DAY FIFTEEN: Huricane, WV

June 16, 2007
Spencer, WV to Hurricane, WV
(originally) 62 miles
(actually) 68 miles
by Steven Felix

So, as has been the motto, generally, for HBC in the past 4 weeks, "It just would have been too easy!"

Today started out wonderfully, as everyone woke up from a great night's sleep on real mattresses on fairly plush cabins at the Spring Heights Education Center (it is a huge site used for Methodist summer camps, retreats, meetings, etc. perched atop a beautiful hill in West Virginia, just outisde spencer). We did the usual routine, and had a simple breakfast of cereal and muffins. Then we shuttled in two trips from the top of the hill (more like a mountain) down to the Memorial United Methodist Church (where our bikes spent the night). THose of us in the van attempted to find a cup of coffee at a cafe but were dismayed to find that the cafe was closed on Saturday. So we trudged back up to the van and got on our way.

The first difficulty of the day occurred when CR 13 and CR 15 forked. All of the riders would soon know this fork as "the turn with the dogs." Two dogs would chase each rider down the road as they passed by. Unfortunately, due to some confusion the right turn was not chalked. It wasn't for another 20 minutes, however, that we (the second group of riders, and me, claire, and nick in the van) figured out which was the right road (darn those unmarked West Virginia roads!). After driving down the incorrect road a few miles to tell sweep (the last group) that they had gone the wrong way, we got back on track, only two find an incorrectly chalked turn! And thus began the 6 mile detour along Jone's Ridge. Though this detour was quite beautiful, the riders had a tough time going up and down the steep, rolling hills. In the van, Claire and I frantically tried to account for each rider and determine where the h*ll in West Virginia they were. To top it off, there was no cell phone service, so our phones were rendered useless. I did, however, receive a call from Chris, who told me that they had travelled straighed at the "turn with the dogs" and had walked 1.5 miles on a dirt road before they realized they were not headed the right way. Long story short, we got all the riders back on the right route, and the van caught up with Beth, Emma, and Pat, who found us a nice lunch spot at a Post Office parking lot.

I left the trailer and rushed backwards to find chris, dan, morgen, and andrea. Once found, hydrated, and fed, i left them and returned to lunch, where we dealt with a number of issues, including Ben's loose axel on his rear wheel, Corey's frayed front derailleur cable, Reuben's road rash after having an accident on a sharp turn down a steep hill, Andrea's bent rim after a little crash at the bottom of the hill, and....that might be it. AFter loading up the van with 6 people, we finally got underway to our final destination, Hurricane, WV.

Once in Hurricane, AC Chapman took wonderful care of us. He knew almost everybody's name, just based on our profiles on the website!!! THey fed us well, lasagna, meatballs, salad, brownies, and icecream. We also had a few interviews with the newspaper and with a local news station (which Andy will be featured on). THen we had a great town hall meeting, and we each separated to do our own thing. I small group actually went to a local carnival that was in town. Surprise, surprise, Corey won the 'strong man' competition, and won a plastic, inflatable hammer, which he plans on using at all of the habitat builds in the future. Laundry done, and the riders all together again, we resigned to our thermarests for the night.