7 day 545 mile ride through 7 cities in beautiful Colorado.
2013 Mountains of Misery Double-Metric
Mountains of Misery is a tough bike ride in Blacksburg VA. I rode the double-metric 126 miles that ends with a four-mile 12%–16% graded climb to the finish.
Civil War Century
Road ride through Antietam, Gettyburg, Gathland, Greenbrian and Catoctin National Parks. About 8,800' climbing and a violent thunderstorm to keep it interesting.
Gran Fondo Garrett County
Road ride with about 11,000' of climbing near Deep Creek Maryland. Exhilarating downhills, crushing uphills, plus some great camping.
Mohican 100
My 2nd run at a National Ultra Endurance series race. All the pre-riding certainly paid off as this was a very diffult ride.
Wilderness 101
First ever 100 mile mountain bike race. The hardest 13 hours and 3 minutes of riding I've ever accomplished.
CASA River Century
Century ride through the rolling hiils of Shepardstown WV and beyond. This was my strongest ride thus far, even attacking hills at mile 85+.
Seagull Century 2011
Danimal's first century ride ever. Hopefully it is the first of many rides to come.
This Civil War Century may be the last century I will ride. The metric's are so much more appropriate with a good 4 hours of riding. I was very determined to make this right, despite the difficulty of the 4 categorized climbs and the sheer hardness of it all.
For motivation, I bought myself the official jersey of the ride. No way I could skimp on the century distance looking that good :-)
I took the ride slow and easy. The first climb was 7 miles and meandered up as best I could. It was an ok climb and pretty carried on to around mile 30 when the 1st rest stop appeared. Each rest stop had peaches and I ate my share.
The 3rd climb is basically 22 miles. It's a gradual ascent and then gets a bit complicated for the final few miles. I remembered this beast from prior rides. It really is a hill killer. However, I crested the top and did my impression of Julian Alaphillipe as I stood up and pedaled hard down the backside.
The final luncheon highlight was the Antietam Creamery truck.. The ice cream really was that good. We'll see where the future brings us. Right now I'm coordinating the Great Pumpkin Ride metric.
It's been a while since my last century and I thought I would jump right back in with both feet. Well, the Civil War Century is all that and more.
Pre-ride smiles all around
Dan Wolfe and myself have ridden many rides together, as well as the Civil War Century a couple times before. I guess it had been too long to remember the pain as was evident in this pre-ride photo where we are all smiles. The ride starts with an 11 mile climb so the smiles wear off quickly.
33 miles down and already the climbing is just crazy. Looks mostly downhill after mile 10 to mile 30 but those downhills go fast and then it's back to 1st gear.
The ride goes through Gettysburg and Antietam battle fields. I was able to snap this picture as I slogged up the hill.
Dan loves horses, I think. We had to pull off for a stretch and get this shot. I was starting to feel a bit of the legs around this point, which may have been ~50 miles.
The course changed up a bit. Neither Dan nor I remembered too much of it. I do remember the mostly 27 mile climb from mile 40 to 67. Dang, those last 2.5 miles uphill with grades between 5%-10% are just brutal. Avoid Ritchie Road at all costs in the future!
As expected, my body was telling me that I had enough for the day by mile 60. There is a "bail out" at mile 70 which cuts off 20 miles. Over 6000' feet of climbing and 5 hours of riding in the saddle makes for a pretty satisfying day, and we weren't done yet. Dan decides to ride the whole enchilada. Turns out the "bail out" was the best decision of the day, as it allowed me to ride down 10 miles of the initial descent. Oh man, long descents are the greatest reward for the climb.
I finished up, changed clothes, grabbed a bite to eat at the finish area and was settling in waiting for Dan to arrive. And guess what, Dan pulls over at a Seafood Restaurant 10 miles from the finish and opts for a pickup. I think he just didn't want to make me wait. Check out these videos.
And here's the finishing photo!
Dang do we look good for such a ridiculous suffer-fest! We're looking to get in one or two more long rides this year. Please reach out to us if you're interested in suffering with us :-)
Let's start with the OMG weather was AWESOME today!!!! I hope everyone got outside because these beautiful days don't come around enough (on weekends).
Jackie met up with on the course and asked if she could ride with us. She like the fast pace. In the end, I think Dan and I would only slow her down.
It was a fast ride through 50+ miles and then reality kicked in to slow it down a bit. Still, rolling country side was great workout and plenty to look at. There are some serious mansions out there, and I'm wondering who cuts that grass? No way are my kids willing to mow multiple football fields worth every week.
My sister Rita was at the ride. She and her friends rode the metric. Let's be honest, she looked better at the finish line than I did. Maybe even at the start :-)
As always, the post ride meal at the Reston Town Center was well done. The Mediterranean salad was the bomb and the pasta was quite good. I wish I could have enjoyed it more but I was dragging ass.
A few ride options coming up this fall include the Backwoods Century, the Pumpkin Ride and the Shenandoah rides (Matt, prepare my bed!). I'm targeting at least a couple this Fall.
I hope everyone is training hard on their bikes. Many miles ahead!
The other weekend (August 3-5) Danimal Clarke and myself heading north to participate in the Penn State Chocolate Tour bike ride. Not a century this time, our goal was the 75 mile route. Spoiler alert .. one of us was over that distance and one of us was under ... you guess?
First let me throw many kudo's in Danimal's direction. One is he's got a sweet F150. Pretty much like the ride below. And you know what an F150 can do? That's right, it tows!
Danimal's F150 Ride
Popup City
What Danimal doesn't do is drive the F150 when towing, so yours truly got that assignment. The ride up was uneventful (as opposed to the ride back). We drove up Friday to Harrisburg East Campground. This was a surprisingly nice campground. It was your basic pile in the RV's in a small area, but the grounds and facilities were a step up from the rest.
We arrived, popped the pop-up and and played charades. Well, no charades, but we did hang out at the site until we got sleepy. The other really nice part about riding with Danimal is that he's an heating/air conditioning guy. Focus on the air conditioning. It was a very muggy kind of evening and then turned torrential rain.
This saved us
I haven't seen rain that hard or that substantial in a very long time. It absolutely poured on us all night until 5AM. And the popup kept us dry and the air conditioning kept us cool. Dang that is sweet machine.
We got up early, drove over to Hershey for the start of the race and never thought twice about the rain the night before. However, Hershey tends to be the highlands of the area. The 75-mile bike route takes us through the lowlands. It wasn't too far into the ride before we found all that rain.
Here's a picture of the first rest stop. Remember, this ride is just outside Hershey so what do you think is piled high at every rest stop? No issues with getting a sugar high on this ride. Notice the Payday's are gone, I took 5. No worries, there were huge stores of this stuff under the table.
Plenty sugar for everyone
Now I'd like to show everyone the wrong way and the proper way to cross a flooded road. Notice the video on the left. Danimal straight up pedals through the water. Notice the soaked shoes and the monkey butt .. well, you can't see his monkey butt but believe me he's got it now.
On the right side is the preferred method to cross flooded roads. Notice how dry and safe everyone stays.
Danimal did really well on this ride through 37 miles. To his credit, he made it that far with absolutely no training, no dieting, no preparation, no strategy or forethought. Way to go Danimal! You really know how to tackle a course!
That's supposed to be a road
Moo!
So Danimal hopped in the SAG vehicle and road around for a couple hours delivering water to riders and helping the distressed. So here's a third kudo for Danimal, he definitely is willing to help people in need. I kept riding, ignored those in need, and found those "3 moderate climbs" the ride definition mentioned. Overall this course was pretty much flat with very mild rolling hills.
We met up at the finish line for some mac-n-cheese and various non-candy items. Then headed back to the campground and hit the pool! Yep, that campground had a very nice pool. It was quite relaxing to sit in the a floaty chair, feet on the coping, and closing my eyes.
Like a seasoned pair of campers we are: Danimal forgot the steaks and I forgot the grill. So we headed out for a tremendous steak dinner. Again, an awesome night of sleep in a cold pop-up. I did make omelette's in the AM. I had to cook at least one meal.
As I mentioned the ride home was a little more exciting as I almost wrecked into a car. I'm pretty sure that car would have taken the brunt of it. Overall, a peaceful weekend away and a good time to boot!
Danimal is targeting the Great Pumpkin Ride in Fauquier County on Oct 27. It's a 67 mile ride. Let's see how Danimal prepares :-)
Deep Creek did not disappoint this year. Last year my IT band kept me at 75 miles, two years ago felt so poorly only made 62 miles, five years ago was the only 100 mile victory. 2018 is a new year, with a new course, with a new can-do attitude and most importantly .. a new 2018 Specialized Sirrus!
Let's start with the weather as it was a miserable forecast. It looked like it was going to be thunderstorms from Friday afternoon all the way through Sunday afternoon. The ride was Saturday. It was such a bad forecast I was going to convince my trusty century companion (Mom) to stay home because the tent was gonna leak. On Friday I checked the State Park and both cabins became free, guess some people can't handle the weather!
Drizzle, Sun Burn, Drizzle, Sun Burn
The cabin upgrade from the tent was a decision worthy of a pat on the back. Mom and I declared "Let It Rain!!!" It ain't technically camping, but it is so much nicer. There are two rooms with a queen up front and two sets of bunk beds in the back. I would have taken a bunk bed but they were made for 5'10" or shorter unless you wanted to rest your feet on the far wall and your head on the near.
We needed a hearty pre-ride meal so off to the Deep Creek Seafood House we went. Hey, I got a $10 off coupon in my ride bag. Mom was ecstatic with her oysters and lobster bisque. I opted for the lobster bisque and a burger w/fries. Isn't that a dinner of champions?
Saturday morning weather really was unbelievable. Weather people are the only one's who can be wrong everyday of the week and keep their jobs. It was remarkably nice for all but 10 minutes of the ride. There were patches of drizzle making way through the valleys which kept the temperature cooler. So drizzle was followed by bright sunshine, then a little drizzle and more sunshine. I'd take this riding weather for any ride.
About to start pedaling
Of course my trusty century companion wasn't the only one with me on the trip. Enter Dan Wolfe! Dan and I have ridden many rides together including Two Peaks as a training ride a few weeks ago and Deep Creek 5 years ago.
Dan Wolfe - Gitting'er'Dun!
There were a few highlights on this course, and those mainly include mountain climbs. Right out of the gate there is the climb up Wisp Mountain which is about 500' over 1/2 mile. Doesn't sound tough, huh? Try it at 7:30am. There were 6 timed climbs and they were brutal.
Stay down, stay down ...
One must remember that for all things that go up they also go down. At mile 16 there is a straight descent that screams for speed. Note to Toni Binning, I was wrong about not being able to coast to 53.5 mph. At some point maybe around 50 mph I had a very real feeling that I should keep my head down and butt up. If I had gotten at all vertical I'm pretty sure I would have pulled a ET fly high!
At mile 70 there is the Savage Mountain climb composing a 4.3 mile 1500' climb that took me 46 minutes. That was the hardest hill on the course with an average grade of over 10% (that is really steep). This hill truly was no fun at all. "Just Keep Pedaling", thanks for the advice Amy Charity.
And let's not forget Killer Miller, Bowman Hill, Sam Friend, White Rock, Blue Lick, Westernport Road and Dry Run .. isn't that nice, they all have names. These mountain climbs are simply too difficult to describe, one must climb them to appreciate them.
I like peanuts
Random shot - whatever!
At the top of the Dry Run climb at mile 86 is where the course finally gets manageable. The final 18 miles is rolling terrain and was quite fast. The last 10 minutes of my ride is when the downpour occurred. The rain was really coming down and I was only a few miles from the end.
Crossing the finish line was an exhilarating moment. After the previous 2 years of failure I really wanted to make the full century. Am I going back? Not sure, but I will always carry fond memories of my 4 rides through Garrett County.
Why would anyone want to travel to Rehoboth Beach in December to run a half-marathon? Good question, the answer is because Dave Kelly would. Dave starts training and shares his plans with myself, Danny Clarke and Tom O'Reilly. Of course we are in so we register right away and start running.
Training went fairly well for two us. Come race time Christy (Danny's daughter) takes his bib # and runs the official fastest half-marathon Danny will ever run in his life. To his credit, Dave still ventured down to Rehoboth to support us. Tom successfully ran his first half-marathon and is looking for more. And I ran my fastest half-marathon as well, and am paying dearly for it.
Pre-race with Christy
Dave's not wearing his running clothes
Tom's a little nervous but ready
This is the look of someone who knows she's fast
13.1 miles is a long ways .. a long long ways. I went on several 5 mile jogs around the neighborhood and failed miserably whenever the path went "up". So I decided to spend a bit more time on the treadmill at work while watching Punisher episodes on Netflix. I highly recommend this activity.
My long run training consisted of a single 9.4 mile run from home to WTW, around the fields, around the track and then home. I also ran the Chesapeake Bay Bridge 10k and completely fell apart at mile 5. Oh, and there was the Frost 5K run at Jordan's middle school.
Although I'm not the true "specimen" as is Danny Clarke, I still managed to suffer through the run and post a legitimate time for me. The run through 6 miles was just fine and no issues. I started to feel a tight calf at mile 7 and managed it the rest of the way. Mile 7 was about the time I saw the winner blaze by me in the other direction. Sort of knocked me to the side with the wind wake he was laying down. Turns out he was just shy of being twice as fast as me .. that's a win! :-)
But holy smoley's I was getting a little tired come mile 9. The last few miles were difficult. I just kept trudging along while trailing a lady with "Oileey" written on the back of her shirt. I never did catch up to her to ask what that meant.
Post race with our proud medals. I've never felt worse.
Post race meal of champions
Fortunately I have a great family who was willing to come down to Rehoboth to pick me up and spend the post-race victory with me. I had reserved a cabin at Cape Henlopen State Park for Friday and Saturday nights. Danny and Christy left Sat AM so it was all mine.
I'm not sure Danny and Christy appreciated the luxurious amenities at the State Park. Geez, this cabin had a small fridge, heat and cooling, plus 2 rooms and 6 beds. To me it's Glamping, to them, it's prehistoric.
The family found me dead asleep late Saturday afternoon in the cabin. Let's just say I was in no hurry to move at all, much less get out of bed and go to the outlet stores. But I did, and we had a great meal at a 50% off for runners and guests pasta place.
Cape Henlopen cabins
We made it down to the beach Sunday afternoon. A little overcast so we left our swimsuits in the car.
Overall I think it was a great weekend. Next time I really should train up a bit more so I don't feel so incredibly poor after the run. I did recover pretty well on Sunday and rode into work on Monday. I had planned on running the Holiday Half Marathon this Sunday, but I have a new appreciation for being able to walk and I'm not ready to forgo it at this time.
The Lifeline 100 is a fun local ride which loops north and south of Annapolis, Maryland. It's easy on the knees as there is "only" 2400' of climbing for a metric century (65 miles). Yes, this was supposed to be a full century ride but my IT-band got sore early (why I don't know) and 65 miles is 25 miles further than Jon Chen has ever ridden.
Weather was great, a little cool to begin. I still say the worst part of these trip is getting up at 5am and change. It's an easy drive to Kinder Farm Park for the start. A "show-n-go" so we took off as soon as we got there.
First Rest Stop at Mile 20
We rolled along the course at an easy pace starting on the Baltimore/Annapolis Rail Trail. It's similar to the Washington/Old Dominion Trail but shorter. This ride does have well stocked rest stops. The first stop had spring rolls and some deli sandwiches with an awesome chipotle sauce.
Mile 40
Around mile 18 I started getting a sore IT band, boo! Not sure why but clearly I need to get back on the foam rollers. I made up my mind pretty early this was going to be a metric century due to the knee, bummer but we'll live to ride again.
Jon did really well on the ride despite being pushed a bit to keep the pace. I knew he was close behind due to the effort noises 😀 Near the end of the ride Jon says, "Why are you still going so hard?" Well, near the end is no time to slow down!
We rolled into the finish both happy to have completed the ride. Many more rides to come!
The Lifeline 100 looked to be a pretty routine ride through the flatlands of Maryland. There are no climbs and very few inclines that are worthy to be called hills. However, as I've written in the past about all centuries are hard in their own way, this century threw me its own curve.
I was on track for a 6 hour riding time century as I got near the end of the ride. I enjoyed the last rest stop, except for the pickle juice, and was very happy with the days effort. It was a solid ride and I was going to finish up by 2pm with a bunch of the day remaining. All I had remaining was 10 miles on the Annapolis/Baltimore Trail. I had plenty of energy left over so I let it all out and zoomed through to the end of the ride.
Sporting my new JMU jersey
I also zoomed by the arrow telling me to turn right to the finish. So maybe I wasn't in the most capable frame of mind after riding the 100 miles. What was so confusing as the miles added up, 103, 105, 108 was that I had seen this trail before. I thought I had started the ride by going North on the trail so I would see it all again. Turns out I started going south on the trail to begin. I WAS RIDING THE COURSE ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
At one point I pulled up Waze to see where the parking lot was, 9.4 miles away?!?!?!? How could it be that much further? Looking at the map made think the end was ahead of me, BUT IT WAS BEHIND ME!!! Again, let's go to state of mind after riding >100 miles.
I reached the end of the rail trail and rode on a bit on the road before really questioning what was going on. I had an Einstein moment, recognizing the road that I had driven on to get to Kinder Park for the start of the race. HOLEY CRAP! It is behind me.
In the end, what's an extra 22.4 miles on top of 100? Fortunately it was a beautiful day and I had the energy to keep riding pretty well. Like I said, all centuries are hard in their own way.
I have now seen every one of the 184.5 miles of the C&O Canal, and it was spectacular! A bucket list item for a very long time was finally completed this past weekend. I did not envision the ride being as fatiguing as it was, but my original plan to include 3 days of riding turned into just 2.
The trip to Cumberland started with an easy ride to Union Station from my Mom. I wasn't so sure of the logistics with the bike and trailer. But it turned out to be extremely easy. There's a big door on the 29 train where bikes are strapped to the wall. Easy hook up and leave the trailer next to it. Badda bing! Badda bang!
Waiting for my 4pm ride at Union Station
Note to self, wear a sweatshirt on the train. There were a few other people who had completed the trip from Pittsburgh at the train station. There was also a guy who just rode cross-country. The camaraderie among bikers is pretty neat. I got a trail update and all signs were green. There was a huge storm that had multiple trees down across the trail that were difficult to cross earlier in the week. I only encountered one at the Brunswick Family Campground that was easy to get over.
Arriving in Cumberland about 7:45pm kinda threw my 3 day plan into turmoil. I was hoping to ride at least 20 miles to ease the distance. But I forgot my bike light so there would be no riding in the dark ... and the trail gets very dark. I rode 4.5 miles to the first campsite in my flip-flops.
Beginning of C&O Canal Trail
First night of camping at Evitts Creek
Every 5-6 miles along the canal is a hiker/biker campsite. It's a mowed grassy area with a port-o-potty, fire ring, water pump and picnic table. Serious kudo's to the National Park Service for keeping these campsites functional. It'd be difficult to ride the whole trail without them.
First night of camping
My first night of camping was ok. Temperature was cool enough, but there was a lot of noise. You'll need to check the video for what the worst part of the night was. And in truth, that was the worst part of the trip in total.
There is a fair amount of history along the trail. My travel plans didn't really allow for too much sight-seeing. These next couple photos are of an ancient cement plant. It survived 3 fires but in the end it closed due to not staying profitable.
The plant mined limestone and ground it up to make cement.
Apparently, Portland Cement was cheaper to make and put this factory out of business.
Lock house
It seems that every lock had a house. Guess someone lived there who maintained and operated the lock for the canal boats. There are a couple you can stay in overnight, for $100.
Thanks, but I'll take the free hiker/biker campsite.
There are ~70 locks on the canal. If you're wondering how they operated, here's a link.
The weekend temperature was in the upper 90's, but it was a lot cooler up north. I benefited quite a bit from the shade, but it was still pretty warm. Not too warm, but when someone is riding a bike for hours on end ... it heats up. Here's how we combat the heat and dehydration.
The Paw Paw tunnel is the most interesting feature on the entire ride. It's ~3,300' feet long, over 1/2 mile and pure dark in the middle. If you don't have any light, then good luck. I only had my iPhone light and it was just enough to illuminate the tunnel to horror movie levels. The uneven dirt surface rolls you side to side, with a solid brick wall on the right and a railing to the left. There's no sound in the tunnel other than a drip drip drip of moisture. You have to ride so slowly 'cause it's so narrow. A couple hundred feet in and and I was ready to get out. Creepy creepy creepy.
Here's my mechanical issue for the trip. I can only imagine what I would have done if this had happened in the Paw Paw tunnel .. oh yea, I would have UBER'd.
64 miles into the trip and I'm feeling it. Let's be real, that's a long ways on a mountain bike and towing a trailer. I've still got 116 miles to get to DC. All I could think about was I can't leave myself a century ride on Sunday. I had to decrease that distance.
The trick is how much to ride. Wear myself out today and nothing left tomorrow. As it turns out, I wore myself out both days.
Below is a picture of my swimming hole. North of DC the Potomac seems to be very clean. Water sports crowd the river and a ton of people were taking to it in the heat. I seriously would have traded in my dusty bike for a jet ski if someone had offered.
I just had to swim
And holy moly did I get a second bath after the swimming hole. The skies opened up and you would've thought the Thunder God Thor himself was making a appearance.
I had a good conversation with a dude under a bridge while waiting for some the storm to pass. He recently got out of prison on drug charges and getting his life in order with his 6 year old son. Kudo's to him for getting his life on track, so send him a prayer or two, he'd appreciate it.
I ended up riding 111 miles on Saturday and that is the most ever for a single day on my mountain bike. I've done two mountain bike centuries before, but this was a different kind of hard. Given it was flat, there were no free downhill miles. The day of riding began about 7:30am and ended riding about 8:30pm. With a few breaks, that's ~12 hours of pedaling. I don't train for these things, I just ride them. As long as the body doesn't breakdown, I'll keep riding.
I rolled into Antietam hiker/biker campsite without my complete faculties. When you're worn out that much you don't think quite as clearly, decisions are tougher, and you resemble a zombie. So I slogged into the campsite, picked a spot, and set the tent up quickly. I was gross, but fortunately the Potomac Bath Works was open so I slid down the dirt trail and fell into the river. Clean as ever and ready for bed. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for dinner. This night there would be none, which isn't what the belly wants.
Here's the last video of the day.
Another crappy night of sleep on that uncomfortable mat. How in the heck does Jared sleep on that? I woke up several times and did what I could to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep and woke up around 8am, without an alarm. Surprisingly I wasn't feeling too bad. The first few miles were ok as the limbs got loose. The huge nag on me right now was hunger. Oh man, was I hungry. Fortunately, a town was really close.
I stopped in Brunswick for brunch. Fortunately for me, as I was looking around riding in circles some guy in a car stopped to ask if I was lost. I asked about food and he pointed me to a pretty cute dinner pictured below. Quiche and salmon lochs for lunch .. yummy!
Beans and the Belfry in Brunswick
Lunch could have been a real downer for me. Turns out I left my wallet at the register when I paid for the meal, before I ate. Later the guy came out and asked if I left my wallet there. As much riding as I was doing, I would have been in no mood to turn around on the trail and retrieve it. More kudos to the honest people in Brunswick!
I felt some joy when arriving at Harpers Ferry. I had ridden my bike there once, so I was feeling pretty good that it was somewhere I had been. The trail is relentless, one woodsy section after another. Long stretches of straight trail that dims away as far down as you can see. I was seriously getting worn down so anything familiar was helpful.
White Horse Rapids near Harpers Ferry
My dad took my sister and I canoeing quite a bit when we were younger. One specific rapid I remember was White Horse Rapids. It's just south of Harpers Ferry. Below is my lame attempt at taking a picture of those rapids. At this point, stopping was not an option. The pedals had to keep turning. I was having 4th and 5th thoughts about not making it to DC on Sunday.
I didn't take much video on Sunday. After the first few miles it became a slog fest. An endless unchanging trail. Every time I put forth much effort the whole body would nauseate. The only way I was getting through the day was carefully managing the effort. I could pedal only so hard.
35 miles in and I'm wearing out (again), but I'm only halfway for the day. The final portion was really a ride from one water pump to the next. I'd get off the bike and dunk myself under each pump. I'd cool off and start feeling pretty good. I'd heat up by the time I rode the 5-6 miles to the next pump. Again, dunk oneself and do it all over again.
Lunch at Great Falls
I was feeling downright cheery arriving at Great Falls. Only 16 miles left to DC. Under those good looks in that photo is one completely shot and worn out person. Even my jaw was tired putting down the pork sandwich and potato chips.
Managing those last 40 miles was pretty difficult. Any time I put forth a bit of energy my entire body would nauseate. It was not pleasant. There was a certain power level I could keep, but going over it was not an option. Just keep pedaling.
Mom and her neighbor Brian showed up in Rosslyn 3 minutes after I did to pick me up. Amazing how that worked out. I'm dirty, stinky, nasty, and extremely relieved to be off the bike. One of the hardest things on Sunday may have been getting my bike and trailer up the Key Bridge steps from the trail. Wow, that took all the remaining energy I had left in my body.
Gramma is always there when you need her
For all you Fitbit fanatics, it recorded 50,797 steps on Saturday for 110 miles, and 36,527 on Sunday for 70 miles. That 50k+ effort earned me the "Cowboy Boot" badge ... yee haw!
Another bucket list item is to ride the Great Allegheny Trail from Pittsburgh to Cumberland. That's a mere 150 miles. Maybe a one-day ride?
Kenny Lucas
