Day 13: Here We Are in Wytheville...

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since Lexington. Most of it in the last couple days. Let me walk you through it...

First, a review. Here's a picture from us arriving in Lexington amidst fireworks and cheers of adulation (we're starting to feel like heros).



Day 9 was a sweet ride out to Troutville, where we were given free reign of the Troutville Park and treated like kings.



We ate steak for the third night in a row, for those moms out there who are worried about undernourished cyclists. We met Cecil and Brianna and Kyle who kept us entertained. We shared a lot of marshmallows.

Day 10 was to Christiansburg, which ended up being a long ride out to the interstate campground. We got a good picture passing under a neat looking bridge on the way.



It lived up to its name - we were tenting very close to a highway and a dumpster. For all the lack of charm, we still had a great time and DaveyRay cooked up some of his mom's now famous Beef and Dumplings. We met Jordan on the way there - the best waiter we've had the whole trip.



Day 11 was where things started to get really interesting. On our way to Wytheville (if you notice that we're still in Wytheville on Day 13, you are very observant - read on) we met Junior, a man for the last 800+ days has been walking the New River Trail and sharing the Gospel. We were very inspired.



DaveyRay also broke a spoke on the way - not too surprising since we'd heard it happened to a lot of riders going cross country. But in the last stages of the ride, as it's starting to rain, three of my (Ryan's) spokes pop-pop-popped about 2 miles from the Wytheville KOA. We asked for a local bike shop and they recommended Tree Huggers a few miles away. The owners, Ian and Jody, came out in their XTerra to check out the damage. They whisked ALL of our rear wheels out to their bike shop, saying that these wheels shouldn't be breaking with only 500 miles on them. The next day was a cacophony of hitching a ride from Jean at the KOA to the bike shop (for four guys, four crippled bikes and trailers), hanging out at the bike shop all day, calling Fuji about warranties, trying to fix the bikes, dogs everywhere, meeting up with the Ponds (my friends from NJ), going to the opening of Chicago here in Wytheville at the end of the day (we didn't watch the show, but we ARE cultured!) and crashing at Ian's, Jody's, and Eric's for the night. Eric works at the bike shop too. It was a big, happy, confusing, mess with a happy ending. Fuji is RIGHT NOW overnighting us three new UPGRADED wheels to replace the ones that started breaking, and a fourth high quality racing wheel just for the heck of it (they couldn't find a fourth wheel so they threw in one that would look cool).



A HUGE thanks to all the people of Wytheville who have helped us - Jean for giving us a ride from the KoA, Ian and Jody for tons of bike help and letting us crash for the night, Holly from the Virginia Heights restaurant for giving us a ride to New River Adventures, Eric who works at Tree Hugger for letting more of us crash for the night and all the other good folks of Wytheville. I think the Guys on Bikes have been a little stunned and grateful for all the incredible hospitality we've experienced.

...And just when you thought there couldn't be any more, here are some follow-up photos we haven't had a chance to post.

Our first day at the Atlantic (Virginia Beach)



Camping with the Bible Study guys in Tye River Gap.



Whitehall with Dick, who let us use the Community Center and was an all around great guy.



PS Today is my (Ryan's) birthday - please see "How To Send Us a Package" for more information.