Distance: 50.5 mi, Climbed: 3,891 ft
Completed: 480.3 mi, 30,157 ft
Today was all about determination and perseverance. It was not easy, but Joanna and I made it. It was also a big day. We completed our first Everesting! We have climbed over 29,032 feet, the height of Mount Everest. We will be “climbing” Everest about four more times during our journey.
The initial plan was to ride an average of 50 miles per day. With this in mind, I went through our route and broke our trip into days. I designed the first week to have about 30-mile days, the second week to have 40-mile days, and there after I would consider anything up to about 70 miles to make the logistics work. Up to now, our longest ride was 44 miles. Today we were scheduled for 51 miles, our longest ride yet. It also turned out to be our hilliest ride with 3,900 feet of climbing.
Yesterday was a tough day, and we got back to our lodging tired. The thought of riding 51 miles today was a bit daunting. We would have to get up early so we could complete the ride in daylight. Adding to the dread was that the forecast was for rain in the afternoon.
We always intended to be flexible on this trip. If there was bad weather or we were not feeling it, we would take a rest day. Today would have been a perfect rest day. But we had places to go. Tomorrow is our great-nephew’s birthday party in Pittsburgh, and we were not going to miss it. So instead of taking that rest day, we got up early and set out for Butler. It is only 30 miles from Pittsburgh which should allow us to get up early tomorrow and make the party.
Today proved to be quite the challenge. First, there were constant hills. Joanna’s bike computer identified 17 separate climbs today, and it missed quite a few. I kept asking her if the climb we were doing was identified by her computer, and most of the time, the answer was no.
I wish I could say we finally did not have a head wind. Today was the first day in a week that the wind was not out of the west. Today, the wind was out of the south. Our luck, we turned southward today towards Pittsburgh, which ensured that we had up to a 35 mph headwind during parts of the day.
And to top things off, as expected, it poured the last three hours on the road. Just poured. We put our rain gear on, but it only does so much. We were wet. The rain slowed us down a bit, but we soldiered on. We arrived at the hotel about 7:00 pm, wet, tired, and hungry. But we arrived. And we should make the party. Now, we just need to get out early again tomorrow 🙂
P.S. Joanna’s toe was fine today. Yay!!
