Day 2 - 2013 Appalachian Trail-ish Epic Ride

July 08, 2013

Sunday - July 7, 2013

Departure Location / Time: Bristol, TN / 8:30AM

Weather: High Humidity Low 70's in the AM - Turned to Rain for rest of the day.

Total Miles Traveled: 258

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Day 2 started off with some outstanding fire roads with a few of them narrowing down to a wide single track trail. We were quickly reminded that these massive bikes that are loaded down with gear don't shine in the tight technical, slick rock trails. They love the big wide gravel roads but when the roads narrows you have to pay extra attention to every rock, pot hole and rut.

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The weather was very kind to us in the morning but that only lasted until about 1PM. The rain moved in and stayed with us until dusk. We took retreat at Dairy Queen/Gas Station and enjoyed a not-so-healthy lunch. After lunch we switch from trail to street to try and make up some time.

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Love must be in the air today because I witnessed a couple small dogs getting friendly and two donkeys doing the same. The love quickly passed as Joe's KTM decided it didn't want to stay running when he put it in gear. Luck was on our side. Across the road from our breakdown was an auto repair shop, 460 Auto Repair.

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The folks there were so nice to let us come in out of the rain and work on Joe's bike. We diagnosed it to be a faulty kickstand switch. Dan used his phone to research a solution while Joe and I hacked on the wire harness. Turns out we needed a magnet to mount to the sensor. Who packs a magnet in their tool kit? Not us. Turns out the folks at 460 Auto Repair had a small rare earth magnet that fixed the problem! They refused to take any payment for their help so we settled on some of Kate's homemade chocolate chip cookies.

We continued northeast and found a cool little campsite near Covington, Virginia (possibly West Virginia) I really haven't kept up with where we are. I'm focused on following the little blue arrow on the Garmin. That's all for now.... Time to ride.

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Link for real-time GPS Tracking of Trip.  |  Link to Joe Morris' Blog

 





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