Mountains...Three of Them!

We were able to get started pretty early this morning, since we had little packing to do.  Of course it didn't rain...we had a roof over our heads!  It was a foggy morning, but the sun was shining, and this was going to be our last day!  I had enjoyed the trip, but was ready to be at our destination.  It didn't take long to ride out of the fog...there was just a pocket of it...

 Right away we had a mountain to climb...but it wasn't too bad.  The first few hundred feet were steep, but 

 the rest was quite manageable.  There was very little traffic, and that made it that much more pleasant. 

The stripe across the mountain was our road... 

Shortly after that mountain, we worked our way into mining country.  We ended up taking a mining road over a mountain....lots of trucks, and a narrow, worn-out road.  Thankfully the way up wasn't steep...just long.  It felt like we were climbing that mountain forever!  We had some moments of confusion right before the extended climb...and weren't sure if the road was the correct one until we reached the top!  According to the way my map was drawn, we should have turned left to get to Good Spring, but road signs and a passerby both said to turn right.  We turned right.  It was the right way to turn!

Here is a photo of the destruction from strip mining...

 The quick descent was pleasant, but we had to stop a few times to cool our brakes.  We were becoming more confident at higher speeds now...and allowed ourselves to nearly hit 30mph at times.  It was exhilarating! 

We had one more mountain to cross....and we both were dreading it.  It was bigger than any we had scaled yet, and Route 645 took us straight up one side, and straight down the other!

The town of Pine Grove was right before the monster, and we stopped at a gas station to fuel up before the climb.  We had used up the last of the cookies we had brought from home, and had no snack food of any kind left.  I bought orange juice, gross pastries, gross jerky, and some other snack food.  We ate most of it there, so Tuck sent me back in to get stuff to eat while riding up the mountain...then we pedaled hill-ward.

We couldn't ride up it. It was incredibly steep, so steep that it was impossible to ride.  We walked all the way up Blue Mountain.  I had never sweat that much in my life!  The trip down wasn't much better, since our brakes heated up so quickly we had to stop frequently to cool them. 

Only a few miles to go after the mountain....what relief!

A view of the beast....

Another view of the same beast....

We arrived around 6:30...and our dear friends were surprised to see us!  I had told them to expect us in a couple of days....but the trip had gone more quickly than I expected...

Route planning...

Once again we are planning on leaving for PA in a couple weeks.  I sure hope this time works out...

My knee is doing well...and now I am trying to strengthen it for the upcoming tour.

I am also trying to figure out what roads and trails we will be riding.  

I bought a PA topo map and cut up the pages...

This way they will fit into a Zipoc bag and be a convenient size.

Thanks to Google-maps trip planner (for cycling) I discovered Pine Creek Rail Trail, and thanks to a very helpful bikeforums.net contributor I learned about PA bike routes.
We will be riding along route 16 in New York most of the way to Pennsylvania.  It is supposed to be a decent cycling route...we shall find out...
In PA we will be taking the Pine Creek Rail Trail and possibly some of PA bike route 'J'.  I would like to take the bike route, but to get to it we would need to travel along a 4-lane.  I don't even know if it is accessible to bicycles...so I have another route possibility mapped out.
I'm not really looking forward to narrow, curvy, PA roads, but as long as no-one creams us, it will be fun...
I am definitely ready for a break from this crazy, dirty, noisy city that I live in, and go where there are open fields, contented cows, dense forests, rambling streams, and shy wildlife.
Don't get me wrong....I want to meet people along the way....and I know the country isn't all pastoral...I just want some refreshing time in the quietness of nature.

Planning a route...

It is definitely more complicated planning a route out of state than one to the next city.  

I printed out nine pages of maps off google for our route to PA.  We won't be able to stray far from the pre-determined path...unless we are looking to lose our way!  Since printer ink is terribly water soluble I went over the print-outs with pen to reduce potenial smudging.  I'm also trying to figure out some sort of zip-lock bag/map case type of protection against wetness...but I haven't come to any conclusions yet.  

My brother is letting me plan the route...should I surprise him?

I have only one more pannier to attach hooks to!

I have had some frustrations, though...  

When I tested the right rear pannier it hung just a little too low...the derailleur interfered with the bottom edge. I couldn't undo my work and fix the problem, so my brother is going to drill two more holes in each hook, just a bit higher.  That will raise the pannier 1/4 inch...all I need!

Today I received a bottle of Potable Aqua that I had ordered.  I'm not planning on using it much...only when absolutely necessary.  Hopefully I can get around the taste of those Iodine tablets...I've heard it's unpleasant!

Today is such a cold rainy day...I sure hope it gets warmer soon...and stays warm!

PA in May...

Even before I've taken my first short trip I am planning the the next...which will be longer and more difficult.

My brother and I will be riding into Pennsylvania in May to visit friends.  The trip will be about 270 mi....I think it should take nearly a week to get down there.

I am using google-maps to determine the route we will take.  I will print out the NY part of the trip and take the relevant pages out of the PA topo I just bought.

In Buffalo there are no hills...which means I am not at all prepared for the mountains we'll be going through in PA.  I hope it doesn't slow us down too much!

Short trip!

Today my brother and I decided to take a relatively short bike trip just for the fun of it.  I wanted to get out of the city...if we could manage it.  I looked on google maps to see if I could find the shortest route into the more rural areas.  I discovered a nice bike path about 15 miles from us...mainly surrounded by fields and trees!  My brother thought it looked like a nice idea too...so there we went.  On the way there we checked out a short bike lane along the railway.  It was pleasant, for being  in the city and along the train tracks. 

Here is our route...

View Larger Map

One thing I miss about spring-time in the country is the Spring Peepers. I had the treat of listening to them in various places on the trail.  I also enjoyed the quietness...  

The sound of traffic was faint and there was only a very occasional small plane flying nearby.  The sounds to be heard were only birds, Spring Peepers, the whir of the tires, swish of my pants, and click of the freewheel.

Since it is still early spring the landscape is pretty drab....but I did get to see some little yellow flowers and some brightly colored Red-osier Dogwood!  

The path...quietly winding into the stark bareness of trees at end of winter...





The day was beautiful...sunshine and gentle breezes all the way!  Unfortunately that meant our pale winter skin got a little over-exposed to the sun...we both got pretty red.

We ate sitting on some big rocks beside this body of water.  If you look closely, you may be able to see the yellow flowers beside my brother's front wheel...






My lunch!  I had stale-ish peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with water.

My steed at the edge of open fields...I miss the wideness of farming country...

It was a fun trip, and good preparation for upcoming longer ones...

First trip...

I've finally begun planning the first overnight trip I'll be taking!

Near the end of April...

with my Mom and sister...

along the Erie Canal.

I'm glad it'll be along an official bike path...there will be less traffic to deal with.
I'm also excited to be going with my Mom and little sis...it will be fun to share the experience with them!
We will just take it easy and enjoy the scenery instead of pushing for mileage.
We will be visiting with relatives near Rochester and then riding home.
I think the round trip will take 5 or 6 days.
I'm using a combination of Google maps, mapmyride.com, and the Delorme atlas of NY to map the route we'll be traveling.
I'll try to remember to take pictures....