6/18 65 69mi ? damascus,VA

Woke up early and got going. It was a little chilly in the morning. Didn't stop very much and the climb up hayters gap wasn't that bad. I had to stop once because my tire rear tire was rubbing my frame. When I stopped I noticed the patch was bulging out of the hole. So I took it pretty easy on the descent and prayed that it wouldn't blow on a corner but it was still fun. Saw 2 guys and a girl cyclist just after the descent. About 20 miles later i saw 2 couples riding by. GOt a flat just before meadowview and put a patch on my first tube and out a dollar bill folded 3 times over the hole to try and hold it together. Met a guy right before damascus who had hiked the appalachian trail and was nowriding across teh country! Found the the hostel 'the place' behind the church and dropped off my bags. Took my bike to one of the bike shops and asked them to fix it up for me. Ate a lunch of organic salad and stew at a tiny cafe off main street. It was sooo nice to eat some fresh good food for a change. The stew was really good. walked back to the place and met a father and son. The son, nathan, had been on a boy scout hike with his troop but had stprained his ankle and was waiting for his ride. Got a shower updated my blog and picked up my bike. they threw 3 new spokes on it trued the wheel and put on a new tire since the old one was thrashed. i bought a couple more tubes and got a few extra spokes. Went to fattie's restaurant and ate a burger. They have the fattie challenge and its a 6 pound burger that you get to name if you eat it all. they started out with a 2 poulnd burger and are now up to six. There are some hungry thru-hikers who stop in there. Did some laundry and bought a tall boy of bud to pass the time while I waited for my laundry. Bad idea. Started to burp up a ton of foam as I was drinking the last half and it was pretty gross, worse that normal, not ice cold. Went back to the place and talked to a thru-hiker named hot chocolate for a bit and went to sleep. The creeper trial is here and its a converted railroad grade that is about20 miles long and gravel and cinders. There are a bunch of shops here that will rent you bikes and shuttle you up there and you can pretty much freewheel down. What a bunch of pansies. It started raining as I left to go eat and I saw some people coming down with these ridiculous ponchos and overheard other people complaining about the rain and 'cold'. please, give me a break. It wasn't even cold. I was walking around in a t-shirt and running shorts and sandels and still sweating. Anyway the plac eis awesome for $4.