Day 24: Winchester, VA – Grantsville, MA

Good morning from Maryland!

After a few kilometers you could see orchards everywhere and the farms got a little bigger. The wind died down a bit and the sun warmed my back, so the ride was really fun. What was less fun, however, were the many hills, which became longer and longer ramps and, like a ski jump, became steeper towards the top. My bike didn’t like that at all and it refused to work for me. Once, twice and more and more often. After a while there was the border with West Virginia and a little later that with Maryland. Shortly behind the town of Frostburg then the worst case scenario: the engine died on my bike and that on the almost 12km long mountain that led on the US40 towards Grantsville. I wanted to call the hotel and ask for help, but no one answered the phone. So stop someone to give me a ride. But there were almost no cars coming and no one stopped. So I pushed my bike for the last 6.9 miles and had to negotiate the highest of all the ramps of the day. Whether and how things continue…we’ll see.