It’s been a wild set of adventures since I last wrote, I’ve struggled with being able to sit down and commit to getting things done. I’ve been resting for the past 4 days in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the last stop of the Commonwealth state before I head into West Virginia and start heading south into the blistering heat which seems to be on the forecast, for about, oh 90 days.
The hills certainly started taxing my physical energy and mental sanity over the last few days of riding, as I left Chambersburg and headed west attempting to follow Bike Route S. Since I’ve been trying not to push myself too hard my daily routine has been a bit slack where I wake up quite early in the morning, pack up and seek out an establishment to get some coffee inside of me, and make conversation with other folk looking to accelerate their morning. I met a group of nice people in Chambersburg early in the morning at the Starbucks, one from Philadelphia, and one from Washington DC – both in town for their children’s graduation ceremonies for the weekend who made me feel very warm and welcomed. We shared stories, and I received a bit of a donation from both in the way of food and offerings to keep me going which was a surprise, but well appreciated. I chuckled as the one from Philadelphia came back into the coffee shop about an hour after we initially talked with a printout of my prior post outlining some of my frustrations with my experience in Philadelphia, and proved to me that not everything is bad in the west – Again, I relate it to my headspace and the massive influx of traffic and just too many people to deal with at the time. These sorts of experiences have you project negativity which is certainly what I’m trying to stay away from.
Beore the long descent
I mentally prepared myself for the two huge climbs that I had to face that day, but was mildly surprised when Bike Route S steered me away from one of the higher climbs at first and dropped me into a State Park where I walked right into the lake with my clothes on to catch a breather. I was being sapped of energy and pushed forward throughout some areas with minimal amenities and had to force myself to ride in a circle to either stop at a gas station at 4pm or move forward. I chose to move forward and was presented with a climb that lasted 2 hours, I weaved from side to side of the road, lost a couple litres of sweat, but felt pretty good when I hit the summit before barrelling down at a high speed hitting almost 65km/h. Always a descent on the other side, something to look forward to. It dropped me right into a city named Breezetown, which in fact isn’t a city at all but a merging of some of the major interstates with a dozen gas stations, a few restaurants and that is about it. I found an abandoned hotel with lots of space to pitch a tent and headed down to the coffee shop to wash up, charge up, and caffeinate. It was the end of the weekend and it was crazy busy, people coming and going on their way to their destination, but well ventilated and a chance to cool down. I was really starting to stink as I hadn’t had a shower in a while and sponge bathed in the washroom facilities which certainly didn’t help the way that I had hoped it would. Something about rain coming down and soaking my shoes and socks and riding in them all day creates an involuntary gag reflex every few minutes when the wind would shift. Back at the coffee shop early in the morning I met a friendly couple from Washington DC who were on their way to Detroit who had hosted another cyclist for a few weeks back in Beijing – world adventurer Alastair Humphries who has gone through some crazy expeditions in his time. It’s not the first time I’ve run into people he’s stayed with/taught with/hung out with – but I suppose that’s what happens when you circumnavigate the world.
I figured I had a nice ride again on Bike Route S and proceeded to cruise through mild hills, farmland while stopping to yell at the sheep to get their attention. Somewhere at a fork in the road I had to make the choice for which direction to take, and while I spotted a Bike Route sign in the distance it turned out to be the wrong one. This sign had an apple on it, but no markings related to ‘S’ but I figured they were one of the same. I was wrong, and it took me less than 3km from the Maryland Border through some pretty crazy conditions, steep graded hills on dirt roads, and no amenities in sight. I knew I should have filled up my water bottles to the brim as by the time I made it to somewhere that could offer hydration and a place to relieve myself I was parched, exhausted and frustrated. I headed back into the direction where I was supposed to and found that I was only 8miles from where I started, with a huge 30mile detour in between it all. Oh well, the sun was out and I continued west through the town of Bedford watching a cloud move my way threatening to drench me. I wanted to keep moving and find a stealth spot to camp and ended up climbing 200 metres of a 400metre climb before stopping at a level area and hiking into the woods. It seemed like a good place to stop, until I started hearing all sorts of strange animal noises. These were weird, nothing I’ve ever encountered before and could be only explained as something similar to the sound of a trucker releasing his Air Brakes every 2 seconds. It brought some fear into me and there were many times that I rushed outside of my tent in the middle of the night stark naked with boots on waving a knife trying to find out what it was. I only noticed low lying eyes in the distance and was put at ease that it wasn’t a big 4 legged animal like a bull or even worse, a bear. I tried to Google search other peoples encounters with a sound and came up with nothing. Do you have an idea what it is?
Starting my day on a hill isn’t the most favourable way to wake up for me, and I grunted and swore my way up the remainder of the 400metre climb before finding out that Shanksville, PA was nearby. This is the site that Flight 93 went down in September 11th, so I decided to detour away and go check it out. Looking back I probably should have looked at a map a bit better as I could have saved 15km of gruelling climbs when I was already sapped of energy and not eating well due to some poor planning on my part. Many moments were spent on the side of the road with my head down trying to catch 15 seconds of rest before I heard a motorcycle coming up the road. It turned out to be a friendly couple from South of Pittsburgh – Bruce and Lauri Ann who were on a bit of an adventure and on their way to the Memorial Site as well. Super friendly couple who offered a place to stay in their Bed and Breakfast, and gifted me a unique coin, which I plan on taking with me around the world regardless of the weight. I was planning on heading their way for the night but tapped out of energy at about 5pm realizing that I just couldn’t make it another 50km even though I just descended 9 miles at 70km/h leaving the crazy climbs that had me sweating for the past few days and stopped in Greensburg, or rather outside of it. There was a great secluded area right beside a graveyard to pitch a tent which offered some great views of the lightning storms that were passing over well into the night while I was reading a book, unfortunately what I didn’t realize it was beside an Amtrak train line, so come 5am I had to deal with a 15 minute repeat wake up call of lots of noise. I was out and in the coffee shop by 6am and stayed until 10, thinking it would be an easy day riding into Pittsburgh. Assumptions were wrong, and I need to stop getting into that habit, as it was very challenging to ride through with searing heat, lots of traffic and poor shoulders. I think I found a hill which matches the steepest hill I’ve ever encountered in Canada on my way to Cape Spear in Newfoundland, and got off the bike and pushed – likely would have been easier if the road wasn’t cobblestone. These hills are starting to wear me out, and I need to make some changes overall to make sure I can continue to get through them, as they will only get worse once the heat rises further. As it stands the average has been in the high 80’s, or 30 degrees Celsius, which is a bit much for me at this point. The further I go south will bring even higher, into the 40’s but with major humidity – Yup I’m doing things the hard way, but its training for other difficult conditions to come in the future like Africa.
Bruce and Lauri Ann at Flight 93 Memorial
I showed up at my hosts house in Pittsburgh, a neat little 2 story duplex on the north side of the city and quickly fell into a comfortable zone with a revolving door of people, a zoo of cats and dogs and proceeded to relax. All sorts of interesting characters, Sera – who has training as a veterinary tech, Erin, who has been focusing most of his recent time on well being, Phil – an intelligent organic seed farmer well versed in the history of the area for the past few thousands of years, and about a dozen more people thanks to the openness of the house, the close proximity to main drags, and overall neighbourhood community. I also met a few cyclists who have done long distance tours, people who work at the Bicycle Co-Op (which from what I understand is at max capacity and there needs to be another one in this very bicycle friendly city), and some people in transition trying to figure out ‘What Next?!’ – My stay has been a bit chaotic due to some events occurring here, people moving in, out, yard sales, people encounters, but I take it all as an experience and ride away a more well rounded individual. It’s a long weekend here and I’m planning on having a short day of riding getting out of the city limits on my way into Wheeling, West Virginia. I want to stop at Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe in the South Side before my exodus as I’ve heard such good things about its decor, food and atmosphere.
Exped sent me a replacement air mattress to someone in Pittsburgh as well, and I look forward to having some nights where I don’t need to wake up with a rock jabbing into my back – I’m hunting for another mail drop in Lexington Kentucky – Or Nashville Tennessee in the next week and a half as I need to move forward with replacement of a few other components which are starting to wear out. I’ve found it’s becoming more and more difficult to find people on the Warmshowers or Couchsurfing Service who will be able to host me, or even respond to my requests, which is a bit frustrating, but know that the universe will provide when its ready for me.
I know that the US sometimes doesn't get along with France, but to put it on a sign?
We’ve got 2 days to finish voting for Tired of I.T! as the best bicycle touring blog of 2011 – Won’t you vote for me daily at Cranklisted?
