23 May 2012

Ashland to Mineral VA 60 miles  (TransAm 170)

I’m on the Metro bus heading home from a downtown Seattle lunch with former-coworkers-turned-friends when I hear him say “Hey, Gina!” Even more loudly, I hear Gina say “WHUT?” As we know, this is not our little Gina on the bus with me today, for that little Gina is pedaling her way through the wilds of the Old Dominion State. No, this is Crack-Head Gina (CHG). CHG is a blonde too, but the resemblance pretty much stops there. In fact, you could toss our little Gina into a washing machine with a bottle of Colt 45, a pack of smokes, a tube of mascara, and a spritz of Coty Wild Musk and she’d still come out looking better than CHG. And sounding better. CHG is a potty-mouth and ironically enough, can’t stop talking about how the bus stinks like pee. I have to agree with her on that one, but I really wish she’d move on to another topic. It’s always on these kinds of rides, these ones where the bus smells like a urinal and the driver has the heat on high and the windows all closed, that the wheelchair ramp then gets deployed every other block and the man across from you in the Members Only jacket either wants to chat or is picking his nose and now, hey look, let’s while away some more time on this pleasant journey waiting for the Ballard Bridge to close. Ah, public transport during non-commuter hours. A trip that inspires you to stay home.

Gina doesn’t have the option of staying home because she must pack up her sodden rain fly and muddy tent and hit the road again. Last night brought little sleep and a lot of rain, the kind that falls so hard it splashes up under the tent flaps and the thought of it soaking through to your sleeping pad and goose-down bag and dry clothes is the only thing distracting you from the thunder and lightning racking the earth outside. Yup, no time to waste, there are 60 miles to be ridden today and the route is starting to go from flat to hilly. Between yesterday’s turn in the camp kitchen, last night’s battle with the elements, and today’s beginnings of granny-gear terrain, I think it’s accurate to say that Gina’s TransAm is also shifting gears: goodbye Summer Camp, hello Boot Camp. Although last time I checked, Boot Camp didn’t have Wine Tasting in its lineup.