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| | Day 1, 67 miles:
Day 1:
The night before we left, Pittsburgh looked like a horror movie. Ominous breezes swept through the evening air, the silhouettes of bare trees rose into the sky, and the crows came. Thousands of dark crows swarmed the sky, filled the trees, and broke the otherwise silent night with the hushed pitter patter sound of their poop landing everywhere. Ryan packed the car in these treacherous conditions, and the next morning we awoke to the foreboding din of thousands of crows all cawing their farewell to us. It did occur to me that this might be some kind of sign telling me I was going to die.
The first night, Ryan, Nate, and I would be on our own, so we had to bring anything we needed on our bikes. Ryan had saddlebags and a regular back bag for his bike, so we filled our bags with clean clothes for the next day, something to wear around the place we’d be staying, some toiletries, power bars and gu (or other concentrated electrolyte gels), and bike supplies like a spare tire tube and tool. We were amazed at how easily we could fit everything we wanted to bring, and I wouldn’t even have to ride with a bag on my bike, closing the gap in our skills a bit. We left the house a little before 8 a.m., and went to pick up Reed, who would be driving our car home, and Nate. Nate emerged from his house with a backpack that was stuffed so full that he looked like one of those nerds in high school who walked around with all 17 of his textbooks packed into his bag at all times, stretching the backpack into a big hard square. We couldn’t believe he was actually planning to ride the whole first and second day with this backpack on, but I guess that helped close the gap to my slowness as well.
We had all agreed to rule out the unnecessary dotted line portion of the trail, and instead started in Boston, PA, which greeted us with this helpful sign:
We ate some McDonald’s breakfast, took our last minute bathroom trips and as we got ready to take off, I discovered that the crows had left me one final departure gift -- a huge blob of sticky crow poop right on the tube that carries water from my camelback into my mouth. Thank goodness it wasn’t on the mouthpiece itself, but I had a hard time shaking the image of that poop from my mind every time I took a drink for the rest of the day. GROSS!!!!!
pre-departure:
Reed waved us off and we began our journey at 9:45 a.m.. Our plan for the trip was to take a break every 10 miles to get off our bikes and stretch or maybe have a snack and take pictures of each other with our iPhones. At 40 miles we would take a lunch break in Connellsville. At 67 miles we would reach our destination, Confluence. The plan worked great. The day was pleasant, and the 10 mile breaks were perfect timing for a rest. We made sure to shift our grips a lot and stretch our backs while riding, and I diligently did the leg stretches my PT had recommended at each stop.
Mile 10 (10:35 a.m.)
Mile 20 (11:25 a.m.)
Here, I think I’m making a “20” with my fingers, but am actually making an “02”.
Mile 30 (12:25 p.m.)
Mile 40 LUNCH! (2:00 p.m.)
For lunch, we rode into Connellsville. Nearby we found only places that were closed, so we used our handy iPhones to find food options. It looked like all of our best options were in one direction, so we headed that way, only to find it was a huge, steep hill. I rode part of the way up, but when it seemed to never end, with no food in sight, I decided to walk my bike. I thought that Nate was also walking his bike since he hadn’t passed me, but it turned out he was riding as slowly as I was walking. Up ahead, Ryan encountered some passers-by, walking their bikes down the hill. They asked him if we were biking to DC which Ryan confirmed. When Nate and I reached them, they asked the same. I confirmed, and they laughed “You gonna walk the whole way? You’ll never make it.” Finally we reached the top of the hill and went into a place called Merc’s for subs.
Although Merc’s doesn’t have a website, I did find an online review which sums it up nicely:
If you have never ate at Mercs then you don't know what you're missing. They have the best subs around. Their Philly Steak and Cheese is the best. The portions are huge! They don't skimp at all on the fillings. We always get ours with the extras, onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Fantastic! Oh, and don't forget to try their fries and onion rings. Watch what you order though, because their smalls are huge. Be ready to stuff yourself if you order larges. Good food, decent price. Worth what you pay!
Nate had declared he wanted subs instead of pizza because he didn’t want something greasy that would upset his stomach. However, when he asked what was good, they told him to get the philly cheese steak, and he did. As he ate it, he kept lamenting about this poor way of choosing what to order, and wondering why he had just agreed so readily. Ryan had the spiciest buffalo chicken sandwich ever, and I had an oddly constructed Italian sub that was like a boat full of shredded lettuce and a thin but dense layer of meats resting on top.
The man who we assume was Merc started talking to us about our trip, and Ryan, in an attempt to wrap up the conversation, told him he was worried that we weren’t going to make it by dark given that it was 2:30 and we only had 2 and a half hours to make it the final 27 miles of the day. Merc yelled after us as we left that when we can’t make it, we should call him and he’d come and get us. He even actually gave us his phone number at rapid speed as we tried to get quickly on our way. Too bad there would be no cell phone service or roads accessing the trail.
Nate and I were very hopeful that the height we had gained going up the hill could somehow be maintained as we hit the trail, especially because we knew that the next 10 miles started the real uphill portion of the day. So we continued a bit up the hill, and took another uphill road toward the trail. Ryan declared that unless it was a cliff down to the trail, he was going to carry the bikes. Well, it was a cliff. We turned around and tried a different route which was a fast, fun, but worrisome downhill bendy road. We reached the trail again, but this time, saw the trail was a bridge looming over us, up a very steep leaf-covered hill. Ryan was ready to move on though, so he announced that he was going to carry our bikes up the hill and get going on the trail. I didn’t even think I could hike up the hill without my bike it was so steep, and I skeptically just stood there. Nate decided just to continue down the road to see what would happen. He remembered that he thought there was somewhere where a road joined up with the trail, and maybe this was it. I followed Nate, so Ryan was forced to come along, and luckily, Nate was right and the road eventually joined up to the trail with a reasonable hill to walk up.
This was our whole Merc's detour, with elevation:
The next 10 miles were the hardest, as they were the most uphill, and we were definitely starting to get tired by mile 50. However, 50 miles with breaks and lunch was still much better than the 55 mile training ride we had done before. We soldiered on.
Mile 50 (3:30)
Our 50 mile stop had this useful message on the picnic table:
A few miles after we passed the 50 mile mark, we reached a spot familiar from our training ride. You had to cross a street, and there were some short posts and a stop sign, and somehow on the training ride I had chosen the wrong path between posts and slid off the trail and almost hit a sign, barely catching myself from falling. As we neared the spot, Ryan excitedly said “Look! It’s Jessica’s spot!” Nate started laughing and said sarcastically “Yeah! How could you have fallen here?”. Then he promptly fell. It was the best comedic timing ever, and even though he seemed hurt, I could not stop laughing. He was laughing too, but his laughs were interspersed with sounds of actual pain. He had gone off the trail a little, and then this cement part was covered in leaves so he couldn’t see it and skimmed it with his bike. It really kept me going for the next few miles too. I’d just think about it and laugh.
Mile 60 (4:45)
Mile 67 (5:30)
As we neared the end, it started to get dark, and we had to turn on our bike lights for the last couple of miles. Finally we arrived in Confluence, our final destination for the day, at about 5:30 p.m.. We had assumed we could look up the location of where we were staying using our phones, but there was no cell phone service. Instead we wandered around the dark, empty “town” on our bikes, until we found the address Ryan knew was the owner’s, whom we needed to pay. Luckily the town is extremely small.
Confluence, PA:
Confluence has a few B&B’s, but they were all closed for the season, so I guess the place we were staying could be considered just a B. It was called “That Dam Yough House”. Yough is pronounced “Yok” as in the Youghiogheny River which is one of the confluencing rivers of Confluence. However, we weren’t staying in the actual house, but a trailer off to the side. We asked how to get to the house and what the address was, and the owners told us they weren’t sure what the address was, but that we’d see it and it was a big cedar house, and that we’d just go up the driveway and see the trailer on the right, and it would be really easy to spot. So sure enough, we found the house in the dark and now starting to drizzle a bit night, but the area next to it was full of what could be described as little trailers or mobile homes. We thought we could guess which one it was, so Ryan and Nate slowly opened the door to the trailer. They tried the light switch, but it didn’t work. Nate started asking into the dark silence “Hello? Hello? Anybody here?” I was totally unsure about whether that was the right house, so I just stayed outside on my bike. Also, I’m the type of person who is very scared by horror movies, so when Nate pointed out that this was like the beginning of one, I was content to wait. That idea even scared Ryan a little, and it took some extreme bravery to venture into the house far enough to find a working light switch. However, once the lights were on, we were pleasantly surprised by an adorable little house which we had all to ourselves for the night. There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a washer and dryer, a kitchen, and a living room. It was bright and cheery and clean and perfect.
Ryan ventured out again to find out about food, discovering that everything was going to close within the hour. We could either go to a little restaurant or get food at the food mart. Nate was adamant that we should get macaroni and cheese, and that we should get 6 boxes of it for the 3 of us, so we did. And between dinner and breakfast, we ate 5 of them. Yes, macaroni and cheese is a great pre-biking breakfast. We washed our dirty clothes, and would have curled up for bed if it weren’t for the fact that I had this grading assignment I had put off until the last minute -- it was due that night at midnight. However, I had counted on at least having PHONE service! Alas, there was no phone service in the whole town. Ryan asked at the food mart where you could get a cell phone signal, and the employee responded with the location of a street corner where you could sometimes get enough signal to make a call. The night ended with me grading by hand onto tiny pads of paper I found in the house, Ryan dictating these over the land line to his sister and then Reed, and Reed typing them and entering them into the computer where they needed to be submitted. (Thanks Erin and Reed!!!!) This is a very typical Jessica ending to a day. Finally, after all was well with grading, Ryan and I went to bed a little after midnight.
Day 1 overview of whole trip:
| | | Posted 11/22/2008 11:46 AM - 24 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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