Crosscountrycancer’s Weblog

The Gang of Five departing Monaca, PA on Tuesday morning.

No rest for the wicked or weary today.  Six flats between three of us, 15 miles of limestone trail, and 4800 feet of climbing .  84 miles, all in the heat of the day.  I don’t think I ever drank so much water!  Here’s the stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8799481

Calling Caroline, Sophia, and Emma during our noon break gave me the strength to continue on after a miserable start (4 of those 6 flats were mine!); thanks girls, you are my source of encouragement.

Two random thoughts crossed my mind as we biked today:

1. Going down some of these beautiful, loooong, decents at 45+ MPH with trucks cruising within a foot of your left shoulder makes me cognizant of the need to get some better and up-to-date estate planning in place!  For the record, Caroline gets everything!
2. Bicycling today revealed the difference between white and blue collar riders.  Attorneys and jurists seem to like to talk a lot, taking frequent breaks to discuss topics the last hill, the one coming up, or why Obama can’t regulate the temperature.   An engineer just wants to know the job to be done and given the room to do his work!    I just wanted to ride, get out of the heat and traffic, and get this job done before I cramped up!  It’s a funny difference to see in action on the bike!  But these are great guys on and off the bike, and Deanna has been a blessing with the SAG, and is one dang good rider to boot too!

Tomorrow we head into the mouth of the beast, with a lot of stiff climbing down to Cumberland.

-=jes=-

Jim & Deanna Grove starting off at the Montour Trail