Tourney and thanks

The trip has been great. The bike tour was tough, but a lot of fun. There were a few days that I did not think I was going to make it to Pittsburgh, but figured the following day would be better and it usually was. I met a lot of great people along the way and saw a lot of great sights.

I want to thank everyone that followed along, and also thanks for the support by ordering calendars and donations. It was all appriciated.
I should get the calendars sent out mid September-October 1st. I have 8-9 pictures for it already picked out. I have a request for the big pile of bikes picture to be in the calendar and if anyone else would like to request a photo I will try to get it in the calendar.

The pinball tourney was a good time. The warehouse has around 400 machines. I played 20+ hours during the 3 days I went to the tourney. I ended up coming in 2nd in the C division. I won an awesome plaque and $500.

Pinball tourney

The tournament has started. I talked with a couple players and they said I should play in C division, because I have never played in a tournament and don't play in a league. Click here if you want to see the live standings.

Day 86

Pittsburgh here I come. The trail would take me to the city, but I would have to ride around 20 miles on the city streets to get me to the hotel.

I was on some sketchy roads and even sketchier sidewalks. Google bike directions came through for me and got me on a trail for the final 4.5 miles to the hotel.

Looks like the hard/fun part is done, now the easy/fun part begins.

I will touch back in a few days about the pinball tourney and some final thoughts.

Miles 49, total 4106, avg 9.9, max 24.4, time 4.57

Day 85

I would be on the trail again today. It was a short day so I wouldn't get to Pittsburgh early.

I rode a few over a few long bridges today. Other then that not much going on.

Miles 35, total 4057, avg 10.9, max 13.5, time 3.10

Day 84

I was looking forward to a nice relaxing day today. It was going to be a slight downhill on the trail today.
I was riding along the Youghioghenu River for half the day. The river is great for rafting. I saw at least 50+ rafts today and just about as many kayaks.

The town of Connellsville built a couple camp shelters on the trail, so I camped there for the night with a few other riders.

Miles 54, total 4022, avg 11.3, max 22.6, time 4.46

Day 83

Today I would be getting on my final trail and crossing into my final state.
Cumberland seems like a nice tourist town. Got some decent pics of the city from the trail.

The final trail is called the Great Allegheny Passage. It is 141 miles and goes right into Pittsburgh. The first 23 miles is uphill at around a 2% grade, not very steep but it wears you out. After about 11 miles there were many bikers coming down the hill. A lot of small kids were riding down. I did not think they would ride to the top. Sure enough I found out there was a train that took the riders up 15 miles. There was a nice rest stop just before the top and just before the Big Savage Tunnel, which is 3294 feet long. I also crossed the Eastern Continental Divide for the first time on my bike.

I found a great campsite called Husky Haven. They had dry firewood so I was able to cook a greay dinner of white corn and okra that I got at a farmers market in Cumberland.

Miles 62, total 3968, avg 9.1, max 19, time 6.38

Day 82

I was going to spend the day on the C & O Canal. I road 25 Miles to Paw Paw then back about 20 miles to the Iron Mountain Campground. Saw many deer and turtles today. This is a well used trail, I passed around 20 bicyclists today.

The canal ran from 1831 to 1924. It runs for 184.5 miles and has 74 canal locks. Some of the locks have houses right near them. The Paw Paw Tunnel is 3118 feet long.

Miles 47, total 3906, avg 11, max 22.9, time 4.18

Day 81

I woke up real early today anticipating a long riding day. I was going to get to the C & O Canal that starts in Cumberland, MD.

There were some serious hills today. A couple were a 9% grade. After mostly climbing for the first 30 miles I saw one of my favorite signs. 9% hill for 5 miles. Even better was that all the trucks turned off before the big hill. For the next 5 miles I felt like I was on a closed road. Not one car passed me. It was great taking wide turns and not worrying about the traffic. The downhill lasted another 7 miles, but just not real steep.

Crossed into Maryland today, but did not see any sign.

I made it to the canal and found the first of many campsites thay are along the trail.

Miles 74, total 3859, avg 10.7, max 33.5, time 6.49

Day 80

Got up fairly early today. The next trail is 10 miles long with 1200 feet elevation gain and there is no maintinence on it, because of an ownership dispute. There were some downed trees and it was a rough ride. Overall it was a good trail, because of the great views and there was no traffic. At the end of the trail there was a trail down to a nice waterfall.

After the trail I made my way to Blackwater State Park. The park has the second most touristed falls east of the Mississippi. There were a lot of people checking it out. There was a nice boardwalk to the falls, so I was able to get some good pics.

Miles 39, total 3785, avg 7.4, max 28.7, time 5.14

Day 79

Woke up today and the ducks were still there eyeing me for some food. I broke up a couple hard granola bars for them.

Today I didn't think I would be going very far so I took a couple mile hike around the lake. I wish I had taken a mushroom class before leaving on the trip, because I saw at least 10 different kinds of mushrooms.

I continued on the back-back roads of WV and somehow found the trail I was lookimg for. I decided to ride the whole trail so there was some back tracking. There was a lot more rain today so when I found a big bridge, I stopped there for the night.

Miles 29, total 3746, avg 9, max 23.6, time 3.06

Day 78

Today was the last of North Bend Rail Trail. It was a tough ride, but it was worth it. After the trail I got on some back roads until I got lost so I had to get on the 50 to Clarksburg. From Clarksburg it was around 40 miles to the next trail. I thought that would be doable. That was before my route took me to the back-back roads of WV.

It started pooring while I still thought I was going the right way. After I got my raingear on and rode a couple more miles, I thought there was no way I was going the right way. During the storm I saw a bear cross the road about 30 feet in front of me(my camera was in my waterproof bag so no picture, bummer). It looked at me and went running off. I gave it a couple minutes and made a mental note about not camping for a few miles. I kept going for another hour or so hoping to see any kind of road sign. A better sign came into view. It was a lake and the lake had the name of the road I was supposed to be on. Wow, that was lucky.

I set up camp and these 2 ducks were hanging out near my tent.

Miless 63, total 3717, avg 8.8, max 30.6, time 7.04

Day 77

Today I would be on the trail all day. I got to Cairo, WV, the trail headquarters. The city has embraced the trail. There is a little bike shop, and almost all the stores are named after the trail. I saw 10 or so riders in this area. I talked with one that grew up in the area. He said when he was 12 he rode the train from Cairo to Tucsan, AZ.

The trail slowly gets worse the farther from Cairo. It was still good enough to stay on. It has some cool tunnels. The longest was 2297 feet. Before one tunnel I ran into a couple from yesterday and they had just visited Cumberland, MD so they gave me some info on the area.

For those wondering. Looks like DC will have to wait.

Miles 49, total 3654, avg 8.9, max 15.7, time 5.30

Day 76

Today I was looking forward to getting in another trail called North Bend.
Made it to another state today.

Before the trail I rode trough the city of Athens, OH. It seemed like a nice college town. Ohio University is in town. There were a lot of old buildings and some good looking eateries.

I rode by my second major college, West Virginia University, around a mile before getting on the trail.

The trail was nice and quite. After 10 miles I found a good place to camp for the night.

Miles, 59, total 3605, avg 11.2, max 33.3, time 5.10

Day 75

Got up early this morning to get out of the rest area. I had planned on getting to Nelsonville via hwy 33, but saw the no ped, bicycle, moped sign so I had to find a back road route to Nelsonville.

After Nelsonville the day slowed down. After getting a lot wet and working on my bike for a while I decided to stay in Athens, OH.

Miles 39, total 3546, avg 10, max 30.8, time 3.49

Day 74

Columbus seems like a nice city. It has a nice riverwalk and even though it is a big city there was not much traffic.

Out of Columbus I rode the backroads for 25 miles or so. The 33 seemed like a good hwy so I got on that for a while. I stopped at a rest area planning to stop for an hour or so. A big storm blew in that lasted for a few hours so I had to camp out in the rest area.

Miles 53, total 3507, avg 12.8, max 28.1, time 4.0504

Day 73

Got up around 6 this morning. I did not want to see another Ranger on the trail.

I had a nice ride to London, OH and met a great guy named Gene. He rides the Ohio Trails quite a lot. We rode from London to the end of the trail a few miles out of Columbus, OH. We had a nice time talking about the trail and many other trails throughout the U.S.

I stopped near downtown Columbus today. After last night I decided to get a room for the night.

Miles 44, total 3454, avg 12.4, max 25.9, time 3.33

Day 72

It was too much to ship my backup wheel to Cinci so I had to walk a few miles this morning to a bike shop to get everything up and running. On the walk there was a big storm. I stopped at a grocery store to get some shopping done and to wait out the storm.

I finally(about 3 days late) got to the Ohio bike trail. Ohio really has a great paved trail system. I might have been the first biker on the trail after the big storm. I took a lot of big branches off the trail, but ran into a couple downed trees that could not be moved.

It was a good ride today. As it was getting late I was looking for a nice spot to camp. Around 8.15 pm I found the spot I was looking for. I rested for 45 minutes before starting to set up camp. About halfway through the setup a couple of lights came down the trail. The ranger asked me what I was doing. He told me to pack up and move to a campsite. He said there was one 9 miles away. I rode around 9 miles and set up shop again aroumd 10.30 pm, on the trail. I was checking all day for campsites and knew there was none on the trail I was on. He just wanted me out of his county, so I thought I would be ok if I got out early in the morning.

Miles 72, total 3410, avg 9.9, max 26.9, time 7.03

Day 71

Took the day off today because of the wheel issue.

My goal is to get to Cumberland, MD by the 28th or 29th so I can ride the C & O Canal trail to Washington D.C. It is around 450 miles so it is going to be close.

Day 70

I got another flat today after a few miles. It looks like there must be something wrong with my wheel. I was hoping to make it to Pittsburgh on this one, but will have to get one shipped from Boise.

I did get a cool pic of a mural in Glendale, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati.

Miles 7, total 3339, avg 4.5, max 22.3, timee 1.19

Day 68

Another one bites the dust. Made it to Ohio today. There was a welcome sign,  but with the traffic I was not able to stop.

I made it to Lawrenceburg, IN and was trying to figure the best route through Cincinnati. A biker named Josh stopped by to talk about my tour. After we talked rode with me out of town and gave me directions on the best way to get around Cinnci. I followed his dirctions until the last left, it was supposed to be a right. After 5 miles I thought it was the wrong way, but kept going to the next city. It turned out to be a good wrong turn. Google bike directions showed a way to Cumberland, MD that would be on 70 or so miles on a bike path.

I made it to Miami Whitewater Forest for the night.

Miles 49, total 3306, avg 11.6, max 29.6, time 4.10

Day 67

Last night was the longest t-storm I have ever been in. It started around 10 pm and lasted til 2-3am. In Ohio the lightning started a few homes on fire and the wind knocked over a lot of trees.
Not much going on today. I was trying to get to Verailles before another storm hit and found a cheap hotel.

Miles 63, total 3257, avg 12.3, max 33.2, time 5.03

Day 69

Today was a day. Too many flats, ran out of tubes, walked to Dick's Sporting Goods, more flats, walked to campsite. The end.

Ok not the end. I met a nice family at the campground. Had a nice dinner and heard stories until midnight.

Overall a good day.

Miles 26, total 3332, avg 7.1, max 35, time 3.41

Day 66

Got up and going around 9 am, after a good nights sleep on picnic tables.

I passed a biker that was going west that looked like he had been on the road for 10-15 years. He had bags coming off his handle bars, bags on the back of his bike, and a dog on top off the bags. I wasn't having much fun riding on the 50 today, I don't know how he was doing it.

After 35 miles on the 50 I found a country road that would take me close to my destination. What a nice change. No traffic and nice rolling hills. Just by luck I got to see and ride through the longest historic wooden bridge in the nation. The Medora Wooden Bridge spans 431 feet. It was built in 1876 and was fully operational until 1972.

I planned on getting to the Jackson-Washington State Forest, but a big black cloud was headed my way. I stopped at Starve Hallow SRA. I was able to get to the showers before I got too wet. The rain had almost stopped after a much needed shower.

I'm hooked on sweet corn, upped it to 4 ears, dry though no butter.

Miles 66, total 3194, avg 12.3, max 36.5, time 4.29