Crushing the Commonwealth

Thursday 28 April - The Eve of the Start


I left the house Thursday morning, rolling out to the Amtrak/Greyhound Station after mowing the lawn. I was sure that I wouldn't want to be mowing anything upon completion of this ride. 


I cruised down to the Bus Station, locked the bike and proceeded over to Amtrak to pick up a bike box. Could it be any easier? Remove the pedals, and drop the handlebar off of the stem. Roll it in, tape it up, done! 


Slipped the box under the bus and rolled out to Baltimore where I would switch out rides to Pittsburgh. 


The only hiccup in the travel arrangements was a retired (retarded) police officer who struck the rear of the bus with the front of his car. Now, most people reading this who drive and most who don't will see that the person striking the rear of anything is at fault when they are moving forward as in trying to beat the bus into the tunnels @ Baltimore.


Now this idiot couldn't let things go and proceeded to try and cut the bus off and eventually pulling in front of the bus and stopping a mere 1/2 block from the Bus Terminal where most of us had connections to make. 


His car had minor damage to the right front bumper and we waited for 45 minutes while the police (in Baltimore, I'm sure officers have nothing better to do than to respond to a non-reportable accident without injuries) showed up and had the drivers exchange information. 


For his contributions to society...and now his ability to sponge off all of us....I award him the "Douche of the Trip" award. 


After making my connection the rest of the trip went smoothly. I arrived in Pittsburgh a little before 7pm and met up the with crew from Philly as they started to assemble their bikes. 


Everyone finished and we were able to donate a box and some shipping supplies to a local who was shipping a bike to his brother in Texas. Glad to help a brother out. 


I rode up hill to my hotel, the Quality Inn by the University, had a bowl of soup and a sandwich at Panera and went to bed dreaming of Kate and Williams Wedding......not! 


I woke up around 0330 and fiddled around. The temps were in the 40s, but it was clear. Local radar didn't have any showers in the forecast but as soon as I rolled out the door of the hotel...down it came.


29 April - Friday The Start


I worked my way down to the point and met up with the crew under cover. Shortly after 0500 everyone had arrived, brief introductions made and we were off. 


It was here that I met Dean from NJ  and Darren from DC. Dean went on to finish and Darren bowed out in Somerset.


As I looked around, I realized that I may have bitten off more than I could chew. I mean, I had put in around 1500 commuting miles since January, and I had just ridden my longest ride to date 2 weeks prior @ 150 miles, but looking around at the folks assembled; I felt a bit intimidated. 


I had chosen to leave my geared Salsa Casseroll at home and brought my daily driver, a Rawland Drakkar set up single-speed for commuting. I was running a 42 x 21 and was carrying a bit over 25 pounds. As we rolled out, I knew I had brought too much, but whats a lad to do...in for a penny, in for a pound. 


We rolled out to McKeesport and then were set loose. Myself, Paul and another individual whose name escapes me were at the blunt end of the spear. We rolled across a bridge and onto the trail while the peloton rolled up the road to pick up the trail further along. That would be the last time we would see most to this years participants. 


Paul and I stopped in West Newton for some fuel. As we stopped, Max, Chris and Eric rolled by on the trail. We would see them again for breakfast at the Trailside in Ohiopyle. 


Paul and I then came across Jon, Brian and Tom as the trail went up prior to Ohiopyle. I kept a steady cadence as I we approached Ohiopyle. We stopped for a much needed refueling break and I put down a pile of hot food, a hot chocolate and got some other things to go from the store. 


Thanks to Paul for turning me on to Lara Bars. Trailside was the motherlode for them and I picked up a few for the road. 


After Ohiopyle, Paul, Brian, Jon and I rolled out towards Rockwood and the trail conditions went from firm to soul-sucking muck. I was glad to have a few others to help pull the train up the mountain. 


We hit the pavement at Rockwood and made for the Sheetz in Somerset. Brian was a bit hypothermic as we rolled into Somerset and we took time to get him squared away as others came and went. 


Soon we were on our way out of town and suffered our first mechanical when Brians chain dropped off the inside of his sprocket. That was soon sorted out and on the very next downhill he suffered a pinch flat. Brian and Paul told me to push on ahead, as they would be able to catch me. 


I rolled on up the road and ended up walking a few of the hills leading up to dividing ridge. Max caught up with me and sheltered out of the wind until Paul and Brian appeared. We then began the long roll down off of Dividing Ridge into Mann's Choice. 


Sometime just before Mann's Choice we suffered another flat as Pauls rear tire refused to hold air. We had that sorted after crushing two tire levers and were soon moving towards Breezewood. Paul had secured a hotel in Chambersburg for the night and we debated what to do. 


In the end, as all of us were new to this ride, didn't know the route and the prospect of potentially dealing with well lubricated Pennsylvanians did not appeal to us, especially after all of us put in our respective longest days to date. 


Sanity prevailed for us and we stopped for the night in Breezewood, had dinner at Sheetzs and then went to bed.  Hot showers and warm beds never felt so good after a cold and rainy day. 


30 April - Saturday The End 


The three of us woke up around 0645 and slowly got ready.  Our bikes were kept in a locked conference room and the hotel - Holiday Inn Express - put on one heck of a breakfast spread. We refilled the tanks, loaded up and moved out smartly towards destiny...well..Philly in reality. 


We hit the abandoned turnpike and made our way onto pumping station road. The rollers thru Burnt Cabins were a little much for my legs this morning and I walked a few of the steeper hills. 


As we rolled thru Burnt Cabins, the post office was just opening. Brian and Paul were laughing at the amount of extra stuff I was carrying as it came out of the panniers and into the express mail box. Best $15.00 I ever spent. 


The climb up to Cowans Gap was actually pleasant and when we reached the park we ran into Jon again. Jon stayed with us from this point until we got to 234 on the other side of Chambersburg. 


I used to be in a National Guard Unit that occupied the old stone house/barn just outside the west end of Chambersburg. It was sad to see the building in a state of disrepair and abandoned, but I guess time moves on. 


Anyway, I never really enjoyed my time in Chambersburg when I was in the National Guard and I certainly didn't enjoy it this day. We refueled at Sheetz on the west end and I led us out thru traffic until Brian took over pulling us along Rt 30. 


As we climbed out of the Cumberland Valley towards 234 we became strung out. I pulled over to wait for the others and in the past, it was always Brian, Paul and then Jon. Brian arrived and a few minutes later the next rider approached and it was Jon. Jon hadn't seen Paul since we started the climb. We waited for a few more minutes and then saw Paul moving up the hill towards us. 


Paul was clearly in a bad place and decided to pull the plug. He was going to call for an evac and continue on Rte 30 towards Gettysburg. We all exchanged phone numbers at this point, something we should have done earlier, and moved out after Paul assured us he was feeling better and would be OK. 


Brian, Jon and I climbed towards Rte 234 and somewhere along in here Jon dropped off the back while Brian and I enjoyed this part of the route. I would have to agree with Brian when he said, 234 just after Rte 30, best part of the whole route. 


Brian and I were taking turns at the front and made good time thru York and across the bridge into Wrightsville. 


In Wrightsville I had an ugly encounter with a river rat in his pick up. He tried to hit me several times with his mirror and I burned quite a few matches as the adrenaline kicked in. I would pay for it later, but that episode helped us roll thru Lancaster where we stopped at Tom's for our last refueling stop. 


It was here, around 1800 that Brian wanted to push into Philly by midnight. I was game and let Brian set the pace as we rolled out of Lancaster and into the farm fields. We kept up a good pace thru Lancaster County and into Chester County and had to slow a bit as darkness fell and the debris got bigger along the shoulder of Rte 23. 


We turned onto 100 and made our way to the SRT where we ran into Dean and Nick who were looking for the trailhead. Looking for the trailhead caused a slight delay as we wandered around.


At this point it would have been nice to have someone who had ridden this portion of the ride prior. It would have saved a bit of time. 


We hit the SRT and the group quickly split up after a stop. I know I was feeling pretty close to bonking and struggled at this point. Thanks to Brian for pulling me into Philly. I may still be out, a shattered mess of a human being if it wasn't for him.


We rolled up to the Bell and met Nicks girl who was waiting for him. She snapped a few photos of us and a quick phone call to a buddy secured Brian and I a place to stay up past the museum. 


Reflecting on the ride has me believing that it was one of the hardest things that I've done so far. I've been a little sick this past week, and I don't know if it was just a cold or if I pushed too hard. The wife says its going around, but I was only able to ride into work two days this past week. We'll shoot for all five next week as I'm feeling a bit better today. 


I have to think that I'll ride this route again and may even go East to West, but there is a perimeter tour of PA that I'd like to tackle. What's 1400 miles after you've crushed the commonwealth? 


Keep it Classy!