August 13, 1998 - Washington - Pittsburgh

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 32.63 Miles

TIME: 7 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 12.5 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny all day.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Most of the roads were in fairly good condition although at the end, there were numerous potholes and crackes in the road.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Lots of rolling hills followed by steep hills.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I got up at 9:30 since the sun was beating down on my sleeping bag which was zipped up. I was extremely hot and was forced to get up and get ready for the day. I packed up and then ate some cerel for breakfast along with a nectarine. I was going to leave but I went to get water for the day and when I pulled my water sack out, I noticed that the inside was full of yellow "slime" sticking to the sides. I got out some Dial hand soap to clean it which did a very good job. The only problem was that the soap left behind a residue so every time I drank, I tasted soap even though I rinsed it out about ten times. I filled it up one final time since there was no hope of just washing it out. After I filled it up, I wrote down the name of the host contact and where we were staying and then left with a large group of people around 11:30. About ½ mile from the fair grounds, I felt my back wheel wobbling from side to side which normally is a sign that I would have a flat tire. Sure enough, when I looked down, my tire was flat. So I got out my tools and pulled off my tire while Brad waited with me. I quickly found the four holes which were all in one small place. It appeared to be a pinch flat since the holes were on both sides of the tube. I ended up using two patches which covered the entire circumference of the tube. I was just about to put the tube back in and remembered to check the tire to make sure that there wasn’t anything inside. Fortunately I looked because I found out that I didn’t get a pinch flat after all. It was actually a staple that is used in constructing houses. It went all the way though the tire and then through both sides of the tube! I pulled it out and then put the tube back in before pumping it up and finally getting on my way just as Lana and Julie pulled up from eating breakfast. We all rode together for a while and then when we were going up a hill, all of the sudden, Lana couldn’t get her chain to catch. It seemed like her chain had slipped off but actually it was still on. She had previously been told that her cogs were worn out and that her chain was slipping but I noticed that her chain wasn’t slipping but it was her freewheel instead. This means that the entire hub needs to be replaced. To replace the hub, you have to rebuild the entire wheel which means taking out all of the spokes, re-inserting them and then truing the entire wheel. For this, she could buy an entire new wheel. Since she couldn’t ride with it any longer, Brad left to try to find the rest of our group that had continued on to get breakfast when I stopped to fix my flat. When I discovered that Lana couldn’t ride, we decided to call the SAG so I continued on to try to find Brad. I stopped at an intersection and then saw everyone but Brad riding up behind me. They had taken a wrong turn and because of this hadn’t gone to breakfast yet. Jade, Dan and I went to the Cannon Cafe for breakfast where I had three eggs, three pancakes, three pieces of bacon, three pieces of toast, and a orange drink around 12:30. After eating, Dan called his cousins in a nearby town and told them that he would be riding through. We left the restaurant and went to his cousin’s house where we got lemonade and cookies. We stayed for about an hour before leaving once again to finally get to Pittsburgh. As we got closer, the traffic got worse and we stopped at a gas station to look at a map when we realized that the road that we wanted to take was closed to bikes since it involved a tunnel. We saw an alternative route which was to take us over Mt. Washington so we started out once again after buying some food. As we traveled towards the tunnel, it came into view and we started to get concerned since we didn’t see the exit that we needed. Finally about 20 yards from the tunnel, the exit appeared and we got off. We thought that we would have to go over a very steep hill but fortunately we were able to take a side road which led us around the base of it right onto the other side where the cars came out of the tunnel. We then found a sidewalk which would take us over a river(Picture96,Picture97) and then deposit us in a park on the other side. There was a cop sitting in the park in his car so we stopped to ask directions. We stood there for about a minute and a half before he finally rolled down his window. Then when we asked where PCW College was, he wouldn’t even tell us where to go! So we decided to leave and we got onto our bikes and started to ride away when he yelled at us to get off our bikes because we supposedly were not allowed to ride in the park even though there was a bike trail less than thirty yards away! This was definitely a great greeting into Pittsburgh. We rode on and asked a few other people for directions who turned out to be much more helpful. We then turned onto a road and everything seemed fine until Jade noticed that we were in a bus lane. We then realized that we weren’t allowed to be there so we got off. Unfortunately about fifteen seconds before we got off, a cop saw us in the lane. He turned on the siren and stopped us. Fortunately he was a little nicer than the previous cop so he only gave us a warning to get out of that lane. He said that they treat bikers the same as cars and he could have given us a ticket for $92.50! We got off of that road and then continued on after asking a for a few more directions. We finally found the college around 6:30. I found out that dinner was supposed to be in two shifts and they covered the time period from 5:00-7:00. Unfortunately the location of the dinner was three miles away so we weren’t able to make it in time. I wasn’t too hungry so it didn’t make too much of a difference. When Lana and a few other riders came back we found that they had brought us leftovers! There was more food than I would have normally taken had I been there for dinner myself! After eating, I was very glad that our fellow riders were thoughtful enough to bring leftovers back, saving us from having to go out and buy dinner. After eating, I saw Lana take the cogs off of her bike in order to look at her freewheel. I decided that I wanted to learn how to do this so Lana showed me how to use the chainwhip and a few other tools to remove the cogs. After they were off, I could separate every piece which made it very easy to clean. I then helping Brad take off his cogs, chain, crank arms, and chainrings. After I worked on my computer and listened to music, I finally washed up and went to bed around 12:30.

TRIP ROUTE:
Look at a map and figure it out for yourself since I have no idea of where I went!