| Today was another top 10 day; I rode with
Bruce all day. It started with the 5 miles into the town of Washington, PA,
fighting early morning traffic and the cold. After we cleared Washington, we
got onto the BikePA bicycle route, which ended up on mostly rural roads with
little traffic. The downside of the reduced traffic was more hills, but I
did better than I thought I would. We rode several miles through Mingo Creek
Park, a beautiful ride along the creek with nice picnic areas and an old
covered wooden bridge. After leaving the park, we rode several miles into
the town of Monongahela, along the banks of the river of the same name,
where we had a water stop. We then proceeded across and then along the river
for several miles, and then turned away from the river and our biggest climb
of the day. The hill was over 2 miles long, at a steady 10-12% grade. Once
we got to the top there was a very nice descent, some more rollers, and then
we arrived in the town of West Newton.
From West Newton we picked up the YRT, or Youghiogheny River Trail, which
runs along the Youghiogheny River from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. While
we're not fortunate to be able to take this old railroad grade trail all the
way to DC, the last 50 miles of the day were on it. The surface is mostly
packed dirt with a few small rocks, very rideable even with skinny tires.
Since we were going upriver we did have a gentle climb, about 1-2%, but
substantially easier then earlier in the day. We had fun just talking and
telling jokes, as well as taking some spectacular pictures. At about mile 56
we were treated to a hoagie lunch by Fred Husak, who rode the Big Ride in
2000. What a nice treat and a wonderful time! Fred had made a CD of bicycle
songs that he was playing, and he had learned about almost all of this
year's riders from the various web sites he's been following.
After our lunch stop we continued on the trail
with 25 miles to go. After 15 miles we came to the town of Ohiopyle, where
we stopped for ice cream and conversations with some of the other trail
users. Some riders even went swimming in the river, but I decided not to as
I didn't relish the thought of riding the remaining 10 miles in wet bike
shorts. The last 10 miles went by quickly and we arrived at the Outflow
Campground just outside of Confluence, PA around 4:30 pm. We're camped at
the foot of a large earthen dam, and the showers here were some of the best
campground showers I've experienced. Dinner was a catered affair from a
restaurant in town, and we spent most of the rest of the evening socializing
before bed. |
