Posted from Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States.
The good weather continued today, although the wind was from the east. It made little difference in the end because most of the day was spent riding hills in the woods. My general route followed Highway 50 East. For the first 2/3 of the day I stuck to back roads. The riding was gorgeous but there were 2 big problems: steep hills and dogs. The hills were fun at first but the constant rollercoaster eventually became exhausting. The dogs were never fun. One dozen is a conservative estimate of the number of dogs that came after me. Only one tried to bite and it was a little Boston Terrier. The dumb dog went for my front pannier instead of my meaty calf. I almost wished he had bitten my leg so I could have kicked his ugly face in a little further. There was only one chase that was scary. A giant German Shepherd mix spotted me and unlike all of the other dogs he didn’t start barking. He quietly began sprinting after me. I was going fast to begin with but he still got close enough that I could hear him breathing. The one-headed Cerberus had fire in his eyes and his only goal was to chew on my beating heart. He chased me for almost a mile before quitting. Then he started barking and continued until well after I was out of sight. I was shaken and I rode on the highway exclusively after that.
Photo 1 – The hills have begun.
Photo 2 – McArthur, OH.
Photos 3, 4 & 5 – The back roads.
Photo 6 – I passed through Athens, OH, home of Ohio University. While there I went searching for Armon Bassett. If I found him I was going to beat him up, but the coward never showed his face. If you don’t know who Armon Bassett is, good.