Stage 4: Dayton, Ohio to Charleston, West-by-God, Virginia. 209 Miles.

We said goodbye to the flat lands of Ohio today and headed towards our first pass over the Appalachian Mountains. Shortly after passing Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton OH, we (unintentionally) decided that today’s route simply wasn’t long enough and made a 16 mile addition to the course with a few more turns than were called for.

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Once back on course, it was a tense hour or two of hard riding to catch back up on our time table for the day. This is, after all, a race….

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, save for a fuel vapor locking issue that has cropped up on our ‘28. Tonight’s hosted dinner stop was provided by Harley Davidson of West Virginia and we were treated to a great italian dinner before the Charleston WV Police Department provided an escort for all riders through the city to get to our respective hotels.

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Tonight’s wrenching was tame, and mostly just maintenance. The roads today were rough enough to shake the headlight bulbs out, but that’s an easy-enough fix. Tomorrow morning begins early for a 260 mile journey through Appalachia and promises to be beautiful and scenic as we travel to Danville, Virginia.

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