D23 NE Lance Nots

Breakfast this morning was hard to eat. I was a little sick looking around at the flabby old people in spandex. We’re on the GAP and apparently so is everyone that ever wanted to ride the Tour de France. Unlike the tour, most of these folks (well, us too) are two or three times the age of the average tour rider. Like the tour, I suspect many of the men are taking steroids but it isn’t helping that much – everything is pretty saggy and spandex just accentuates the sag.

Undoubtedly I’m saggy too, but I ride in a baggy t-shirt and shorts. Like so many bicyclist, everyone seems to ride like they are tour wannabes. But like Lance, they would need a lot of steroids to win any race – so why not just pedal along and enjoy it.

Gloria is taking thyroid medication so technically she is taking hormones but otherwise we can pass a drug test. The trail has been wonderful and with relatively abundant amenities. Especially when we compare it to 50 mile stretches on the Great Divide with a bar or gas station at either end. I even had a private flush toilet in Ohiopyle (we’ll get to that later). The trail surface is almost as good as pavement and the grade has never been more than 3% (rail trail) although we continue to go up stream toward the East Coast Continental Divide – a real thing. We cross its lofty heights tomorrow at a breathtaking 2392 feet above sea level. I gest, but I can’t deny that it is incredibly beautiful mile after pleasant mile even without tall mountains.

When my mom and dad kidnapped me at age 14 and took me to live in Ohio for two years I often referred to it as a pile of something. But I don’t think that is where Ohiopyle got its name. From the web:

The name Ohiopyle or “Ohiopehelle” is believed to be derived from a combination of Native American Indian words which mean “white, frothy water.”

Which it is as the water runs over a lovely waterfall right next to an equally lovely town that is very well suited to benefit bicyclist with nice restaurants, bakeries, bicycle shops, and as noted: wonderful public flush toilets (another picture I’ll be sending to the governor of NY).

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Now, this little stop might make me send a letter to the governor of Pennsylvania. We had been riding along the Youghiogheny river again today and I wanted to get down next to it. We came across some stairs leading down to it and the sign above. Personally, I have no idea what “unauthorized rapids” are or for that matter what are authorized rapids. I thought rapids just happen when water runs over rocks. Anyway, I went down to the river and on the banks, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I found a backboard and a locked container with an AED. First, I’m not sure who would find or need these two items in the middle of nowhere; and second, if they needed an AED it wouldn’t matter because by the time they pried open the locked box the person would be truly, irreversibly dead.

The river and rapids were beautiful and again, I’m not sure why they are unauthorized but if I’d had time, I would have loved to swim in them.

As noted, we don’t quite fit the mold for the average GAP rider. Additionally, since everyone kind of “knows” where everyone else is going (Pittsburgh or DC), there isn’t a quite the comradery as on more wilderness routes like the Divide. When you run into another rider in the middle of the 1577 square mile Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana everyone (ok, the one other person we say) stopped to talk. Plus, if you talked to every rider on this trail you’d never actual get anywhere. However, you won’t be surprised to know that Gloria made a friend on the trail – Samantha. She is from West Virginia but living/working in Chicago. By the time Gloria visited with her and we had lunch with her in Confluence, I could probably write her life’s story. Seriously, it is fun to meet people like Samantha on the trail. And at least on the GAP we know it wouldn’t be more than a few minutes before another rider came along if we needed help.

Gloria’s bike is having some “technical difficulties” but we are hoping it survives the next few days and gets her back to DC.