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Lon's Description: We start to get into the eastern mountains
as we head toward Tennessee. Now the hills get bigger and
the forests thicker. Our day from Dayton to Dahlonega is
filled with corkscrew climbs and descents. We make our way
into Georgia and through the worst of the mountains. We still
have some long cycling days to reach South Carolina.
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Today was a difficult day. We rode from Dayton, Tennessee
to Dahlonega, Georgia, a distance of 132 miles. The difficult
part was that we also climbed 8300 ft., after climbing 7500 ft
on Day 21.
In spite of the difficulty, it was a very enjoyable day with lots of unique scenery. We climbed through the Lake Ocoee area, and then past 3 Tennessee Valley Authority dams and power generating stations. There was a stretch where there were many river rafting groups heading down the whitewater portion of the river. After climbing past the dams, we continued to the quaint town called Ducktown, followed immediately by the Georgia State Line. At the last rest stop (at an old store along the road) we met a man and wife who were potato farmers on the adjoining property. The man was 92 years old, and his wife was driving a small tractor towing a trailer full of potatoes (see photo). You wouldn't think these individuals were nearly as old as they are! The last 23 miles consisted of a 6-mile climb followed by a spectacular downhill into the Dahlonega area. We were all happy to see the PAC tour orange cone at the entrance to the destination hotel. Tomorrow we will cross into South Carolina, the last state of our tour. |
| Estimated Distance: | 134 Miles |
| Actual Distance: | 130.6 Miles |
| Cumulative Actual Distance: |
2,730 Miles This includes the following off course added miles: San Diego - 2.0 Miles when Chuck and Bob Harting missed a turn Winslow - 4.7 Miles when Chuck, Ken, and Les Drake went to the mural painting after the ride Pagosa Springs - 3.1 Miles when Chuck missed Lunch Alamosa - 11.2 Miles when Chuck missed the turn for Lunch |
| Estimated Feet of Climbing: | 6,700 Feet |
| Actual Feet of Climbing: |
8,500 Feet Lon assured us that there would NOT be an additional charge for this additional climbing |
| Cumulative Feet of Climbing: | 93,500 Feet |
| Elevation of Destination: | 1,610 Feet |
| Average Speed on the Bike: |
14.7 MPH |
| Maximum Speed on the Bike: |
50.5 MPH Now Mom, don't worry: this was on a great, straight road with no traffic and excellent conditions so we just had to see what the bike could do!!! |
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Chuck's Heart Rate Data: Max Heart Rate was 196 BPM a few weeks ago before PAC Tour |
Time above 150: 0:01 Time between 130-150: 4:28 Time below 130: 5:57 |
| Dairy Queen Count: |
1 Blythe, CA 2 Twister's Ice Cream in Williams, AZ 3 Dairy Queen in Cortez, Colorado was phenomenal 4 Dairy Queen in Monte Vista, Colorado (PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split: Bananas, 3 Scoops Ice Cream, Hot Fudge on Side: Awesome!!) 5 Dairy Queen in Pratt, Kansas 6 Dairy Queen in Winfield, Kansas - PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split 7 Ice Cream at All You Can Eat Buffet in Cuba, Missouri (Boy, did this restaurant lose money on us!!) 8 Dairy Queen in Farmington, Missouri - Dinner 9 Dairy Queen in Vienna, Illinois - Excellent Chocolate Marshmellow Shake |
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Spencer Sutcliffe from Huntington, West Virginia at the
Ocoee / Parksville Lake. Shortly after this photo was taken, his rear wheel developed a broken spoke ... but it wasn't long before the PAC Tour truck came along and swapped out his rear wheel with a spare and Spencer was able to complete the day just fine. Checkout a larger version of this photo |
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Greasy Creek looked mighty fine to us. Checkout a larger version of this photo |
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Georgia's on our minds.
Checkout a larger version of this photo |
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Our last Rest Stop for the day was just
down the road from Cooper Creek, Georgia. This couple
was so nice and friendly. We were shocked to find that
he is 92 years young!! They had just been out farming
their trailer full of potatoes here.
Their dog, Sasha, was just the best and was very happy with some Rest Stop snacks!! We asked them how they would be voting in the coming election and they were very determined to vote for George Bush ... time to "run Clinton and his cronies out of the White House." At dinner later that night, Jerry mentioned to me that we should have just pulled up a chair and visited with these good folks for a couple of hours to listen to just a few of their many life stories!! I thought to myself: this is what America is all about. These folks haven't even thought about retiring ... still very active and very young thinking. They live in an old store that is closed and sell fruits and vegetables out in front. We saw so many beautiful valleys recently that we are a little overwhelmed. These folks live in a mighty beautiful part of America!! Checkout a larger version of this photo |
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After the last Rest Stop, it was a good and
steady 8 mile climb to "Woody Gap Vista" here. Needless
to say, Ken and Chuck were mightly pleased to have arrived
here at 3,220 Feet of Elevation ... the highest point on the
Eastern Part of our trip.
The good part was the descent: it was a blast with tons of fun switch back curves allowing us to really carve out the corners. Checkout a larger version of this photo |
| Highlights: |
Another OUTSTANDING day of cycling!!
We knew it was going to be a hard one ... and we found out there was even more climbing than Lon had estimated. We were concerned about that so we asked Lon ... and he assured us that there would not be an additional charge for the extra climbing. He is very nice that way!! :) Chuck & Ken stopped in Ducktown, Tennessee at mile 83 to buy some apples from a roadside farmer. These folks were genuinely interested in what we were up to and the apples were excellent. We were glad we stopped to talk to these folks. We rode at a nice easy pace today so we had some left in the tank ... and we were glad we did because the last 8 mile climb seemed like it was right up the side of a huge mountain!! |
| Memorable Scenery: |
Beautiful farms and cow pastures Awesome green forests and valleys Whitewater rafting on the river |
| Mechanical Problems: |
John Ashby appears to lead the Flat
Tire competition with 13 flats. In addition, he
has had 2 rear wheel spoke failures, a cassette
destruction, and a Rear Derailleur explosion.
John has excellent equipment but has concluded
that sometimes the less expensive stuff works
better. |
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Biomechanical (Engine) Problems: |
A tendon on Cheryl's leg started to talk to her. |
| What Worked: |
No wind Blue skies and warmth of the sun |
| What Didn't Work: |
8,500 Feet of Climbing because we're a little bit
tired ... gee, I don't know why???
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| Quote of the Day: |
Staying down does." Sign in front of Church Early this morning outside of Dayton, Tennessee |
| Chuck's Song of the Day: |
Wasn't a scared of jumping off the truck in high gear King went a sniffin' and he would go He was the best old hound dog I ever did know Old King sure meant a lot to me Now that dog is his-tor-eee" Neil Young "Old King" on "Harvest Moon" Neil's songs are easily good for 100 miles of cycling!! He's the owner of the Lionel Toy Train Company It is just incredible how many dogs there are in this area ... every house seems to have a dog out in the front yard and they love to bark and chase after cyclists!! |
