June 22, 2008, Sunday
Bristol, VA to Kingsport, TN
Bike Virginia cyclists moved to Tennessee today, riding from the border town of Bristol to Kingsport, TN. Along with Johnson City, TN, the three are known as the Tri-Cities Metro Area. The city was an important port on the Holston River where local goods were shipped to the Tennessee River and on to Knoxville. The riverfront is now dominated by the huge Eastman Chemical company.
It was time to leave the car in Bristol. Since the route would pass near our motel, I decided to drive to the parking area with my bike on top, then ride back toward the motel, coordinating with Kerie via cellphone. It was a pleasant, scenic ride out of town on the main route which was only 33 miles. Just before the first rest stop there was an optional ride up the surrounding hills. I split off at this point, despite hearing a fellow recumbent rider who had scouted ahead say the route was bad, not what he wanted to do today.
It was a hilly stretch. At one point a SatRday rider who was riding ahead of his wife talked to her by walkie talkie, telling her about a shortcut if she turned right instead of left at the next intersection. He was now in a hurry to try to catch up to her, so I followed along for a while. This was also a chance for me to ride as hard as I wanted, and after a while I passed the SatRday and caught up with a paceline on a fast downhill, following them as we merged back onto the main route and rode to the rest stop where I met Kerie.
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| SatRDay man | On the road to Kingsport | "You must walk your bikes" |
At the rest stop there was an incredibly long line. The ladies from the church who staffed the stop wanted a neat line of cyclists who would be handed their food items. Usually it's a free for all, but it works, cyclists approach the food table, grab some food and leave. Waiting in line was a bad idea so we headed toward Kingsport.
We decided not to ride the next optional hilly loop. It was a scenic ride along Timbertree Creek and on to the next rest stop at the Exchange Place Water Station. The station was a stop along the Old Stage Road. Horses were only allowed to be ridden for 4 hours. Along the road there were exchange stations where the horses were exchanged for fresh ones. Since this was the first stop in Tennessee, travelers from Virginia would also exchange their Virginia currency for Tennessee currency.
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| The pigs thank you for the compost | Making wool yarn | Hardewick and Winston |
Volunteers tend the gardens and animals, recreating a semblance of the historical period around 1850 during the station heyday. They explained the history of the farm that served the travelers along the road. Many of the original buildings were renovated. We watched a woman weaving one of the historic patterns on her loom, and another person making wool yarn on an interesting spinning wheel made of PVC plastic, using a side-by-side foot activated action. At the rest stop the fruit residue was being collected as feed for the two pigs, Hardewick and Winston.
We rode on to lunch at Tent City in Kingsport. We were a bit ahead of the pack since we didn't ride the optional loop so there was no line for the boxed lunch of hummus and lettuce on a bun, chips, potato and pasta salad, and a cookie. We rode some of the other optional routes after lunch, riding through the mean streets of Kingsport where we got little respect from the local motorists. The streets were wide and uninteresting so it wasn't long before we returned to Tent City to park our bikes and catch the shuttle bus to the motel. We didn't care to ride on the busy roads with fast traffic, especially tomorrow when normal rush hour traffic would be in full bloom when we would ride to join the route.
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| Tent City, Kingsport, TN | Laundry day | Shuttle bus to the motel |
The Hampton Inn was an oasis, a large clean, room. After a shower and change of clothes it was time to head back to the shuttle bus and dinner at tent city. Some cyclists rode the 4+ miles along Wilcox Dr to the motel and didn't have any problems. Dinner was basic vegetarian fare, 4 vegetable side dishes, a cookie and a drink. It was not quite enough food, especially since we would have at least a 61 mile ride to Abingdon, VA the following day.