Inner Turmoil (May 30, 2015)

Four days ago, I found myself sitting in a library with several maps and road atlases spread out on a table.  What to do ... which route to follow?  The previous eight or nine days had been filled (nay, overloaded) with short steep climbing.  While staying reasonably on track with the Adventure Cycling TransAm route, I had started to ride busier roads rather than head off onto the roads suggested on the maps ... roads with names such as "Stagecoach Road" or "Old (insert name of small town) Road".   Even the busier roads had endless climbing, but the steepness of the climbs was less and lengths longer ... even so, this was taking a toll on my legs and on my morale as well.

So there I was, surrounded by maps, trying to determine how I would be traveling over the coming three weeks.  Was I to stay on the ACA route or was I to head down to Tennessee and follow "god knows what" routes.  Looking at the ACA route, I did not see any of the "near-by busier roads" that would alleviate some of the climbing.   Looking at the Tennessee highway maps ... well, there was too much inner turmoil to select a route, and I was really not too sure if Tennessee would be any different than western Virginia and Kentucky (TransAm route) ... stomach-roiling indecision at its' finest.

I had to make a decision that would be implemented immediately upon walking out of the library.

Here is what really freaked me out (click on the picture below for an enlarged view):

These three "profile" panels represent the coming 1,000 miles (three weeks) I would be riding were I to stay on the TransAm route.  I am fully aware that the horizontal is greatly fore-shortened, which results in much steeper verticals, but that does not reduce the number of climbs. 

At this point, a thinking person may ask, "Is this the first time you looked at the maps/profiles?"  Unfortunately, my answer would be, "Yep'"

In John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, he takes people who "over-plan a trip and adhere unwaveringly to that plan" to task.  I wonder what he would have had to say about people such as I, who seemingly are oblivious to the concept of "planning".  Truthfully, my plan for this bike ride was simply to ride to Florida on the Southern Tier route, up the coast, then west on TransAm.  That was/is the depth of the plan I developed ... did I bother to look at the maps prior to leaving Tucson?  Nope.  Sitting in that library was the first time I looked at the maps with the profiles.

I just read a journal entry of a guy I met earlier this month.  He is riding the TransAm, and just entered Kentucky the other day ... does not sound like he is having a good time.  (Note to Linda Matson and Mark Doumas (Linda and Mark rode that route recently):  feel free to share your thoughts on the TransAm route in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia).

I am currently in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The riding has been, for me, much easier.  The roads I have selected are much busier, but the legs are much happier ... and for this moment, there is less inner turmoil tugging at my soul.