CC20 - Day 25

If you are following the news, you might have seen the reports on Hurricane Delta reaching the US. I was East of it and didn't want to get into massive rainfall on my way west, so the motto today was: get west of the storm. 

And that's pretty much what I did:

Day 25 Route

I had this as my guide:

NOAA Screenshot for Delta

The NOAA app gave me a prediction for the storm path for Thursday and Friday and I planned my ride accordingly.

And since I already had quite a distance to ride, I decided to turn it into a full 1000 mile day. I didn't get the witnesses to make an IronButt Saddle Sore 1000 (1000 miles in 24 hours) ride, but that wasn't my goal anyways, I don't need the "badge", it was just fun to complete the 1000 miles. I had done this distance before, but that's a long time ago.

Here are the statistics:

Day 25 Ride Statistics

It was actually fairly easy. I left at 5:40 in the morning in Alexandria and arrived around midnight in Lebanon, MO (I got two hours back due to time zones). Had a good lunch break and most fuel stops turned into a short break. And since I was pushing the bike on the freeway I had to fill up quite a few times, six to be precise. Could have been okay with five, but I didn't "optimize" it, instead just filled when I felt like it.

And since I didn't stop much, I only have one photo from the day:

CC20 - Day 23

Nothing special today, I rode from Virginia Beach, VA, to Alexendria,VA – just short of Washington, DC. Tomorrow I'll do the 12k miles service that is due now and then on Thursday will start my way back home. This will likely be a much quicker and more direct ride, especially since I'll be trying to beat Hurricane Delta through part of its predicted way ...

Day 23 Route

CC20 - Day 22

On a cross-country trip I really had to go to the coast, there was no way around it. So I bit the bullet and rode the roughly 200 miles of rather boring roads to the coast at Virginia Beach, VA. It took me just over three weeks to ride this:

Sunnyvale, CA to Virginia Beach, VA

So far it has been an awesome trip. Some problems (ears, cuts), but overall it was an enjoyable, fun, just great motorcycle trip. 

Virginia Beach, VA

It was great to see the ocean again. I just love sitting on the beach and staring at the water. And leaving my mark:

Imprint

Virginia Beach is a VERY touristy place. Touristy in the meaning of "cheap tourism". Right now, most of the restaurants are closed, but when looking at the selection and the feedback on them, it becomes very clear what type of location it is. Didn't matter to me, I just needed a destination close not too far away from my last in Lynchburg. 

Since it's out of season right now, I was able to find a reasonable deal on a nice Bed & Breakfast place, where I got my first decent coffee in three weeks:

Coffee

It was about time ...

The route today was really just to get me here:

Day 22 Route

CC20 - Day 21

My skill at finding donkey trails came forward again ... my routing led me over some very nice backroads again, some of them unpaved, for whatever reason. 

Some miles unpaved roads, no problems

And with donkey trail, I mean donkey trail:

Donkeys along the backroads

I saw donkeys multiple times today, stopped for these ... they were a bit careful at first, but then came closer and let me scratch their little ears. 

Nice backroads

At some point I ended up on Blue Ridge Parkway again, but just a few miles later it was close and I had to switch to a detour. Since I didn't know for how far the Parkway was closed, I decided to just take the fastest route to the hotel I had booked. Wasn't an issue, since I had already done about 3/4 of the way today.

Day 21 Route

CC20 - Day 20

I've been on the road for nearly three weeks now. About a week ago I made an appointment with Eurosport in Asheville to get a new rear tire – under the assumption that I'd ride roughly about as much as I had planned. Reality got in the way and I rode about 800 miles less than I had planned. Still, I kept the appointment, wasting some rubber on the rear tire, but since it will definitely not survive a ride back home, I needed a new tire anyways. 

The rear tire I had on for the last 8100km / 5000 miles still looked good and I felt slightly sad to replace it today. 

Rear tire after 5000 miles

At least the tire shows that I found a good mix of curvy roads while still making quite some distance over the last 19 days. There just less than half a millimeter tread left to the wear markers in the center, a bit more on the sides. Not too shabby, the tire would have lasted the distance I was actually planning to ride on it, just around 6000 miles.

The front is still good:

Front tire after 5000 miles

I hope the front will last another 4000 miles which should get me comfortably back home.

The riding today was great. It was cold most of the day, it was under 10C/50F for around two thirds of my ride. The heated jacket was really worth it! It kept me warm and comfortable, although I did have cold fingers. 

The routing led me down some weird roads though:

Weird routing ...

I had selected "paved roads only" for the routing and that didn't work out ... ;-) I had to turn around since the "road" was closed a little farther in.

Near US 421 "The Snake"

US 421, nicknamed "The Snake" is a wonderful motorcycle road. Curvy, not too tight, not too fast. It has a rather low speed limit which I adhered to, of course, ... cough ... mostly. 

After the one day the new rear tire is scrubbed in:

Rear after about 200 miles

That's one reason why I love the Continental tires, they stick from the first moment on without any issues. 

The route looks a little weird – I rode "The Snake" first South East and then decided it was so good, much better than the rest of the loop I had planned, I rode it back North West. It was a lot of fun ... I liked it more than "Tail of the Dragon" since there was nearly no traffic here and I also liked it much more than the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is also much busier. the side roads are where the fun is, as it is so often.

Route Day 20 (Click for real map)