We were ambitious today. The day began early at 6:30 AM. I rode down to a bike shop whose owner I had spoken to the night before. He said he’d be there at 7:00 AM to work on other bikes and would be able to look at mine. Unfortunately, his wife was sick and so he had to work at the bed and breakfast that was connected with the bike shop, so he couldn’t look at my bike. He was able to sell me a chain, however, which I took back to camp and installed. This solved the skipping problem, but it was still rubbing against parts.
Steve and I planned to start the day with the intention of biking 100 miles to Pittsburgh along the Great Allegheny Passage, which is a trail for bikes that was built upon previously established rail lines. It wends its way along the Allegheny under a tree canopy and never rises above a 3% grade. If we are ever going to do a century, it would be today. Our previous high mark for the day had been somewhere around 65 miles.
The trail was beautiful and the beginning of the day was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. In honor of the rail trail, I’ve posted a song about a railroad bandit.
My favorite part of this song is the movement of the guitar. I’m not sure if it’s an original line because I’ve heard it in other songs, but it fits Hobart perfectly. Hear more Hobart Smith, an amazing folk artist, here.
We made 25 miles pretty easily with our iPods blaring in our ears. By 50 miles, we were starving and we stopped at (where else?) a Wendy’s for sandwiches and frosties. It began heating up at that point and the day began to grow long.
By mile 75, we had to stop every 30-45 minutes for water and food breaks. Although the terrain was mild, the shear mileage was much beyond what either of us were accustomed to. If there wasn’t shade and flat terrain, I don’t know if we could have made it. Around mile 90, we were spit out into the urban degradation that is McKeesport, PA.
The trail abruptly ended at some railroad tracks and we didn’t really know what to do. I asked a couple how to get to Pittsburgh and they gave us directions along a highway. We risked life and limb riding along 837 North into the city. Easily the worst road for biking we’ve run into in a long time. It was almost as if they designed it in such a way that would present obstacles for cyclists even though we saw a sign that said “Share the Road”. We survived and around the 99 mile mark for the day we saw the sign we’d been looking for:
After a treacherous ride up a steep hill, we arrive at Steve’s friends’ apartment. My cyclometer read as follows:
We’re taking a much needed furlough in Pittsburgh for a couple of days. We’ll be back on the road headed for Ohio on Friday morning.
