Day 3 Altoona to State College- Stayin' Dry

Day 3 in Altoona started out wet but luckily before we hopped on the bikes. It stormed overnight and was still spritzing a bit as we had breakfast and got our bikes ready. But the radar looked promising for the rest of the morning with a chance of storms in the afternoon. We started pedaling under cloudy but dry conditions. We left with a huge pack of cyclists who were all waiting for the rain to end. Felt like a Bike Party!

Once we got out of Altoona proper, the roads were lovely for cycling as we biked through the Juniata River valley. Cloud cover kept us cool and the rain stayed away all morning. The streams we passed were foggy and ethereal looking.



We passed this amazing refurbished old pick up truck, and shortly after passed this sign for a local bike shop. I guess either a cool car or an efficient bike will get you around just fine- it all depends on whether you have a tiger in your tank (or on your house - see photo).







Tiger, or maybe a Nittany Lion? Not certain why but kinda cool?? 

Today was a relatively short day, just 60 miles and only 2600 feet of climbing, so a nice recovery ride. Jack had a flat before the first SAG but between DJ (initially) and Gabe's fine-tuning, they got Jack's bike back up and running. Gabe is winning in the flat contest this week with two. This is not a contest anyone wants to win.

Luckily you can't see anyone's flat affect

The real surprise at SAG 1 was Anchor House's first wedding proposal on the ride. Joe Feeney proposed to Gina Romana right at the SAG, he in his cycling kit and Gina in her SAG costume. Classic! We wish them both much happiness (and better future wardrobes)!

Joe "Teeny" Feeney and the future Mrs. Gina Feeney
(does that make her Mrs. Gina Teeny Feeney?)

We cycled past lots of corn fields (interestingly all well below knee high due to the wet spring?). I got artsy with a shot through the corn. When Jack passed he told me to stop being corny. When I caught up with him and my crew I apologized for stalking them.

Brian O'Mara, one of the children of the corn

Ben rolling with style...
Add caption



We got some easy miles on a rail trail, and then hit some lovely rollers before a final ten mile flat ride into State College.


It was my first time on the Penn State campus- really impressive, almost reminiscent of an Ivy League school except for the massive scale of everything (I guess 46,000 students on campus all need a place to be).  Got a chance to ride the Nittany Lion- pretty ferocious, huh?  DJ's niece struck a much more mature pose....Great day. Hoping tomorrow's stormy forecast is more of a squeak than a roar!

The Nit-kenny lion

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 11, 2017 at 6:08 PM

    Too many bad puns!
    Glad it stayed dry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keith "Nurse Keith" Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BCJuly 11, 2017 at 7:39 PM

    Oh my gosh, the puns are flying, the flats are flattening, and the lions are stalking the children of the corn. Oy, what a day on the road with Ken Carlson!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 12, 2017 at 1:22 PM

    My alma mater! Miss that place....
    Loving the daily blogs. Even with the corny puns.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5,000 miles for the Anchor House kids- riding out tomorrow

Image
It's hard to believe, but this will be my 10th year pedaling my bicycle in the Anchor House Ride for the Runaways. At 500 miles per event, that makes 5000 miles by the end of this ride -when strung together that's easily a cross U.S. trip (which I am planning to do in 2021). I am humbled by the generous support of my amazing friends, family and colleagues who have helped me raise over $30,000 over the years for Anchor House and its mission to provide at-risk children with shelter, support, and guidance. I've raised $6,600 so far this year- if you haven't had a chance to contribute and would like to see this Link . If you're not interested in contributing, no worries and enjoy the blog! Pennsyl Hill Ya! This year's ride will take me to some new bicycling territory - western Maryland up to western PA and across the state from Altoona in the Appalachian Mountains to State College to West Hazelton. From Hazelton we're on to more familiar territory as we he...
Read more

Day 6: Hazelton to Bethlehem- Who'll Stop the Rain?

Image
Well, our good weather karma finally ran out. But at least it was all concentrated in one, very wet day. We knew the day was going to be interesting just watching the amazing clouds and fog last night over the lovely Conyngham Valley from our hotel at the "Top of the 80's" in West Hazelton. Today was a 77 miler with 4400 feet of climbing- our second most challenging day. The forecast looked dicey all day with a high percentage of rain and chance of thunderstorms. It was lightly raining to start and we all needed to wear bright jackets or vests. Jack, Gabe and Ben left at 6 AM, and the rest of us took our normal 7 AM start (we figured we meet up at SAG 1 or 2). Day 6 Message Board DJ and Chrissie at the start-looking clean at the start! We were on busy roads to start getting out of Hazelton, and eventually found ourselves on quiet roads, with a constant light rain which was pretty manageable (once you're wet, you're wet and it's no big deal...
Read more