Day 43
Day By Day Notes From The Road
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This document updated Wednesday, April 26th, 2004
Washington to Confluence Pennsylvania - 89 Miles
By Erwin:
All in all, today's ride was fun and eventful, but we got to camp pretty tired. The ride started out with yet another example of the friendliness of the locals in Western PA (we got yelled at particularly rudely (for not being far enough to the right) about 1 mile into the ride - very unpleasant), but soon got better.
The first 35 miles we rode through some parks and small towns and enjoyed the morning mist and pale morning sunshine. The route had some hills and, I must say, the hills here are steeper than we've seen to date. We reached inclines of over 10-12%.
After those 30 miles, we reached a trail (yes, no cars!). The trail was part of a system of biking trails that were converted from old railroad tracks (the so-called "Rails to Trails" program). Using this trail made for a nice, very civilized ride; the route was flat, there were no cars, and we were surrounded by a nice river and forest. I liked it - thanks to Ride Director Jeff for picking a great route!
After 56 miles, 2000 Big Rider Fred Husak offered us a fantastic lunch included some of the best peach pie of the ride (which says a lot!). After a big lunch, we continued at a leisurely pace along the river. About 10 miles before camp, we reached the lovely town of Ohiopyle, where (for the first time this ride), we gave in to the temptation to cool off in the water we were riding along. We had a nice ice cream and spend a nice 20 minutes hanging out at the river side.
Tomorrow, we ride about 80 miles, first along the flat trail, but then more mountains will present themselves. I will be dressing warmly again tonight, because it made for a great night's sleep!
By Lucija:
Well, I learned once again that I enjoy biking best when I have some scenery to distract me. When we reached the bike trail today most of the people were relieved to escape the hills. Since the bike trails follows an old train track route it avoids all the seep hill climbs typical for this region. I too enjoyed the flats for the first few miles, but soon my brain became too bored with the monotony of the trail. Luckily we had a big break in the day at mile 56 - the lunch hosted by former rider Fred Husak. It was delicious, and a great excuse to take a long break from biking!
Photos:
A foggy early morning ride
We're enjoying our car-free bike trail!