Kill Devil Hills, NC, to Ocracoke Island, NC

"Partly cloudy in the morning...then becoming sunny. Highs around 70. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph."

Too good to be true? Warmer weather and perhaps a tailwind?

Change in plans. Hurricane Irene had damaged highway 12 which connects to Cape Hatteras and ultimately Ocracoke Island. The highway department has built a bridge, but it isn't open and Tracy was unable to find anyone who could/would allow the cyclists to use it. The option was to ride 80 miles to Swan Quarter and catch the ferry to Ocracoke, which leaves at 12:30 PM! Tracy asked the Big Dogs if we thought we could ride the eighty miles and be at the ferry by noon. Of course, we said, sure, we can do it. CrossRoads moved up the departure time to 6:45 AM and divided the riders into three groups: one group would be taken by van to the Sag stop at 44 miles and start the ride there; a second group would start the ride from the hotel and either catch a ride to the ferry at the SAG stop or continue if they thought they could make the ferry by noon; the third and final group consisted of Don, Peter, Jack, Al, Mike T, Sam, and me, who were going to ride the entire eighty miles (AKA the big dogs).

After an early breakfast at the hotel, the riders gathered in the dark to either load bikes or wait for first light to get on the road before 7:00 AM. We had five hours to make the time cut, averaging 16 MPH including stops. Forming a pace line, the five members of Team Big Dog took turns pulling at the front while other riders took advantage of the stronger riders. We left Kill Devil Hills on SR 64 and rode south. Temperature was in the mid fifties and most riders were bundled up. There was little or no wind and we made good time to the junction with SR 264. Stuart, who had made a breakaway from the group missed the turn and had to backtrack. Heading into a pesky head wind, the peloton continued down a mostly deserted road bordered by swamp on both sides, and raced towards the SAG stop. At one point, Peter declared a "natural break" (he had to pee) and the riders stopped, only to be immediately attacked by clouds of huge mosquitoes! We quickly regrouped and sped towards the SAG stop where CrossRoads staff gave out DEET wipes, which didn't deter some of the gigantic, thirsty mossies. Al and Sam left the feed zone early, followed close behind by Jack, Mike T, and me. The three of us rode in a pace line but never caught the breakaway duo. Peter, Larry, and Bill followed. Larry is risking his amateur status by riding with the Big Dogs.

Jack, Mike T, and I made it to the ferry in plenty of time by 11:30 AM, averaging almost 18 MPH for eighty miles. Of course, we then had to wait an hour to board the ferry to Ocracoke Island for a 2.5 hour trip. CrossRoads Staff organized a lunch buffet out of the back of the support truck for the exhausted riders. Tomorrow is a rest day.

Ocracoke Island, NC
Population 688; elevation 3'
A remote island of the Outer Banks
Blackbeard the pirate (Edward Teach) died on Ocracoke I.
During WWII, British ships were sunk by German U-boats and the bodies of British sailors washed up on shore. The British cemetery is maintained by the Park Service and a British flag flies over the cemetery.

80.3 miles; 4:30 hours; 495' climbing; 4,260 Calories.

Virginia Beach, VA, to Kill Devil Hills, NC

Team Dawn Patrol.  These lovely ladies start riding about thirty minutes before the pack.  Ilze, Beverly, Barbara, and Jan.

Jan, Beverly, and Amy at the NC state line.

Welcome sign at our lunch stop.

The Wright Brothers Memorial

Jack, with a mock up of the Wright Brothers' plane.

"Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the lower 60s. West winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph."


Once again, it was cold enough (47 degrees) to put on our cold weather gear. Although it had not rained overnight, dark clouds threatened rain. As luck would have it, we did get sprinkled on, but not enough to get wet. The sun broke through the clouds later in the ride and evoked comments like, "What's that light in the sky?" Hank pointed out last night, we have only had one day of riding where it didn't rain at some point!


Team Big Dog, complete this day with Peter the Wuss, headed out of the hotel and braved rush hour traffic getting out of Virginia Beach. It seemed like we stopped at every traffic light; they were long lights. At mile 22, we crossed the North Carolina state line and stopped for pictures. Our route then took the riders off busy SR168 to a very quiet country road for about twelve miles before taking us back to the highway and the only SAG stop of the day. We were fighting a moderate head wind and, once again, team captain Jack organized the Big Dogs into a rotating pace line. At some point, Mike had a flat and was forced to drop off the back of the pack and wait for a support car.


The group stopped for food at mile 62 and to flirt with a cute, redheaded waitress. At mile 65, the road turned East onto a 2.8 mile bridge to the Outer Banks. With a strong, West wind at our backs, we touched 35 MPH on the flat! It was then a short ride down the island to the Wright Brothers Memorial and on to the hotel.


Kill Devil Hills, NC (1953)
Population 5,897; elevation 7'
Name derived from an English term for rum, "kill devil." Locals would salvage shipwrecks for their cargo of spirits and hide it in the sand dunes.
Site of the Wright Brothers National Monument where the first powered, air plane flights took place on December 17, 1903 (Kitty Hawk).

80.8 miles; 4:39 hours; 502' climb; 4,136 Calories

Pokomoke City, MD, to Virginia Beach, VA

"Partly sunny in the morning...then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50s. West winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph."

It was raining when I got up at 5:30 AM and went to look for coffee. It was still raining when we left the hotel at 7:45 AM. The temperature was 49, chilly degrees. I donned my arm warmers, leg warmers, bandana, wind breaker, and put a hair net on my helmet.

Captain Jack at the Virginia State line

Stage summary:

Team Big Dog (Mike, Al, Jack, and I) were first out of the driveway and never looked back. Peter the Wuss, was not with the team, having declared it was too cold and wet. A pesky head wind was blowing, so Captain Jack quickly took charge and organized the team into a rotating pace line - each rider taking turns at the front for one-mile intervals before turning over the lead chore to the next rider in line. The route took the riders down deserted roads through fields planted with soy beans, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. The peloton was quickly left behind. Don (50 peaks) bridged the gap between the peloton and the breakaway group of four just before entering the feeding zone (SAG stop). Catching Team Big Dog asleep at the switch, Don was first our of the feed zone and became a solo breakaway, maintaining his lead until the end and taking the stage. Team Big Dog worked in vain to reel Don in, but was forced to accept second, third and fourth places as a team. No final sprint was possible because they had to cross a busy four-lane highway a few meters before the finish line at the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

So close…Our route took us ten miles west of Chincoteague, VA, home of the Chincoteague ponies. The popular, child's book, Misty of Chincoteague, was a favorite of my children. Every summer, in July, feral horses on nearby Assateague Island are rounded up and herded to Chincoteague where foals are auctioned off by the volunteer fire department. The round up includes driving the ponies across the Assateague Channel at slack tide.
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(This picture is from Wikipedia Commons and is in the public domain.)


The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 23-mile long fixed link crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The bridge-tunnel combines 12 miles of trestle, two 1-mile long tunnels, four artificial islands, two high-level bridges, approximately 2 miles of causeway, and 5.5 miles of approach roads. Bicycles are not allowed on the CBBT, so CrossRoads loaded the riders and bikes onto the vans and shuttled them to the hotel in Virginia Beach. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey salad wraps, chips and soft drinks were provided for the hungry riders before the lift to the hotel.



Virginia Beach, VA (1906)
Population 437,994; elevation 10'
It is illegal to use profanity on or near the beach!


77.4 miles; 4:32 hours; 725' climbing; 3,930 Calories

Elvis

The King and I.

Dewey Beach, DE, to Pokomoke, MD

"Partly sunny. A chance of rain...mainly in the afternoon. Cooler with highs in the mid 60s. West winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent"

While yesterday it was 83 degrees, today's forecast was for twenty degrees cooler! So much for our unseasonable, warm weather. Time to break out the cool weather gear that we didn't need further north. While it was chilly when we started, it was very pleasant later in the ride and we encountered no precipitation today!

We started the ride after luggage loading at 8:45 AM instead of the normal 7:30 AM so we wouldn't arrive at today's destination before our rooms were ready. A 63 mile ride is considered "short" when you are averaging 80 miles a day.

Another day, another state line! At mile 17, we crossed into Maryland. Goodbye Delaware, it was nice knowing you. Our route took us down the Delaware seashore on highway 1 to Ocean City and then cut inland on SR113 to Pocomoke City. Once we turned West, moderate headwinds were unpleasant for the rest of the day.

I asked the "Pedigrees" if I could ride with them. It was a split vote, but they called in a tie breaker and I was accepted for the day. The Big Dogs were confused, but also joined in the fun. A few miles down the road, Jack suggested I get a photograph of the pace line, so I jumped on the pedals and sprinted up the road, calling out to the head of the pack, "photograph!" Unfortunately, Peter, Al, and Mike didn't hear the "photograph" part and thought I was attempting a breakaway. A short while later, I pulled off the road to take a picture but by then the big dogs were off to the races. The Pedigrees and I then continued our casual ride down the coast to Ocean City, home of many, many miniature golf courses, condominiums, stop lights, hotels, restaurants and curio shops. When we made our turn West, we moved from the craziness along the beach to farms and ultimately forests. There was very little car traffic, the skies were partly cloudy and it was a great day for a bike ride. After the SAG stop, I found myself alone until Pokomoke where I saw Amy and Scott's bikes outside a pizza joint; I joined them for a very pleasant lunch before riding the remaining short distance to the hotel.

Pokomoke City, MD (1878)
Population 4,184; elevation 7'
Called the "friendliest town on the Eastern Shore," Pokomoke gets its name from the local Indians' name for the river, "black water."

64.0 miles; 3:58 hours; 582' climb; 3,340 Calories.

Rehoth Beach - Rest Day

The boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach

Empty beach...with trash can.

Pond north of Rehoboth

Not very friendly to be charged double if you aren't from Delaware!

Canada geese. 

What do cyclists do on a day off? Go riding, of course.


I spent some time this morning getting all the grime off my bicycle. A clean bike is a happy bike. I then rode north, up to Rehoboth Beach and its reknowned boardwalk. The strand is, indeed, a real boardwalk lined with shops and eateries. We are here in the off season, so the area isn't very crowded, despite the nice weather. Yes, on our day off, it isn't raining! I've been told that during the summer beach goers are wall-to-wall on the sand.


I found a bike store in town and then rode further north along the shoreline and into a park before turning around and going back to the hotel for a nap. It's a rest day, remember.

Hammonton, NJ, to Dewey Beach, DE

Long, country roads through the forest.

Not only do they have fake palm trees on the Jersey shore, they have BLUE ones!

They let the cyclists board the ferry before the cars.

Al, Jan, Sam, Jack, Michel, me, Stuart, and Peter.

Welcome to Delaware!

"Showers and thunderstorms likely. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall in the morning. Humid with highs around 80. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent."


When we left the hotel in Hammonton, it was overcast, but the pavement was dry! Once we got out of town, we were treated to long, straight, lightly traveled, country roads through the pine forest. Jack, Al, Mike, and I took turns at the front of a pace line and never let our speed drop below 20 mph until the SAG stop. (Peter's knee was bothering him, so he had opted to ride in one of the vans instead of riding.) After the SAG stop, it began to rain, but it was a warm rain and we kept the pedal to the medal. There was purpose in our rush - today we were to board the Cape May Ferry from Cape May to Lewes, Delaware. The ferry had scheduled departure times of 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 2:30 PM. While there was no chance we could cover the 71 miles to Cape May in time to board the 11:00 AM boat, we figured we could easily make the 1:00 PM if we pushed. As we neared the coast, the rain had stopped. We had to slow as we rode through the beach cities, filled with stop signs, but little traffic. We got to the ferry terminal a little after noon. Plenty of time to grab a sandwich and a coke before rolling our bikes onto the ferry for the ninety minute crossing to Delaware. Once we landed in Lewes, we had another ten miles to ride to the hotel in Dewey Beach. It was sunny, hot, humid, and buggy on the highway into town.


This was our eighth day of riding. Tomorrow is a much needed rest day!


Dewey Beach, DE (1981); population 340, elevation 7'
Rehoboth Beach DE (1873); population 1,327; elevation 8'
Rehoboth Beach and its smaller neighbor, Dewey Beach are summer vacation, resort towns. The population can swell to over 30,000 people on a warm, summer weekend. Rehoboth is a Biblical name, meaning "place for all." RB has a wooden boardwalk and a wide, sandy beach.


81.9 miles; 4:53 hours; 650' of climb; 4,293 Calories.