Six Gap Century, September 24, 2006

[Pedal Wench]

Deb, my BF said that he saw a guy with a huge backpack walking around the SAG on top of Neels, looking totally confused and out of place. I could imagine walking into that scene!

Thanks for the encouraging words. I really had my heart set on taking a solid hour, if not more, off my 6-Gap time, so to only do 1-Gap is just going to be a letdown, especially with all the training I've been doing for it. But, we kept thinking that a crash would ruin the season, and we've got some hiking and biking trips coming up that would be ruined with an injury. When we saw Skibum's BF's injury, that confirmed that we made the right choice - he's got so much experience riding, and if HE went down, what could have happened to us?!?!!

We're still trying to nail down the dates for our redo, and I'll let y'all know when it is.

OH! My forearms are KILLING me! The studio I work in has very heavy wooden doors, and when I put my hand flat on it to open it, it's so tight and painful that I can barely stand it. I know it's from clutching my brakes. Ouch!

[DebW]

Deb, my BF said that he saw a guy with a huge backpack walking around the SAG on top of Neels, looking totally confused and out of place. I could imagine walking into that scene!

A southbounder who'd been on the trail for 6 months would have had total culture shock seeing hundreds of bikers (or people, really) at Neels Gap like that. Though the huge backpack argues against the guy being a thru-hiker. But I can certainly understand confusion. I spent a night in the hostel at Neels Gap on my hike, and there were 3 people there. After 5 trail days, the shower and laundry were very nice.

[Pedal Wench]

That's funny Deb. Whenever we do an extended hike, we always know that we're getting back to the trailhead and civilization when the people we pass on the trail smell good.