Robert's Ride 2010, Day 5, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, Salem, VA to Hagerstown, MD

It was still raining when we packed up the car this morning to head back to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it stopped by the time we had fueled up at Starbucks and bought more ice for the ice chests.  It was a slightly chilly morning (64 degrees) with heavy mist hanging over the higher elevations of the Parkway as we drove to the start of today's ride. 

Philip took the first ride today.  He started at mile marker 77 at about 10:30 AM with arm and leg warmers and a vest.  He rode to mile marker 63 at James River, which is a beautiful spot. 

We chatted there with a guy from Illinois who was about Philip's age, I guess, who was also cycling parts of the Parkway but wasn't on his bike today.   He eventually turned the conversation to politics and got an opposing view from Philip.  Philip quickly changed the subject, and they chatted for a few more seconds about wood turning before our new acquaintance announced abruptly that he had to go.  Very strange.

There was also a couple of  young guys at James River whom we had seen earlier cycling very slowly up a steep incline as we drove to Philip's starting point.  We chatted with them for a while.  One was from Ohio and the other from nearby Roanoke.  They were headed to Washington, DC and points beyond, with probably 50 pounds of gear on each of their bike.  They didn't seem to be worried about how long their travels might take.

I drove Philip to mile marker 50.  He wanted to skip the steep climb between the two legs of his ride.  The elevation profiles that he downloaded showed only a few moderate climbs, but, like yesterday, the information wasn't accurate.  He had quite a few challenging climbs.  He reflected on an attempt that he made back in the early 90's to ride 200 miles a day on the Blue Ridge Parkway and complete the length of the Parkway in 3 days.  "I didn't do it then and today to get 50 miles was extremely difficult."

When he arrived at mile marker 20, I was ready to ride.  I was planning to ride to the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway, for a total of 20 miles.  It was still a bit chilly so I added arm warmers.  Philip rode the first 2.5 miles with me and then turned around so that he could finish with at least 50 miles.  All of the climbs were challenging to me, a flat lander.  There were many climbs; one was at least 2 miles.  I was ever so glad that I asked Philip to change my double crank to a triple before we left home.  Even so, I probably averaged 6 mph on the uphills, which were fewer than the descents.  Today I felt a lot more secure about descending without constantly gripping the brake levers, since the traffic was very light with a 45 mph speed limit, and I didn't have to worry about a narrow shoulder.  I clocked 30 mph at one point.  Things were going pretty good, but I could see ugly rain clouds ahead.  At about 11 miles the sky opened.  The support vehicle was nowhere in sight, and I was going way to fast downhill to stop safely.  It had to ride a couple of miles in heavy rain before the road leveled out so that I could stop.  I took shelter under a large-leafed tree and wondered where the [expletive deleted] was the support vehicle.  I did occur to me that back at mile marker 20 where Philip was probably leisurely eating lunch, it wasnt' raining.  I waited about 10 minutes before he showed up, but by then it was only barely drizzling.  I decided to ride on, but I was soaked and the ride was pretty fast downhill for the next couple of miles and I was cold.  It started to pour rain again.  Philip turned up again immediately, and I decided to throw in the towel.  I had completed 15.6 miles.  And wouldn't you guess...as soon as I had changed into my dry driving clothes the sun came out.  I decided not to get back on the bike, so we headed to tonight accommodation in Hagerstown, MD.  We stopped at Ruby Tuesday for dinner, same as last night.  They have a pretty good salad bar, and free refiles of fresh lemonade or tea with berries.  It is our choice of restaurant for dinner for the time being.

Today we rode 282 miles and cycled 65.6 miles.

Robert’s Ride 2010, Day 4, Tuesday, August 24, 2010, Cosby, TN to Salem, VA

I didn’t occur to Philip and me until we were sitting at the breakfast table this morning that we lost an hour and were now in the Eastern Time Zone, which meant that we were already behind whatever schedule we have been trying (without success so far) to establish for our trip. After an equally delicious breakfast and a walk through the morning dew and cobwebs towards the back of Dianne’s property where there is an abandoned log cabin built about 100 years ago, we packed up the Passat wagon and hit the road, to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Philip told Dianne that he would put me on the bike at the first downhill section on the Parkway, which sounded OK to me, until Dianne told me how incredibly steeply downhill that section is. After yesterday’s scary descent on US Hwy 321, which is probably really tame in comparison to the hill that Philip had in mind for my ride today, I thanked Dianne for her warning, and suggested to Philip that he ride first today, and I’d ride later in the day further up the Blue Ridge Parkway where the elevation changes are less dramatic.

We spent the first 1 ½ hours or so on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the new Visitor Center at mile marker 397, and then at the Folk Art Center at mile marker 380 (the Parkway begins north near Waynesboro, VA, and ends south at mile marker 465 near Cherokee, NC). The Folk Art Center has a fabulous collection of crafts made by artist from the Appalachian region, and is one of Philip’s favorite places. So, we dropped a bit of time there.

Philip finally started his ride at about 1:30 at mile marker 364 at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center.

Philip studied the profile of the Parkway that he printed from the Internet, which showed a mostly downhill ride for 37 miles from this point, and then a serious climb. So he planned to ride the 37 mile stretch, get back in the car, and finish his ride further up the Parkway where the climbs weren’t so steep. However, like most profiles, the information wasn’t detailed enough. There were good downhill sections, but there was a lot of climbing. Later, after studying an elevation chart that we got at the Visitor Center, Philip calculated that he climbed 3700 feet in 37 miles. It was a cloudy day, and it did rain a little, which dropped the temperature to 64 degrees, so Philip grabbed his rain jacket from the car at one of the scenic overlooks where I had leap-frogged to wait for him to ride past. He got off the bike at 37 miles, which took him 2 hours and 45 minutes. His bike computer showed that his average speed was 13.9 mph and average power was 475 watts.

We drove 391 miles today, and cycled 37 miles.

Our schedule for completing our goal for cycling miles each day (about 2 hours for me and 4 hours for Philip), and the number of miles that we need to drive to our night’s accommodation, hasn’t worked out so far. After Philip got off the bike at about 4:15, he calculated that we had at least 4 hours of driving to do to reach Salem, VA, where we had made reservations for the night. So, Philip didn’t finish his ride, and I didn’t ride at all. Driving the 4 hours to Salem was the pits. There was one section of road that began with the sign “switchbacks next 22 miles”, which was beautiful, but exhausting to drive. The last 142 miles were on Interstate 81 in rain, which was a real vacation buster. Maybe by the time that we reach Halifax we will have worked out this cycling/driving thing.

Robert’s Ride 2010, Day 3, Monday, August 23, 2010, Franklin, TN to Cosby, TN

Today didn’t go as planned. It’s a bit impossible to get on the road “on time’ when you’re visiting with good friends. And I didn’t find the time to update the blog. Jayne and Kevin served up a wonderful breakfast, and the conversations were way too interesting. And Jacques continued his insistence from the night before that we should stay for at least a couple more days. Despite Kevin and Jayne’s clear directions to get us to an AT&T store (phone issues) and on our route for today, avoiding the interstate, we (I) lost our way almost immediately.. and so went the rest of the day. It was about 1 PM when I finally got on my bike, on a twisty turny part of US Hwy 321 between Crossville and Rockwood, TN. Immediately I was screaming (literally) down a steep descent faster than I’d every ridden before, on a very narrow shoulder, gripping the brake levers has tight as I could. It was SCARY. But the traffic wasn’t heavy, and I didn’t go over the guard rail. My bike computer wasn’t working so I have no idea how fast I was going. The elevation eventually leveled out, and I had a good ride until the shoulder disappeared. I threw in the towel at about 18 miles. It wasn’t a good place for Philip to start his ride, so we drove on...and lost our way...and found our way...and lost our way. By this time we were behind schedule for our ETA at our night’s accommodation in Cosby, TN, so Philip didn’t get to ride today. So, he’ll need to make up the mileage tomorrow...maybe.

We followed US HWY 321 to TN 73 to reach Little River Road in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. That was a lovely drive, until we reached Gatlinburg, which is not so lovely. We spent the night at the home of a lovely and interesting lady, Dianne, whose accommodation Philip found on www.airbnb.com (check it out). Her place is WAY off the beaten path, and absolutely charming and rustic and QUIET. Dianne prepared a delicious pasta meal for dinner, and was a very gracious host. There was no Internet access for my laptop, so, again, no blog entry was posted today. No photos taken today, either.

Today we drove 291 miles, and rode only 18 miles.

Robert’s Ride 2010, Day 2, Sunday, August 22, 2010, Aberdeen, MS to Franklin, TN

Our night’s rest in Aberdeen was about 50 miles off the Natchez Trace. The Best Western Motel where we slept could be “best” described leaving off “Best”. Our choices for nearby dining were Wendy’s and Sonic. We settled for Wendy’s, where we were warned to be watchful for clubbers crossing the highway on our drive back to the motel.... Question: Why do clubbers cross the highway? Answer: To get to the other side???
We left the motel at 7 AM and headed north.  Philip searched for left-over Saturday night blues on the radio. He found a good radio station. This song, “I'm glad that she gave me the blues, because I found you” stuck in our minds. When that station faded, we found Elvis singing “Daddy don’t cry” as we drove to Tupelo.

I started my ride back on the Trace at 8:40 AM. at mile marker 278, north of Tupelo.  It was another beautiful day on the trace – sunny and hot, but maybe 5 degrees less hot than yesterday. There was a definite head wind, and more climbing. The climbing was OK, since I kept reminding myself that we are headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway, in the Appalachian MOUNTAINS. I got off the bike after 25.6 miles, in 1 hour 48 minutes, at mile marker 303.

Today Philip and I were a bit more coordinated. Philip was ready to begin his ride when I got off my bike, so he was able to start riding a couple of hours earlier in the day than yesterday. The head wind was a factor for Philip today, too, but he had a good ride. He finished at mile marker 353 with 50.32 miles in 3 hours, 43 minutes. From there we drove to Leiper’s Fork, almost at the terminus of the Natchez Trace, and arrived at the Franklin home of our evening’s hosts, Jayne and Kevin Thibodeaux, at about 5:30 PM. We finished the day with dinner with Jayne & Kevin, their boys Jacques (5) and Jean Pierre (7 months), and my brother Carl, who lives in College Grove, at Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant. The food was pretty good!

We drove 246 miles today, and cycled 75.9 miles.

Robert's Ride 2010, Day 1, Saturday, Aug 21, 2010, Baton Rouge, LA to Aberdeen, MS

On the road again......Day 1 was a beautiful, sunny, and very hot day.  I began the first miles of Robert's Ride 2010 on the Natchez Trace at mile marker 0 at about 8:30AM.  It was a glorious ride with gentle inclines and fun down slops, very few vehicles, and still quite a bit of shade at that time of the morning.  The Natchez Trace is truly an American treasure, especially for cyclist.  We saw quite a few cyclist on the road today.  Philip kept his promise to my mother and kept a watchful eye on me in leap frog fashion until I finished my ride.  After 1hr 45 minutes of leisure riding, I called it quits at 27.3 miles.  I got back in the car and Philip drove to the Reservoir Overlook near mile marker 105, north of Jackson, where he started his ride.  By then it was about 12:40 PM and brutally hot.  He had unexpected company for most of his ride from a guy named Angus from North Carolina, who pulled up in his mini van while Philip was prepping for his ride.  Angus is a pretty big guy, who, it turned out, is a former Olympic rower.  He and Philip made good time on the road until Angus turned around after about 22 miles to return to his van.  Philip was riding with only one water bottle, while I left the Trace to look for ice for his Camel Back.  By the time I caught up with Philip, he had ridden at least two hours and was pretty sun whipped.  There was very little shade by then, and the temperature topped out to 97 degrees (Angus had a thermometer on his bike).  Philip's water bottle was near empty.  (I have much improvement to do in my support role...)Philip got about 20 more miles, and finished near the 146 mile marker for a total of 42 miles.  His computer wasn't working, so he doesn't know his total time. 

We drove 396 miles today, and cycled a total of 69.3 miles.

Gifts made from Robert's Fund in August 2010

On August 10, 2010, Robert's Fund made gifts to St. Aloysius Child Care Center, Volunteers of America Parker House, and Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center.

St. Aloysius Child Care Center is the day care center that cared for infant Robert Martin Maillet. St. Aloysius Child Care Center provides care for children ages 6 months to 5 years.

Shown here are Philip and Goldie with Bonnie Hyfield, Director of St. Aloysius Child Care Center

 

Volunteers of America Parker House is a residential treatment facility in Baton Rouge for up to 10 children ages 3-13 who have been abused, neglected, and/or abandoned, and placed in the care or legal custody of the State. Parker House primarily serves foster children with a history of severe emotional impairments/behavioral disorders that preclude their successful placement with a family.

Show here are Philip and Goldie with Allison Traxler, Chief Development Officer of Volunteers of America of Greater Baton Rouge, and Susan Butler, Director of Parker House.

Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center serves abused children in four parishes in southern Louisiana. The center coordinates the investigation, judicial, social service, and mental and medical health systems that respond to reports of child abuse, with the goal to lessen the trauma experienced by child victims when abuse allegations are investigated.

Show here are Philip and Goldie with Sharon Pol, Director of Marketing and Development.

 

On August 13, 2010, Robert's Fund made a gift to McMain's Children Development Center, a multi-disciplinary treatment center serving 12 parishes in southern Louisiana, which helps children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, such as sensory processing, severe speech and learning disabilities, AD/HD, and autism.

Shown here are Philip and Goldie with  Janet Ketcham, Director of the Center.

Robert's Ride 2010, Baton Rouge, Louisians, to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, August 21 - September 1, 2010 -- 12th Annual "Robert's Fund" Donation Drive Drive

Hello to you all!

On August 21, 2010, my husband, Philip Baker, and I, who are Robert Martin Maillet's uncle and aunt, will begin a 12-day cycling/car trip from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.  We will take turns cycling to get as many miles on the bike each day as our not-so-young bodies, and time, will allow.  Total distance that we will cover by bike/auto is 2,600 miles.

This is the itinerary for our trip:

August 21, Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Aberdeen, Mississippi
August 22, Aberdeen, Mississippi to Franklin, Tennessee
August 23, Franklin, Tennessee and Cosby, Tennessee
August 24, Cosby, Tennessee and Salem, Virginia
August 25, Salem, Virginia to Hagerstown, Maryland
August 26, Hagerstown, Maryland to Hyde Park, New York
August 27 (rest day, Hyde Park, NY)
August 28, Hyde Park, New York to Shutesbury, Massachusetts
August 29, Shutesbury, Massachusetts to Kingfield, Maine
August 30, Kingfield, Maine to Sussex, New Brunswick
August 31, Sussex, New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia
September 1, Halifax to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

WE ARE CYCLING TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF ROBERT AND HIS PARENTS,

AND TO HELP CHILDREN IN NEED. 

PLEASE SUPPORT US BY MAKING A DONATION

TO THE ROBERT MARTIN MAILLET MEMORIAL FUND. 

You can make your donation online at http://www.robertsfund.com/, or by mailing in the donation form attached to the Robert's Ride 2010 brochure that you received in the mail.

Your donations are tax-deductible.

Please check our blog for daily updates of our trip.

You can contact us at goldie3047@gmail.com .

Goldie & Philip at Peggy's Cove 2004