Day 43: Washington to Confluence

90.43 mi max 44.0 6:10.07 avg 14.6

The first part of today's ride was pretty tough. Either I was going 3 mph or 30...the hills were straight up and straight down. The hills are VERY challenging out here. They are longer and steeper, and with fewer downs to help with the ups, than in Montana or Wisconsin. Needless to say, I took the climbs slow.

The first water stop was at an aquatorium - bleachers overlooking the Monongahela River...and it was kinda cool that they were painted like an American flag. Charlie joined us last night in Washington, PA. and he'll be with us for our final week. And Brian took today off, because there's something wrong with his neck - he slept crooked.

The second stop was at the head of the Youghigheny River Trail. I spent some time at the bike shop and got a GINORMOUS ice cream cookie sandwich that actually didn't taste like much at all...but it was big. In the meantime, rider Mark showed up and got a bunch of things and about 3 seconds after we were both ready to shove off, his tire blew out. So, I passed a bit more time talking to 3 girls and waited for him. In return for waiting, I got pulled...my average at the beginning of the bike trail was 13.1...and it went up by 1.5 mph.

At mile 62, Fred had set up a luncheon for us, but all I wanted was ice water. I didn't even eat anything (it might have been too much ice cream). It felt entirely like naptime.

During the first part of the trailride, on the crushed limestone), Mark was hauling it at 18 mph. After, he said apologetically, "I won't be able to keep that up." That was fine because I was really tired. When we got to Ohiopyle, Moon caught up to us and we all stopped for soda & water at a little cafe. As we were leaving, Mark asked how many more miles. I answered, "Ten." "Let's just pound 'em out." So that' s what we did. We caught up to Moon and saw two deer who only looked at us (a fawn and its mother). No pics. When I got into camp, I just laid on my thermarest to take a nap.

The hardest part today was being alongside the river and watching kayakers playing. I wanted my boat SO badly!

And the worst part of today was putting on soaking wet clothing first thing this morning. EWWW!!!