HIATUS #1 Thursday 5 October
I went for a very short bike ride this morning
and came up with a plan for my onward travels by bike, post Covid
Actually it was only doing very local errands
but the change from yesterday's walking was extreme. What on foot can seem like
interminable acres of bitumen in the parking lots are so easily traversed by
bike. Just takes a couple of pedal strokes or even a bit of coasting.
I was out with the larks (8.15am) but both the
CVS and Walmart pharmacies had yet to open. I got some soft masks and two more
RAT kits for future use. Paxlovid is apparently not part of any language
currently spoken in Waynesboro.
I intend to be very circumspect in my approach
to this Covid business. I'll take my full 5 days of self isolation here in
Waynesboro for rest and recovery, which means moving out on Sunday. I'm loathe
to give up the Inbound Ride entirely so pressing on would be my ideal. Of
course I remember how utterly spent I felt after cycling on Tuesday (when the
first Covid symptoms appeared), so if current lethargy persists and there's any
chance of a repeat, I'll be reconsidering my options.
So from here I plan to take 4 days to get to
Roanoke, with overnights in Raphine, Natural Bridge and Troutville. They are
really short days in mileage terms but the hills aren't going to go away! I'll
take a rest day in Roanoke and regroup. There's a direct Greyhound service from
there to Nashville, which may be considered, or even a rental. Bruce Day has
made an open offer to come and pick me up by car at any time but I can't have
him driving for hours on end when I'm not sick.
The next three days should have me in
Wytheville, again splitting the mileages originally plotted. They would have
had me go to Bristol in the same time but the distances and ascents are
uncannily similar to the first two days, when I actually did cycle. 50 miles
and almost 3,000 feet of ascent daily are not for me, post- Covid. So overnight
stops in Christianburg and Dublin, all still in Virginia, are called for.
Enterprise should be open the next day, Monday
17th October and I plan to take a rental and impose on Bruce and Wilma again in
Hendersonville, later that day.
There's a subheading on one of my blog pages
"the best laid plans 'o mice and men gang aft aglay". Or: "man
proposes, God disposes"
Day 5
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