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Published: June 23rd 2006
14% Isn't fun
Steep and....well it's steepBreezewood, PA to York, PA
Total Miles: 115.1 (3572.7 to date)
It's hard to write about days past, especially when you're so excited for days to come ...
This morning we decided we were going to win that car. We've been talking about it all week and Thursday was the morning to call in to win ... so we sat in a Starbucks at an interstate rest area and bombarded the radio station with our calls for two hours, only to find out when they finally answered that we needed to email our entry. If they only would have told us that a week ago, or even this morning when they told us to call back at 9, we would have been on our way earlier ... the silly things you look forward to and think about on the road. Luckily the rain had mostly passed by the time we started riding. Todays ride was full of climbing through beautiful gaps up and over the Appalacians, rolling farmland with fresh fruit and vegetable stands everywhere (I filled my handlebar bag with cherries and spent most of the day cheerfully spitting out the pits). It's been a fantastic ride through
the signs
Just following the signs all the way home...thanks PennDOT! Pennsylvania. The bike route we've been following, courtesy of the PADOT, seems to take us on gradual climbs and really seems to know how to milk the descents. Instead of a 14% grade for 2 miles we're led to the 5% grade for many more miles ... much appreciated! We spent the last few hours of daylight descending through the long valley between Caledonia State Park and Kings Gap State Park - the humidity was finally lifting a bit, the wheat fields held their golden hue - what a fantastic ride (I think we were enjoying it so thoroughly that we didn't even stop to take a picture). The sun began to drop, the thunder storms finally caught up to us and at 7:45 we had about 20 miles to go to get to York - Arthur's become addicted to the comforts of the hotel room and was determined to find a place to shelter us from the looming storms ... we pounded about 1000 calories of junk each (we're in tastykake land) to fuel the ride and made it just as the wind began to really wail and the lightening began to transition from gentle sky filling bursts to
farms
This is the land of plenty harsh bolts. Despite my resistance to the end of the day push, I think I'm finally starting to enjoy it. There's nothing like riding at 20mph for an hour to make it to food and shelter just before the light is gone; quite a sense of accomplishment.
As the days wind down we spend a lot of time wondering what it's going to feel like to end this journey ... a mere end of a day, another arrival at our place to rest ... it's crazy to think about how much ground we've covered, how long it's been, the emotions we've gone through, the people we've met along the way, the gradual and sometimes not so gradual change of scenery and personalities. Tomorrow night we should be crossing the Delaware at Washington Crossing and arriving in Roosevelt, NJ that evening ... anyone who wishes to meet up and ride with us any of the way is welcome to. Right now we're in Lancaster, planning to make it to Phoenixville this evening, we should be crossing the Delaware around noon or so, then to Roosevelt in the evening. This leaves a casual ride to the shore on Sunday where we'll perform the ceremonial dip of the front wheel in the ocean. We plan to finish in Belmar sometime Sunday afternoon (probably earlier than later). Anyone interested in meeting us, we'll shoot for Ocean and 9th ... or you can call me at 949 939 4381 and I'll give you our planned time/ area of arrival (I keep my phone off during the PM but will (believe it or not) return phone calls). If you have a bike ... RIDE WITH US TO THE SHORE ... from Roosevelt to Belmar on Sunday morning, rain or shine, we could use some new thoughts and voices.
I didn't have time to post about yesterday, but here are the stats:
(Rockwood, PA to Breezewood, PA Total Miles: 71.4 (3457.6 to date) - late start, hot day, lots of climbing (it's finally caught up with us), beautiful farm land ... cows and horses (we had the best cow chase to date - about 30 of them running with us!) ... another day on the bike)
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Myrna
non-member comment
The end is near
Jess and Art - Congratulations on a trip well planned and executed! I will miss your blogs. It has been a fun summer "traveling" with you across the US. Please keep in touch. I miss your smiling face! Myrna