Day Four was one of those iffy weather days with threat of rain for morning and afternoon- so start out early? Decision- damn the tornadoes, and go for breakfast!! A local recommended the original Waffle Shop so we biked slightly off route through campus and into town. So worth it! Great breakfast- had peanut butter pancakes for the first time. Wow....
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DJ's brother (who lives locally), DJ and Chrissie |
After eating, we ROLLED out of the diner and rolled through State College, and onto a bike path and then awesome backroads. While on the bike path I noticed something was off with my seat, and after stopping noticed a slight problem with my seat post...it was cracked!
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This seat post is not what it's cracked up to be |
I had just said a few days ago that in ten years I have never missed a single segment of the Anchor House ride. Talk about being shafted (or I would have been had I stayed on the bike). I was lucky it happened where it did- going downhill a broken seat post could have been a real problem. I called for SAG support- DJ said to keep him "posted".
I was rescued by the lovely SAG crew of Lorraine and Virginia- my saviors! They drove me 8 miles up to the SAG where Pete the mechanic was waiting. As I took the bike off the rack, the seat post separated in two. Post dispatched indeed!! Pete installed a new seat post and I was ready to go.
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My saviors- Lorraine and Virginia |
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A moveable seat- Ernest Bikingway... |
A word about the wonderful people who volunteer their time to make sure we are all safe, well fed and well taken care of. Virginia is an 18 year veteran SAG supporter and Lorraine something like 13 (6 as a rider and 7 as a volunteer). When I asked why would they spend a week of their free time working so hard on this ride to support our cycling efforts, they said it was first because of the cause, and secondly for the camaraderie of friends. The same reasons we ride. I am still amazed at all their efforts!
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Another amazing volunteer- Joe Drulis "Truck guy" |
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Tommy Imbrigotta being accosted by the Ice Man Kenneth |
As we left the SAG it started to rain, but as we pedaled east we managed to stay ahead of the rain the rest of the day. The cloud cover again kept the day from getting too hot and it turned out to be a really nice cycling day. Day four of the ride is called the Hump day, an easier day where we give our bodies a chance to rest a bit. 65 miles went by quickly (minus 8 miles not biked by Ken) and we had more downhills then ups. Sweet riding.
We passed a lot of farms, many of them Mennonite. Lots of children hanging out and playing in their front yards, waving as we biked by.
When we rolled into Lewisburg, a group of young Mennonite women (Womennonite?) biked by our hotel. Bike party!
And then this sweet ride rolled up- a 1910 Reo, made by Olds of later Oldsmobile fame. We grabbed dinner in Lewisburg, home of Bucknell. It's a really sweet little town with an old theatre playing
"North by Northwest" (sold out tonight), great restaurants and ice cream! Tomorrow we take our bike mobiles up the road to the hills of Hazelton. Hoping our rain dance keeps working (it certainly is raining elsewhere- Boston got pounded with storms and flash floods tonight). The ride is more than half done- it goes by too quickly....
One of those fancy bikes breaks again .... hmmm. What are you doing to them, Ken?
ReplyDeleteThe puns keep coming, and the miles keep rolling along. Don't bike like my brother!
ReplyDeleteYou are rough on the bikes! Carbon Fiber is not all it's cracked up to be!
ReplyDelete