inhales and exhales. leaning into a good pace. trying to distract my mind from what i’m doing. what’s alex doing back home?
we make it to the top and take a quick pause to catch our breath. drink some water. it looks like all downhill until we hit greenbrier. bombing hills are the best! we trade first place and second. full crouch. making ourselves as small as possible. trying to not eat it on the tight turns while maintaining hyper speed. i almost lost it on one of the turns. ended up jerking the handle bars and disorienting them to the front tire. it was a close one! a jolt of energy! really thought i was gonna lose it on that one. a quick realignment. the road is still downhill.
4:04pm
we’ve reach the greenbrier trail again. it’s straight and flat here on out. that last section through watoga state park was fun and pretty. small creeks and mini waterfalls line the road. old cabins and a lake. would be nice to come back and rent one of those cabins for a night or two.
our next point of interest is finding one of those cool self pump water fountains.
4:34pm
we needed to stop and eat. haven’t a reached water pump, but we’re fading. need a little break and an energy boost. i have some left over cereal from earlier. even though we were next to the river, we didn’t feel like taking the time to refill and filter it. there’s gotta be a water fountain soon.
we set up our lights and put on layer of clothes. 30 more miles.
5:43pm
time to turn on our lights. we slow our pace down a bit and find a good rhythm. averaging 10mph. neck and neck. i only have a front light on my handle bars. chris has one on his helmet. he’s now the spotter for sounds, and movement, to our left and right. animals are out.
6:17pm
we make it to a water fountain. a site to behold! ready for a little break. we’re pooped and hungry. about 16 miles to go. its dark. lots of bats, opossum, and one buck on the trail. feeling the fatigue in our bodies as well in our eyes. it feels like certain senses kick into hyperdrive. listening for deer running beside the trail. my eyes only focusing on what i can see. the trail about 50 feet in front of me.
we keep each other entertained with conversation and stories.
8:29pm
we roll up to the vans. the last few miles were tough.
we go right to digging for our keys and unlocking the vans. unzipping and unrolling all of our bags on our bikes. taking out everything and doing inventory on the pavement. i’m separating items into piles. my stuff and chris’s stuff that i borrowed. i didn’t even bother to be organized with my stuff. threw it all in the back of the van. also the bike haphazardly tossed in. i just wanted to get on the road and get taco bell. i’m so hungry.
both of our vans are packed and we set out to find a gas station. both of desperately in need to fill up. still without service. i follow chris. we reach one about 15 minutes into the drive. a small, middle of nowhere pump. the market inside has probably been closed since it got dark 3 hours ago. it’s just us. we both fuel up and chat about the trip and what food we’re craving. start discussing ideas for the next trip.
i have a three and a half hour drive back to richmond, chris has around 8 hours. he’s going to drive till he gets service, finds a rest area, and close his eyes for a few hours before finishing his drive to new paltz.
the vans are filled up. we say our goodbyes. we’ll see each other soon. now where’s that taco bell?
photos by chris daly and noah bowman