Day 44, Bedford PA

BEST: Six mile downhill towards the end of the ride with grades of 9%. Speeds in excess of 45 mph, and no required braking.

WORST: Getting to the top of the downhill.

MOST UNEXPECTED: Actually enjoying the days ride rather than suffering through it.

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man wiped out. I am sure that is how the quote goes. Another soggy tent take down, but the good news is that the sogginess came from dew and not the dam breaking above us. The ride started back on the bike trail of crushed limestone rock, and several riders in front of me missed the original turn. I went looking for them, but couldn't fine them, so onto the trail I went. Supposedly at mile 15 we were supposed to get on a new trail, but there was a detour around a closed railroad tunnel which added 1.5 miles. So at mile 16.5 I still had not found the new trail, and continued to mile 18 and figured I must have missed it. I turned around and went back about 2 miles when the first lost group caught up with me, and we figured out the cue sheet was just wrong. I got an extra 3.5 bonus miles.

Once we got off the bike trail, it was over hill, over dale, up and down the hills of PA. There was no rain, but plenty of warning thunder letting us know we better keep moving. Some of the group did visit the flight 93 memorial, but I kept going to avoid potential rain which I caught at the very end of the ride, just in time to set up my tent and have it stop. We had store bought half chickens for dinner with fresh corn of which I had two ears, it was that good. I trust it was for human consumption and not livestock. We are in another campground with no shade trees, but the temperature right now is very pleasant although somewhat humid. Nothing real exciting today, no broken bones or bikes. Lots of pretty scenery and for those of you looking for a new mailbox, I have included the old trusty tractor box picture. Tomorrow is the big ride, and I may not be able to blog tomorrow because when I arrive in Gettysburg I will be greeted by my family. As I mentioned in my preliminary blogs, my philosophy is family first, fun second, and everything else follows. This blog is not one of the first two, so although I may miss a couple of days in Gettysburg, be assured that I will catch up. My daughters may be escaping with some of the Big Riders who want to take them out; I hope they survive. (I am not sure if I mean my daughters, or the Big Riders)

There is a picture of a Big Rider changing a tire with much supervision, a view from the top of the big descent, a picture of the Rider wine pouch at the top of the pass, and attempts to show how steep the hills are in this state. They just don't believe in 2% or 4% climbs.

Day 43, Confluence PA

BEST: Great lunch provided by BIG RIDE alum Fred Husak. Fred, his wife, and daughter entertained us with food and stories at Connelsville.

WORST: The flat trail I was looking forward to was mind numbing. No variety in scenery. Just stare at the picture of the riders on the trail below for three hours and you will get an idea of the experience.

MOST UNEXPECTED: We had meat loaf last night instead of mac and cheese. Meat Loaf! We are living it up.

The tents got wet again this morning with a very heavy dew. My tent weighs about 6 more pounds than when I started.

The ride was 89 miles with the first 36 in the hills of PA. After a check in, we got onto the YRT bike trail which was crushed rock that was supposedly rolled. It was good in some sections, grass growing in between directions in others, rocks, sticks, and this thing caused by trees and the sun called shadows. All of this combined to make staring at the trail critical to avoid smashing into something inappropriate for the bike. I kept thinking sticks and stones will break my bones. I expected a beautiful trail next to the river, but somebody put trees between the trail and the river, so all we could see was the trail, trees, and the posteriors of other riders.

We did go across a bridge that showed us the river and what we were missing. It was a very slow ride on the trail at about 14 mph, and with a slight upgrade the whole way. I suffered my first flat of the trip; so much for my perfect game. We also passed the 3000 mile point on the ride, but no paint on the ground to show this accomplishment.

We are in the Confluence campground just below a large fill dam. If I hear a roaring sound tonight, I will do some unique back bending to kiss my rearend goodbye.

Dinner was at the only restaurant open tonight, the Lucky Dog. I had an exceptionally good hamburger which filled me to the brim. There is no cell service in this area, but fortunately the Lucky Dog has WiFi so I biked back here after getting ready for bed when I heard this was the case. What sacrifices I make for this blog.

Tomorrow we have a choice of an extremely hilly day, or a very hilly day with a short section of the trail. I am currently leaning towards the latter choice as the ride into Gettysburg is 100 miles with over 8500 feet of climbing. The group is split on this choice with some very ambitious riders and some realistic ones. I will make the choice in the morning. My goal still remains to get to Washington D.C. without having to get carried in a stretcher.

The photo assignment was to take a picture of how I felt today. I felt relief that I am getting so close to the finish. Guess which shot below goes with this feeling.

Day 42, We made it to Washington (Pennsylvania)

BEST: Seeing nuclear power plants that were actually functioning.

WORST: Seeing nuclear power plants that were actually functioning. (I am trying to balance the politics).

MOST UNEXPECTED: Getting trapped trying to make a left turn by over a thousand motorcylists in a charity ride. Our charity ride of 17 cyclists (no longer 18) only takes 1 minute to pass, not the 25 minutes it took for the flotilla of cheater bikes (they have motors) to pass. I almost put in my experience of getting up last night and stepping in my sandals which had slugs already occupying them, but that seems like old hat.

Last night was a short blog because I couldn't get photos and word to load. We had a catered dinner consisting of pizza, then dodged the rain to get back to my tent to catch some rest.

This morning was 100% humidity e.g. fog. The temperature was great at around 70 degrees. We left Ohio and entered Pennsylvania and were immediately greeted by wonderful roads. If you check out the picture below of the Biker pouch taken at the State border you can start to see the war craters on the Pennsylvania side.

There was no sign saying welcome to Penn, but on the opposite side there was a welcome to Ohio sign which I did a self portrait. The roads in Pennsylvania did improve in road condition, but somebody decided level roads were passe, and put a very large amount of hills on the route with grades of 8, 10, and 12 percent. We climbed over 3400 feet on a short 62 mile road consisting of short hills.

Some of the motorists were very welcoming to us. One of them said something like "welcome to Pennsylvania, watch out for the potholes." At least that is what I thought he said. I clearly heard the Holes part of the sentence preceded by another word.

The nuclear power plants are located on the Ohio River, and the bridge was a little tricky with the expansion joints. We did have a rider go down and he lost his perfect record of no flats.

There was a little drama at camp last night and this morning with one of the riders. It became worse on the ride today with the result that one of the riders is no longer on the Big Ride. Now you know why I wear my helmet when I go to the bathroom so I don't get sent home.

It really was a great ride today because it was short, had fun hills that didn't kill us, and the weather was outstanding. Remember this is July, and temperatures below 80 degrees are to be treasured.

I mentioned the motorcyclists above. We were riding to a y intersection intending to take the left side. We pulled over when a police car with its lights on came behind us, and we thought we were in trouble. Right behind the car was a huge amount of motorcycles of all varieties, and we stood and waited for 25 minutes for them to pass so we could make our left turn. Our campground is very basic although showers and bathroom are only 100 yards away. Tents are up and drying, and life is good. I can't wait for our next catered dinner tonight which will probably be hot dogs, or mac and cheese, possibly even bologna. I don't think I can eat another peanut butter sandwich.

Three more days until we reach Gettysburg and I get to see my family. Unfortunately there are a lot of hills and miles in my way. I need somebody to get here fast to regrade the hills flat, and to pedal my bike for me. Won't you be the one to do this?

Day 41, East Fairfield, somewhere in Ohio

BEST: An elderly lady stopped to help three befuddled riders figure out where to turn. (I was befuddled rider 2)

WORST: My wet tent from last nights rain was set up in the sun at this campsite to dry off only to have it rain (downpour) 30 minutes later. Wet tent again. On the positive side the inside is dry.

MOST UNEXPECTED: I realized when I was sitting on the pot that I was wearing my bike helmet. I have been on this ride too long.

I realized I hadn't talked about my dinner last night which was at Jekyl's overlooking the falls. The best part was that the rider's friend ended up paying for it so I ordered the surf and turf. Actually I ordered the double pork chop which ended up being a quadruple pork chop. To show you how much food it was, I had to skip ice cream after the meal.

It rained (poured) last night complete with thunder and lightening which meant we had to pack up wet tents.

We took off on our short 62 mile ride with rolling hills and mostly on country roads with houses along the sides. The weather was threatening the whole ride, but it didn't start raining until we got to the campground. I set up my wet tent to dry off, and it lasted 30 minutes before it started pouring again. We all held up in a pavilion for shelter. I did get a shower between showers. (I just liked that sentence.)

As I mentioned above, somewhere in the ride, three of us got a little turned around until a nice elderly lady made a u-turn and asked us if we were lost.

I will have to finish this blog tomorrow with pictures because the site we are camping does not seem to have 3G services and I am barely able to load this much.

Day 40, Through Cleveland to Burton OHIO

BEST: Three of us went out to dinner with Mike's friends to Chagrin Falls for a lovely dinner overlooking the falls. Somehow most of my Bests seem to be about food.

WORST: We got rained on for about 15 miles. It was a hard rain and soaked us enough that we could have skipped a shower.

MOST UNEXPECTED: The water spout we saw in Lake Erie. A resident said he had been here since 1996 and never seen one. (See Picture)

I included a picture of the cabin we stayed at in the KOA plush resort. Last night we ate at Jack's deli and had a great roast beef sandwich and slice of cheesecake with whipped cream and fresh berries. Unfortunately I still had to get up this morning and start riding at 6:00.

Todays ride of 92 miles had more climbing that the last 6 days combined, around 2900 feet of climbing primarily in the latter part of the ride. They call it Shaker Heights for a reason. Speaking of Shaker Heights, I have never seen so many expensive, huge houses located in one area. I took a few pictures to capture the flavor, but I could easily have taken 450 pictures and never repeated. The houses were gorgeous.

We rode to the lunch stop along a road next to Lake Erie with houses between the road and the Lake. Most of these houses were quite gorgeous and probably cost more than my bicycle, One of our riders mom's provided us with incredible food. Definitely beats PB&J. We then rode off into the rain, which I mentioned earlier was pretty intense. When we hit the City sign for Cleveland, it miraculously slowed to a drizzle and then to nothing (Thanks John P. as a Clevlander I know you did something special.) We stopped at the Rock and Roll Hall of fame for some pictures, and then rode on a bike path to get out of part of the City. Then on to University Circle, Shaker Heights, and out of town on narrow but pretty highways with all of the Friday commute traffic. We got to Burton to the fairgrounds, then got picked up to go to dinner. After we got out of the dinner it was raining, and I did a panic call to the fairgrounds to ask someone to please cover my stuff to keep it from getting soaked. As luck would have it, we got back to the fairgrounds before the rain hit, and everything is going to be dry except for the tent, and my jacket from today which never got out of my seatbag. We are all gathered under a pavilion while our tents are getting cleaned by the rain.

In case you didn't get it, the water funnel was awesome. I did get a $20 contribution for the American Lung Association when we stopped in Burton for a malt. A very nice lady and her mom were interested in what we were doing, and ended up giving me a $20 bill which I used for my malt. Okay, I really did turn it in to a rider who is still getting contributions, but I could have gotten the chocolate malt and nobody would have know.