Update #17 - Mar 28th, 2002
London, KY - 3,396 miles

The ride between Chattanooga, TN and London, KY went okay. Traffic for the mostly light since I've been paralleling the interstates. The hardest part for this section was navigating over the hills in Tennessee. Some of them were pretty steep with climbs lasting over a mile and a half. For the most part, I got over them with taking mini-breaks every two hundred feet or so to get my pulse down. Between Lake City, TN and the Kentucky state line, I had some long coasts (one of them being six miles long.)

The weather has been a mixed bag. I get some good days in the sixties or seventies and then it turns cold. A couple days ago, I had to ride in some rain. Yesterday, I rode in a little sleet. Today, it got up into the sixties. Tomorrow and over the weekend, I might be getting a little wet since they are predicting rain. Rain is something that Kentucky doesn't need because of the recent flooding. Last week, some counties in NE Kentucky got over four inches of rain in a day. I've still been averaging around fifty miles per day.

With regards to churches, I hit some good ones and then some bad ones. I've been fortunate and blessed. Two nights ago, I had a home visit. Last night, I had a motel room donated through a church here in London. I have about one hundred thirty more miles to ride in Kentucky. This might change since I might try and do some disaster relief along the way to the Ohio River.

Today was an off day for me. I got maybe nine miles out of London heading northward when my rear tire blew out. I'm not too sure why. It looks like maybe one of the rear brake pads got out of alignment and rubbed against the sidewall of the tire. I got the tire up with just enough pressure for it to hold. It took me about three hours to walk back into London to get to the bike shop. I got a new rear tire for under twenty dollars. It is just sixty-five psi but I think that it will work out okay. The church that helped me out last night here in London is providing another room for tonight.

Plans are still being made for the ride to Central Ohio and then on to Northern New York and possibly Maine.