kristingbridges(Pictures to follow. We’re promised wifi tomorrow night!)
Today was a really nice day after the damp day yesterday. We got in the trail after a lovely breakfast at the B&B a little before 10. The only downside is that our room last night didn’t get much airflow so our riding shorts didn’t dry from washing them last night. Could be worse!
We got a first peek at the sun about 45 minutes into our ride. Yay! It was still mostly cloudy until after lunch… And damp, very damp. By the time we got to our planned lunch stop in Connellsville, we were definitely ready! Unfortunately, the place Brian had found in his research for lunch was no longer there. It was a really pretty town, so we went across the river into town. It was also very friendly! One lady driving by stopped to ask if we needed help. It seemed every place we found on the little flyer for the town was closed on Mondays. We knew that was common, which is why he had picked that first place.
Finally, we found one of the places on his list of options that was open, the Double Dragon. While we were outside trying to figure out where to lock up the bikes, a young man stepped out asking if we were planning to eat there. I was afraid he was going to say they were closed, but instead he practically insisted that we bring our bikes in to the entryway to keep them there! While Chinese isn’t exactly the kind of lunch I think of for cycling, at this point we were just happy for a friendly place with hot food. It reminded me of the scene at the end of Christmas Story of the family having to eat Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We were practically the only people in the place. Sadly, we didn’t get serenaded with Christmas carols.
Some other people we had met along the trail were going the opposite direction in the promise of a convenience store. I have Lara bars and Brian has Clif bars, so we can always use those in a pinch. But a hot sit down meal does wonders on a long ride!
After lunch, we only had about 17 miles left. I made the mistake of looking at the elevation chart on the trail map at lunch. We had only climbed 60 feet of the 600 we had to climb today. That meant we had the rest of the climb ahead. I’ve found I’m a really bad judge of grades. I knew that on the trail, we would never exceed 2% grade since it’s an old rail line. Except I have no concept of how that compares to grades on our training routes. Brian kept telling me after lunch that he was pretty sure we were climbing, but I couldn’t feel it. Finally I noticed that my heart rate was definitely climbing, going at the same pace we had been maintaining all day. So, now I know that a 1 to 2 percent grade is super tolerable.
As we were climbing, we could see the terrain around us change. The trees were different. There were cliffs to our right, sometimes with giant boulders that had rolled down next to the trail. I was pretty sure there were bears watching us go by in that area 😉.
As with last year, we’ve met some lovely people on the trail. Several that were at our stop last night pushed on to the next town tonight, so we’ll not see them again. However, the gentleman we actually first saw getting his gear together in the same parking garage as us in Pittsburgh is still with us. He’s my parent’s age and has done this trail before, along with a lot of others. We met up for dinner tonight and had a nice time. He knows all the great places and recommended a place right across from our B&B tomorrow night.
I’m really tired tonight, but so far neither of us really feel bad at all. I was definitely ready to get off my saddle when we got here, but I’ll be ready to get back on tomorrow! I love the scenery, love learning about the history along the way, love the romance of hearing all the trains, and love the people we meet, as well as the times of solitude.
Tomorrow is more climbing, and then it’s all downhill from there!