Day 14 - Springfield, KY to Berea, KY - 80.4 miles

Thankfully, the forecast for this morning changed and it was a sunny start to the ride to Berea.  It did get cloudy and "cold" as the day went on, but it was dry!

Probably the theme of today's ride was the beauty of Kentucky!  As you can see the by the photos I've included in today's post, it was simply amazing.  So far, Kentucky has been the prettiest State I've ridden through without exception.

(Rolling fields)

(There were lots of barns on the roads today.)

(Riding through the woods.)

Most of today's route was rolling hills with a couple tougher ones thrown in just to keep things interesting.

A couple times, the route took me down what was basically a single lane road just wide enough for two Miatas to pass each other.  Traffic was almost non-existent and trees lined both sides of the road, sometimes even covering it making it a sort of green tunnel. 

(One of those single lane roads.)

(I've been told the videos are working, so, try this link.)

(Trees almost covering the road.)

All along the route, there were either people's homes or farms or just rolling fields.

A number of times, I'd climb up onto a ridge and ride along.  The roads just seemed to go on forever.

(The country roads seemed to go on forever.)

(These barns were right along side the road.)

After rolling through Harrodsburg, KY, I had to take a detour since the bridge on 152 across Herrington Lake was closed.  That meant taking 33 South to 2168 East to 34 East and then 27 North.  It added a couple miles to the route, but worse than that, it meant traffic.  If there was a bad part to today it was the detour due to the traffic.

But, it didn't last long and I was back in the country side.

(Another narrow road lined by trees.)

(Riding along with a running brook on the side. Link.)

Somewhere along the way, not too far from Berea, I meet a guy stopped on the side of the road.  Each year he rides a section of the Trans Am bike route.  This year, he started in Murphysboro and was ending in Berea where his wife was waiting for him.  We talked for a couple minutes and he was curious how I made it across the closed bridge on 152.  As it turns out, it was closed to cars, but he was able to walk his bike across.  Unfortunately, on the other end there was a locked gate and he had to take his bike partially apart to get it through.  He took a number of pictures for his wife knowing she'd get a kick out of it!

After parting ways, I came across these guys.  They seemed very interested in what I was doing.

A little further down the road, I passed a sign next to a house with tent set up for cyclists with free water and showers.  I didn't need any water, so I didn't stop.  I also passed by too quickly to get a picture.  It was really neat though that someone did that for the cyclists riding through.

And, with that (and some more pedaling), after 80 miles, I rolled into my destination for the night - a Fairfield Inn & Suites - in need of a good night's rest.  The last 4 days have been fun, but they've been tiring.  More than likely I'll be taking tomorrow off and getting some rest before heading into the toughest part of my trip - the Appalachian mountains.  There's also rain in the forecast for next week, so it's going to be a bit more challenging.