Lots of pics and videos

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff319/tlmacdonald79/Biking%20for%20the%20American%20Cancer%20Society/


there may be duplicates and there are still more to come but hope you enjoy!

Day 6 7/21/2012 Final day

I didn't sleep well once again, my muscles and knees are just spent. I am so excited to be done with this trip but at the same time I dread the thought of having to sit on my bicycle for one more day.  I really wish I could just take a rest day. 

I once again get up at 6am, with bearly 6 hours of sleep.  But figured it was better to get up and get moving to get this trip done. I hopped in the shower to try once again to relieve the pain in my body, but once again it didn't help, all it did was help to relieve a bit of stiffness.  So I reached for the Tiger Balm which has been our friend for the last 6 days and I caked it on.  My son wasn't to happy with me because it made the hotel room reak, but there was just nothing I could do. I had no choice if I wanted to make it through this day. 

The hotel only had cereal and danishes for breakfast and I surely didn't want none of that.  All I wanted was a banana, but I guess that wasn't going to happen.  In the mist of trying to pack the car and get only what we were going to need today.  Ashley walked down to the gas station and got herself some breakfast and then called and asked if I wanted anything and of course the answer was banana, so she grabbed 3.

After eating 1 banana we packed the other two in the bag for later, and then finished loading up and getting what we needed for the day.  Jim was going to be carrying most of our stuff in the car, so it is going to be nice for either of us not to have 50lbs on our bikes.  We were hoping since he was doing that that we would be able to push out the miles faster and get home, even though we were in such a great deal of pain.


After loading up, I had Jim stop at mcdonalds to grab a frappe for the caffiene and an egg mcmuffin sandwich. Who knows how today was going to go and when we would get to eat again. Then we stopped at the dollar store and grabbed some sunglasses, I seem to have lost mine between last night and this morning, and Ashley lost hers 3 days ago in the porta pot, you can guess where they fell!  and out there in the wilderness you definately need a pair because they are like windshields for your eyes, they protect them from unwanted bug entry and dirt in your eyes. 

It was 10 am before we even got to the trail head and unloaded our bikes and gear we needed for the day.  It was our latest start yet, which we knew would make our finish today very late.

When we finally started on the trail, we weren't even two miles in and once again it started raining, I felt like we just never got a break on this trail.  I remember the previous day when it started pouring, I yelled up to the sky and said " can we get a break here?" I mean really 4 days of 100 degrees drinking 2-3 gallons of water a day, hill after hill, and now two days of rain, saddle sores like you wouldn't believe, the pain in our body was to the point it was unbearable and we just didn't feel we could go on.  I was so ready for this trip to be over, but in the back of my mind I knew people fighting cancer must feel the same way if not worse and it helped us to keep fighting, to keep pushing.

At 3 miles in I had to stop, my running injury was flaring up and bad.  I thought there is no way I can pedal through this for 50 something more miles.  It was bad.. So I got off my bike and hit some of the trigger points that I remember my massage therapist did,  and stretched really good I did that for about 10 minutes or so and then hopped back on the bike and by the time i got 2 more miles in the pain was gone.

It took us 3 hours to reach the next town, we had only gone 25 miles. we had to stop and walk alot because the pain in our body from pedaling got to be extreme and walking although it hurt relieved the pain from saddle sores, and used slightly different muscles because we were walking.  None the least we stopped and took a bit of a break at the rail road station in West Newton.  Our next goal was to make it to Boston.  We decided we would eat lunch there and rest for an hour and half or so. 

It was funny because it got to the point we were stopping at every port a john, because I am assuming the water weight was starting to come off.  It was so funny but yet annoying. We could not understand why today we were doing that, when we realized duh all the water we had been drinking days prior was finally trying to make it's way out. 

5 miles into the trip towards Boston, I got a terrible calf cramp, the pain was bad I just couldn't pedal any more. I thought for sure that, this was it that I was not going to be able to finish the trip, so once again we had to stop.  I tried massaging it out, then stretching, but nothing nothing was giving.  I put on the rest of the Tiger balm I had and rubbed some more.  in the mist of this, my sister had left me a message saying how proud she was of me, I had tears in my eyes and knew I could not give up.. Not yet, I am stronger then the pain.  So after 15 minute rest we got on our bike and we just went.  We got into Boston around 2, and caught some lunch at an Italian restaurant. Salad and pasta... just what we needed lots of carbs and a meatball bigger then your fist was our protein.. yum yum.  My leg cramp still wasn't budging but the outpouring of support we were getting from our friends on Facebook, and family was fantastic.  They truly don't realized how much they helped us pull through the rough spots.  After lunch we caught some icecream at the shop around the corner. Well atleast I did.  Even though I was not hungry I just kept eating, because I assumed this cramp was not only from my body not catching a break, but probably the lack of nutrients we needed. I mean we were bearly eating out there. I am sure no where near what we should of been, especially since we were riding so much. we were lucky to eat 1 square meal a day the first few days.  But these last 2 were much better.

While we were eating my husband ran down to the bike shop to get oil for my chain, it was on the verge of snapping from all the dirt,sand ect from the past week. so he cleaned out the grime and oiled up both our bikes.

After ice cream we headed out, once we reached Mkeesport, the trail was all paved, no gravel, no crushed limestone just pavement. That was so nice to ride on.  It was funny though because we actually had to go through town. the way the trail was set up was wierd, but they had some kind of little festival going on and there was a live band playing and an audience sitting in chairs and the trail went right in front of them.. Felt so bad for it, but there was nothing we could do.  The trail took us through the projects, which i ws a little concerned about because the Mace was with JIm.  None the least we did really good once we hit the pavement.  We expected to reach pittsburgh about 9pm.

We crossed many bridges, and still had a lot of hills to battle.  When we got to homestead the trail ended and we had to bust out the google maps and navigate our way to Pittsburgh and now that was scary because we were on the Freeway and well those people don't care, they just have no compassion for bikers. I thought for sure a few times one of us were going to get hit.  It was funny though because we just kept riding and riding and then boom we were in Pittsburgh, it was over.  Although relieved, and a sense of accomplishment, it was sad because that was it our pain, the challenges we faced, the ups and downs, they were all gone, we were done.

Although we faced many challenges, faced some fears, endured a lot of pain, it is no comparison to what many cancer patients have to go through.  Our ride was not about us, it was about helping the American Cancer Society to raise money to help people with Cancer to celebrate more birthdays. 

So I ask you all to please continue helping us to raise money to find a cure, even if you can only give $1 every little bit helps.

Can you go without that Mcdonalds today, or that pack of gum? Can you give up just one luxury today to help someone else to enjoy life longer?

Thank you to everyone who helped get us through this, with your support, your words of encouragement, and donations to the American Cancer Society we were able to successfully complete this trip. 

Day 5 7/20/2012 Say what?

Day 5

I didn't sleep well last night with the muscle cramps, but awoke at 6:15am, Ashley was going to be here in 45 minutes and I wanted to get a quick hot shower to see if that would calm down the aches and pains I had, my knees were spent, and the pain was getting pretty bad. As I was taking a shower I was thinking there is no way we are going to get 134 miles done today.  I am in no shape to, I didn't know how Ashley felt, but I know there was no way I could. 

Ashley got there at about a quarter after 7 she brought me a banana, i was so thankful, my body definately needed the potassium. we still had to load up, we switched up loads today because one load is about 10-15 lbs heavier then the other load and then jim called and he wanted us to make it to 110 marker and he said he would meet us and get us a room.  Wow he wants us to knock out 100 miles, say what? Is he crazy?  We are in to much pain, Ashley said we will get as far as we can dad. 

We headed out at about 7:45 which was already later then we planned once again.  We had to finish climbing this gigantic mountain, which was still 10 miles more before we reached the highest peak.  Our guess was it was going to take us a good deal.  Which of course it was.  It took us almost 4 hours to do.  We were both in pain and the incline was never ending.

Then it started to rain, we had to get the ponchos out and cover up one of the bags.  We got to a little town and grabbed some lunch and of course charged our phones. We had turkey sandwiches and a cup of hot home made tomato soup with basil and boy was it good especially since we were sop and wet from the rain... after that we climbed the hill and called Jim and told him at best we could make it to Connellsville today. 

We reached the Continental divide and it was supposed to be all down hill from there, ha! Yeah right who ever made that map, must of been taken drugs because we would still have hills to climb. I just feel this whole trip was nothing but uphill. There was just no break for us! 

We ran into rain twice today,  it was pouring rain, we were in excruciating pain, and every mile felt like 20 miles.   We crossed alot of bridges, and bonded alot this day.  We helped get each other through each mile. we completed 77 miles today.  When we got to Connellsville we both had to laugh at how we thought we would make it all the way home today.  Jim met us in downtown, and we were excited because he was supposed to have a room for us.. Yeah well that bad news is he said it's 20 miles from here.  My poor poor husband heard about that the whole 20 miles away I was furious.  You know being used to biking you think 20 miles? that's two hours away if we have good time, 3 hours if it's bad.  lol yeah biking starts making you crazy.. literally.

We were covered in mud, the bags covered in mud, and the look on my husbands face was priceless, he didn't even want to touch the stuff. lol and we were like really? we have been dealing with this stuff all week.. lol oh my that's how you know you are spoiled by reality.  We got to the hotel and got ourselves cleaned up and the bags... I didn't get to bed until after midnight, ash was asleep probably by 10:30.  Another short night... blah.

7/19/2012 Day 4 alone

This morning we woke up about 4:30 am with the intentions to be on the road by 6 am, especially since we had to make up yesterdays miles of only doing 40. Ashley went downstairs to see if her bike had come back from repairs, they were fixing it on credit because we were running out of money, so when we got back home we had to mail them a check. I was a little nervous about how much the bill was going to be since they had to come out at night, pick up the bike which was 15 miles away, repair it and then bring it back.  Ashley found a bill and a note that read this:

adjust r brakes 9.00
overhaul RH 1.80 and 18.00
shuttle (60.00 X 2 trips) 120.00
( regular shuttle cost- no extra for after hours)

wow that's a big bill then the note attached to it said:

If you make it to Pittsburgh with no problems, please send a check for $25 dollars we will cover the rest.

Good luck on your adventure for a great cause. We look forward to hearing about your success!

Dennis and Judy Hudson
C&O Bicycle

My heart just melted, they volunteered their time to help us out because we were raising money for the American Cancer Society. What wonderful people! I will be forever greatful that their are such good people out there who actually still care.  Thank you so much Dennis and Judy Hudson!


We got all our gear packed up and took it downstairs.  Steve was in the kitchen making us breakfast and we were really excited about that, we are lucky to eat once a day, so breakfast was going to be a wonderful start to our day! Steve made home made bread and that home made bread is what he used to make french toast and we had bacon and and a glass of orange juice and tea.  I am not normally a big breakfast type of gal, but it was delicious and exciting because we never know when our next meal will be.  With all the great things happening we knew today was going to be a good day! Finally!

 This is Steve with Ashley and I

After talking with Steve we didn't get a chance to get on the road till 8am and we had a long way to go, our goal was to head into Cumberland and catch some lunch then start tackling the mountain.  Which we knew was going to be hard.

We started our adventure and it was nothing but spider webs every 30 seconds, it was disgusting and frusterating and it just makes you feel gross.  About 3 miles into the trip Ashley ran into a big one and tried to get it off lost control of her bike and fell off.  She got a nice gouge in her knee and we had to bust out the first aid kit and tweezers so she could pull the rocks out of her knee.  Guess we weren't going to have good luck after all. 

Ashleys knee

We got her all set and then we were back into the spider webs again, she was not to happy about it and neither was I but there is just not much you can do about things like that. Except just deal with it.

We rode for what seemed like miles upon miles with absolutely nothing but spider webs and trees, there was really no scenery at this point, and we wanted nothing more then to get out of it.  Then the heat once again started to pick up and with the soreness, we were already dealing with it was making our trip pretty difficult.  There came a point that I didn't think we were going to make it as far as we wanted.  I was riding a bit a head of Ashley but enough to where I could see her in my rearview mirror, sometimes we just did that, one of us would lag and then one would be ahead it's just how things worked out.  Well by this point it was one of those times when I was ahead, I heard her say something in the back ground so when I got just past the stop sign I stopped, I figured she needed a break because her knees had been bothering her big time.  So I sat there and waited and decided while she was resting back a bit that I would take a video, because it was a nice little spot.

None the least Ashley didn't need a break, she had been stung in the eye by a bee and she was not happy one bit, she said we were going to finish this trip tomorrow which meant todays mileage plus 134 tomorrow.  She rode on past me and kept going, she was about 2 miles ahead of me, which honestly ticked me off, because we always stayed together and kept each other in sight at all times. after all we are alone in the woods on the path and two girls to boot.  So after I finally caught up with her I was a bit sarcastic and said if you want to ride solo that's fine! I filled my water bottles at the pump and then got my cooling towel wet, because it was blistering hot and then ventured off.  lets just say she had a few choice words for me and then went on ahead of me again.  So that was that.  After about 5 miles she had the trail blocked with her bike, she wanted her things so I gave them to her and grabbed a few snacks and then said I guess I'll see you in Pittsburgh and then I left.  at that time she apparantly called her dad and a few other people and told them I left her. So with very little cell phone power my phone was going off and I talked to my husband and he was furious wanting to come get both of us telling us we can't do it alone.  And I said I was finishing this one way or another, there is nothing I can do.  I knew Ashley was upset about getting stung, but I felt she shouldn't have left me the way she did, we have been there for each other thus far.  So what maybe riding solo wasn't a bad thing, I mean we were around each other 24 hours a day and sometimes peeps just need there space. 

The ride to get to Cumberland was miserable there was alot of openness and very little shade and the temperatures just kept getting worse. I stopped several times and drank water and slowed down to see if Ashley was coming.  Eventually she caught up to me then once again rode past me without one word.  Which was ok, atleast I knew she was ok.  So from that point on she stayed ahead of me, until we got about 5 miles or so from Cumberland then I past her. I got to mile 184 and texted her and told her there was food just past it and we could grab a bite to eat.  She didn't respond.  But I sat there and waited a good 10 minutes before I finally seen her. In the mean time some bikers came up to me and wanted to take my picture and asked where I was heading.  They rode their bikes from Minnesota and were heading towards D.C. guess they were with 20, 000 other people doing a tour.  Wow!

When Ashley arrived I asked her if she was done with her attitude yet and she says me?  Your the one with the attitude and then says I am only here to get my lock and my charger so I grabbed them out of my bag and in the mist of that the bag fell over and all the stuff tipped out and she just left.  I couldn't believe it.  So I picked all the stuff up put it in the bag, my body was trembling from not eating since 6 this morning and we were 40 miles into the trip and it was a bit after one.  I felt so sick like I was going to pass out, I was dizzy, nauseous and trembling.  I hurried up grabbed the stuff and followed her.  she parked next to the train station. I told her there was a pizza joint right around the corner and then it started raining she reached for her poncho and I said I have some already open so you don't have to use yours, she ignored me and continued on so I grabbed my things and went to the pizza place to sit down for lunch.  I was sick, I thought I was going to have to have the waitress call 911, I knew the heat was getting the best of me.  I sat there for about an hour and charged my phone a bit then headed back to the station to see if Ash was still there, it appeared she was so I went down the street and then into the train station to see if I could find her. but I didn't.  So I headed down stairs to wait for her and low and behold the bike I thought was her wasn't she already left.  So now I was alone and so was she. I figured I better get to the gas station quickly and get some ice for us.  I filled up what I could with my bags and then the rest I would carry until I catch up with her to give it to her.  I was hoping she wasn't to far ahead of me.

The ride up the mountain was horrid, especially carrying ice, my tire was loosing air from all the weight on my bike. I couldn't go more then 6mph.. I tried calling Jim to see if he could get a hold of Ashley so that I could get some air, she had the air pump the sleeping gear and the food. I had all the other things. lol so more or less neither one of us could make it without the other.   My phone died right after that.  Which made me break down.  I had tears in my eyes and I will still 10 miles away from any form of city climbing a never ending mountain.  I had to walk alot of it because of my bike and the tire,  I begin to get lightheaded and dizzy again, I had no way to call 911, the sun was just blistering down on me, I knew at this point there was no way I was catching up to Ashley because I hadn't seen her at all for miles.  I was scared being alone, I kept seeing deer and feared I would run into a bear and that was going to be it.  At about mile marker 10 and 6 miles to go I could here thunder in the distance, which made my fears grow even more.  I wanted to give up, I wanted to quit and all I could here was Constantine in my head telling me I could do it, not to give up.  So I kept walking, then I tried  riding my bike some more, only going 4-6mph the mountain just kept getting steeper.  I was so happy when I got to mile 12 and 13 I got back on my bike and kept saying it's only 4 more miles, half hour later 3 more miles.  You can do this, you have people counting on you.  That is the only way I got through the rest of that.  By the time I got to the 14 mile mark it started drizzling which i didn't care, I was so hot, and felt weak and faint, by 15 it started to get a bit worse, when i hit the town it started pouring and thunder was closer and closer, I asked some bikers where the closest motel was and they pointed up to this steep hill that was out of this world.  but then showed me this path to get there which was almost as bad, so I walked my bike to the top, found the place got a room, soak and wet.  As soon as I got checked in the first thing I did was take a shower.  I really wanted to take a bath, but the room did not have one.  I was disappointed but new either way the hot heat on my muscles would feel so good.  after that, I went down to the cafe to get a bite to eat.  It took me almost 2 hours to eat a turkey sandwhich and fries.  I was so sick, but after eating, I started getting my strength back.

Once I finished that I sat and talked to some other bikers who were telling me how they had a run in with a bear.. oh my, My heart was beating.. I got to do this alone with a chance of running into a bear. With that, I texted ashley and told her and hoped she was safe. Which she was, she had gotten a room at the Days Inn, in the same town as me about 2 miles from me. Ironic huh? None the least we decided we were going to meet back up and finish together.  Which was great neither one of us needed to be alone anymore.. Especially with the chance of running into a bear like the other bikers did.

I just think after 4 days in 100 degree heat, and all the challenges and pain we were in that it just made us both cranky and irritated. No big deal, sometimes people just need their space.

With everything ok, I cranked up the air and went to bed.  I once again woke up in excruciating pain, muscle cramps are not fun.  It had been this way for 3 nights now.  I just didn't know if my body could keep this up.

Well regardless tomorrow we are going to attempt to finish out 134 miles because we need to get home!

What a nice end to a horrible day!

Day 3 Really?

Day 3

After bearly sleeping at all because of all the fear and worry, the heat, and natures loudness, we decided we would chuck to Paw Paw and get a room tonight.  So about 60 miles was our plan.  We headed out about 7:30 a.m., yeah little bit of procrastination this morning because when we woke up we had ticks, spiders, locusts, ect all over our laundry that we had washed by hand last night at the well pump before night had come and we had hung all our stuff out to dry on our bikes.  So it was not a whole lot of fun to deal with all of that when we woke up. Not to mention we had all that other stuff to pack up, so it was definately a slow start this morning. 

Our bodies were very sore, not sure if sleeping on the ground made it any worse but we were pretty sore.  Ashleys knees were really bothering her big time and my thigh muscles and back were just killing me.  We got about 5 miles in and once again seen some more beautiful scenery.  Guess waterfalls and water by the mountains is just the best thing to me.  It's like you get a little bit of heaven right here.

It was a rough ride though this morning, every minute or less we were getting slapped in the face by spider webs and it is just disgusting and not something you want. Well atleast not me, that's for sure.
The humidity was even making the issue worse because not only can you bearly breathe, the sun is once again blistering down on us, but spiders and spiderwebs slapping you in the face is just horrid. 

At about 13 miles into the trip, a bird decided to take a poo on me.  i was not happy at all and did not have the means to clean it off of me, which made it worse... YUCK what a crappy day.  I had issues all morning with the stupid bag on the back of my bike, bungee cords were breaking it was falling off the bike, it was just a hot mess. I decided when we got to Hancock that I was just going to buy a new set of panniers, because this was not going to work for me today if we had to do 60 miles. We got into the town of Hancock after what felt like forever, but it was a mere 10:50 am, that was almost 3 hours just to do 25 miles not to mention we were starving because we had not eaten breakfast yet, well a granola bar, but hardly what you need when you ride the way we were riding. Our last real meal was yesterday around 2 so that's quite a bit of time to go without something.  None the least, we make it into town and then of course you have to figure out where to go, we of course always seem to pick the first thing we see.   So we ended up at Weavers Restaurant. Our bikes wouldn't stay up on the bike racks, they kept tipping over. when we finally got them balance and headed in the restaurant, we realized we had to sit and wait because they didnt open for 10 more minutes.  So yeah it's 97 degrees I feel like I am going to pass out, I once again wasn't to happy.

They opened the doors at 11 and we got seated immediately, there was also another group of people who were biking, I am assuming they were cub scouts.  So it was a very busy little restaurant this morning. I ordered a turkey club and fries, I wanted a milk shake to, but Ashley said it prob wouldn't sit well since we had to keep on biking and it was so hot, so I went against it and just got water and hot tea.  We sat there a good bit, ate and charged our cell phones.  You never realize how many restaurants have plugs until you go without them for days.. lol  About half way through my meal, which i was eating super slow because my stomach had shrunk, I found a hair in my food.  So there went the rest of my meal out the door.  Oh this is not a good day.

WE finally leave and go outside and find where the bikers could go and catch a shower, we both really needed one.  So as we are leaving weavers my bike falls and it messes up my brakes.. uuurgh this trip is really making me mad, can we catch a break here?  So we go down to the bike shop and i pay for them to fix my bike and ashley gets a kick stand.  They fix it while we take our showers.  Yeah and it was 5 bucks to take a shower it something that looked like a port a pot, but it served it's purpose atleast for about 2 minutes, because the minute you get out of the shower and dry off, you are pouring sweat again.  I felt like what was the purpose of that?

;

The owners of the bike shop were absolutely fantastic, they were so friendly and they asked us where we were headed next we told them to paw paw to the B&B.  Guess what? They told us that closed down last week. Really? Could this day possibly get any worse? the next one that was a good distance away was cumberland and that was over 40 miles away , no way in the world were we going to make it out there.  So we had to settle for the town Little Orleans which was only 15 miles away, but that would put us behind on mileage which we weren't to happy about, but we didn't have a choice.   We headed down to Sheetz to buy another 7lb bag of ice to fill up our water hydrators and our water bottles because the heat was out of this world.  The bike shop told us about a little trail that rain next to the c and o that was paved, so we headed towards little orleans on that.  Ashleys bike started making terrible noises and there was no way we were turning back, the thunder was rolling in and we had to be at the b&B by 3pm.  The ride was much faster and smoother it was so nice to not ride on gravel, we were averaging about 11-12mph on the pavement which on the gravel we were lucky to push 8 or 9mph.  After 11 miles we had to jump back on the c and o the thunder and wind were picking up and my heart was pounding. I was so scared of being caught in a bad storm.  not to mention with all the trees around we were asking for trouble. 

We did make it to the b&b and just in time, we did get wet, but it could of been worse.  It was a nice place, the owner Steve was super nice. The first thing we did was get another shower.  and then got out our little camp stove and cooked our freeze dried food and suprisingly enough it was super good. we went outside and tried to work on ashleys bike to see if we could figure out what the noice was, but it was a hopeless cause.  We had to call jim and figure it out, he made some calls and the nice owner from the C&O bike shop where we were earlier 15 miles back came out and got ashleys bike and said he would have it back before 11pm so that we could leave at 4am.  Wow talk about some amazing and committed people.  But we felt a sigh of relief that her bike would be fixed.

at about 8pm steve brought us some icecream with blueberries and boy way it good!  perfect way to end a horrible hot day.  We decided our goal for tomorrow has to be atleast 60 miles to stay on track. Which means we have to make it to Cumberland then half way up the mountain...So destination for tomorrow is Frostburg...

7/17/2012 Day 2 Hot Hot Hot

Day 2

We woke up at 5 am this morning wiht the intentions of being on the road by 6, but we procrastinated since we had made plans the night before to spend the day in Harpers Ferry, and we would white water raft, canoe, or go tubing.  More or less we were just going to have a relaxing day of fun since we biked 60 miles yesterday not to mention it was going to be 100 degrees and who knows how hot with the heat index.  So we figured after we swam or did something fun all day that we would just do our miles in the evening. Well the majority of them since we did have to bike 10 miles to get to Harpers Ferry.

so our journey started  at about 7am, about 3 to 4 miles in to the trail we seen the most goregous water fall and the scenery well put it this way a camera just could not capture the amount of beauty. It was so breathtaking.  Well anyways we got to mile 15 and couldn't figure out why in the world we weren't there yet ,all the map said Harpers Ferry was only 10 miles out.  So guess what?   Yep we miss it. Apparantly there was another trail that ran off the C&O that took you there.  uuuurgh the story of our life.  So the we decided we would just go into the next town and find something to do, so 12 more miles to Shepardstown, no big deal. We figured we would catch some lunch and then just sight see in that town.  Before we got off at the exit we seen a boating ramp so we decided to get some pictures and relax down there for a bit.  It was gorgeous there to. We sat downa minute a nd stuck our feet in the water.  Tadpoles were swimming up to our feet.  By then I became extremely tired and I just had no energy at all. I think Ashley was a little mad because she wanted to sight see. So we just decided we would just go to the next town since it was only 7 miles away and we would just catch lunch there because we werne't quite hungry yet..

7 miles later we seen a waterfall and a perfect place to swim so we took some pics and decided we would run into town and Maryann could get our things to us so that we could swim.  Ha yeah we see we now have a detour that was horrid.  100 degrees the sun was just beating down on us like there was no tomorrow and the hills were so steep and never ending. It like you would climb one hill and when you got to the top of that one there was yet another one twice it's size.  It got to the point we had to walk up some of them, the heat just made everything that much more of a struggle.  I was so mad and furious, I felt like we were going to die out there.  Put it this way when we were able to finally go down one of the hills that we climbed, I clocked our speed at 30mph with my bike brakes on!  Yeah I know that is crazy right? Who would of thunk you could go that fast on a bike.  At one point we stopped and sat in the shade poured water on our heads from the water bottle we had and then rode some more.  Rought stuff it was. When we got back on the trail we realized there was no store or we missed it again, and the plans to go swimming were now crushed once again because there was no way were going to climb all those mountains to go back.  We looked at that map and chucked on to the next town.  9 more miles to Williamsport.  This day seemed to have went from a relaxation day, to a day of roasting.  We finally made it to Williamsport, maryann met us at Tony's Pizza, we ordered some food, and for me a glass of wine and Ashley a brewsky. We sat by some electric outlets to charge our phones while we ate.

After we ate and refilled our water bottles with ice and water, we grabbed our belongings out of Maryann's car and then headed towards Sheetz to get some ice, of course they only carried 7lbs of ice and we had no place to put it on our bike so Ash decided she would carry it in her hands. We had 2 miles to get to the campsited and my oh my is  all i can say, the ice bag was ripping and melting faster then we could pedal it was just crazy. Ashley rode in front of me and it was hilarious because she was leaving a little ice trail to our campsite.  I wanted to stop and get pictures of it but I couldn't because it was just to dang hot.. Not that we were going to be in air conditioning or anything. But after a day like today you just wanted to not work out, just find some shade and try and find a way to keep cool by all means.

When we arrived we unloaded our bags, and set up camp, took us a cold solar shower, yeah we didn't wait for the bag to heat up, a cold shower was a perfect way to shower when it's over 100.  blah.   We tried to start a fire but that didnt work out to well.  But we did get a chance to talk to some other bikers who were headed to dc for a bit, they told us that last 30 miles of the C&O were nothing but mud..  Nice!  then it was just us until this guy came he must of been carrying 200lbs of stuff. Scared the crap out of me, he was talking to himself and kept looking at us it just freaked me out.  So none the least  we kept our eyes open and slept with knices and flashilights in hand, well should I say we attempted to sleep we were so scared and let me tell you nature is down right loud at night. Owls crickets and who knows what else.  Then 1 am rolled around and people are being loud on the river, it was so hot in the tents, I was pouring sweat,  when I did fall asleep, I would wake up with cramps in my legs. even using the cooling towels didn't helps.  None the least it was just scary, I just kept laying there replaying in my mind self defense moves I had learned from freestyle and the possible scenarios and how I would handle them if he did try something.


we have tons of pictures, I will probably post them on face book it's much easier. 

And a big thank you goes to Maryann for letting us stay the night our first night, the food, letting us have a day of rest from our luggage, then driving almost an hour to us to bring it and getting our lunch.  You have no idea how much you did for us, I will be forever grateful.  Thanks  a million!

7/16/2012 Day 1 AKA The Ride From Hell

I don't even know where to start.  I guess the beginning would be a good start huh?  We went to bed around 9 p.m. last night, our intentions were to get up @ 4am and be on the road by 5 a.m.  I guess the getting started part left us not sleeping to well. Waking up every few hours until finally 3 a.m. came and   then enough was enough we just got up and started getting things ready.  Fun fun right? We finally got on the road at about 4:55 a.m.  Yeah team, it was supposed to only be a 4 mile ride to the trail, so you would think we would be there in about 20 minutes right?  HA wrong again.  If you know anything about D.C.  it is nothing but traffic and stoplights every time you turn around.   So yeah we passed a homeless person sleeping on the step with a buggy. It made me so sad.  then we were a bout a mile away from the trail when the bag fell off Ashleys bike.  Yeah not a good start. We did pretty good until the last mile, there was a detour which is where it all started. The roads all ran together and you couldn't tell what was what so more or less we were lost for about an hour.

Then when we finally got on the trail we passed some campers under the bridge and we were so happy the journey began.. then we come to the end of the trail, we were like what? Furious, was not the word. I looked across the river and low and behold there was another trail. So after a few not so pleasant nice words we turned around and had to climb a gigundo hill with our bikes, it was so steep we had no choice but to walk it up.

So we go to the other side and then started second guessing if we were even on the right trail, so we sat there for a while trying to ask people, but the people in D.C. no offense but they are dumb, they had no flippin idea about the c&o trail, yet they were riding on the same path as us.  Here there are two trail that are side by side and none the least we ended up on the right trail.  It was a long, long frusterating hour.

The biking was going pretty well until we got to about 12 miles, that's when we had to walk our bikes up steps.. yeah it took two of us to carry each bike up and then go back down and grab the other one. not very pleasant, thats 50 lbs plus what ever the bike ways so my guess was 70 lbs if not more.  Hmm I didn't weight train guess I will have to keep that in mind. so the journey continued with the detour, when the detour ended we found out we had to go down 2 more flights of steps.. let me tell you carrying two bike down stairs fully loaded was not an easy task.  When we got to the second flight i almost lost my bike,  and on my ipod the song The Climb by Miley Cirus song was playing and Ashley was like how fitting, it was like your IPOD new.. lol but anyways there were these 2 guys who helped us get our bikes down the second flight. and believe me we were thankful.

so we get a few more miles and 2 frogs jump out in the path and I scream, didn't see them so Ashley was not to happy with me.  She says you scream if you see a snake or a bear not frogs. Lol

After a little further we came to the most beautiful waterfalls. That really helped lighten our moods from all the issues we were having.

we rode uphill, in mud, in gravel and sand...  with 50 lbs of weight on our bikes.  I really had to ask myself what the heck was I thinking...

All I can say is miles 40-60 were horrid, I didn't think I could go on anymore.  My legs ached with every pedal, it was blistering hot! we must of drank 2 gallons of water each no joke.  Just as we reached the end of the trail my husband was pulling in.  Perfect timing.  i literally had tears in my eyes, crying. purely exhausted.. First stop was Sloppy Tacos.. delish especially when you haven't eatin breakfast or lunch and its 2:30pm.  Then we headed to a relative of Jims and we will be camping in ac tonight.  I am forever grateful for her hospitality.  It is about 95 right now and its 5:30pm.. so I The total time on the trail was 9 1/2 hours.  but only 7 were spent riding, everything else was issues and we took maybe 3 or 4 breaks.  and they were not long at all.  Trust me, 10 minutes tops. I am very tired, and honestly don't feel like blogging anymore, considering we get to get up and do this again in about 11 hours..  I can honestly say I don't feel like doing it, but we definately won't be riding no 60 miles.  I can't add pictures today because I am not at home so they may have to wait until the end of the trip,  But we are alive and in the recovery stage.

Warning riding on gravel for 60 miles at 90 something degrees is not nice on the rear.. My Body aches, and sleep is needed.  I will try and post more tomorrow but for now, it's time for SLEEP!

ps sorry for all the typos or if this doesn't make sense, but i am exhausted!

7/14/2012 Test ride

Well Ashley came into town today, we decided after her bike tune up that we were going to ride 10 miles with all the weight on our bikes to see what we were in for. So we ventured out, it seemed to be a real struggle for Ashley, and I told her that's why I told you to ride with weight on your bike.  We stopped about a mile into it, she was like I think something is wrong with my bike.  We couldn't figure it out and continued our journey.  At about 3 miles we checked again and it looked like her brakes were rubbing against the tire, like she was riding with brakes on.. We turned around at the bridge and we were going to fix her brakes, but with all the luggage there was no way so we headed back towards home, the sound on her bike was pretty bad, so I called my husband to ask him to come get us so we could get the bike fixed. When we arrived at the Niles trailhead I noticed her tire was right against the frame.  We thought maybe the tire was bad or the wrong one because she just put new tires on. Here when the new tires were put on he forgot to tighten the back lug nut so her tire  was all over the place. So Jim fixed it and we continued our journey home and of course she was no longer struggling. THank goodness that tire didn't come off when we were riding.  Riding with the 50lbs wasn't to bad, only up hill, but I do I think we are in for some crazy times..

7/10/2012 Just one for the books

For those of you who follow me on my blog or on Facebook, you know that I am down to the final 6 days before we do our adventure.  I have been extremely nervous about this trip for a number of reasons and my husbands health has got me in a bit of a tizzy at the moment, not to mention I have been following the weather for next weeks trip and it appears it is going to be pretty hot like 97, 98 and with heat indexes I am sure it's going to be ridiculous.  So today I ventured to Gander mountain to get cooling towels for our necks.  Picked up some pepper spray, just incase we encounter anything freakish.  ( hey you never know) Figure between that and what I learned from Karate we should be ok.  Pretty much just trying to get things finalized.

On that note, today I receive a text from someone, mind you I have no clue who this person is and it says: "and the trouble begins..." I instantly start freaking out, like oh my gosh do we have a stalker? What in the world? I text back, who is this? What trouble? and no response, so I try calling the number to see if I know the voice. I call and no one answers and there is no voice on the message.  I really start freaking out. With all the bad things that have been going on, really? Now i have to worry about this. So I call my husband at work, I am freaked, of course he can't talk... as I hang up the phone I get a text message from this person again that says, sorry if i freaked you out, I am carries brother in law and was just responding to the video she sent..Yeah way to go sister send out a mass text to a group and when they respond I get the message.. nice... yeah guess I am a little more nervous about this bike trip then i thought i was.. lol. thought it was a good laugh now that I am calmed down a bit.   I tell ya.. can you blame me though? 2 girls alone on a bike path... yeah I think I have a right to be a little... never know these days.

on that note, sorry I haven't been posting, I have been riding indoors since my husbands incident and not as much I should be riding, but something is better then nothing. 

I will do my best to keep the blog updated about our journey. 

7/2/2012 Always some kind of excitement.

Today was another day that I shut off the alarm, I just wasn't ready to get up at no 6 am. My body still wanted to sleep, so of course I dozed back off and then woke up at 7 a.m. Oh my I didn't have much time before I had to leave, not that I was going to meet anyone, its just the fact that I hate riding when it's hot I struggle more.  When I got out of bed and took those first few steps I knew it was going to be a rough ride. Not because I was sore, but for some reason my knees hurt.  They right knee was the worse, It just felt as though there was an abundant amount of pressure in there I guess like a fluid build up pressure.  I contemplated for a minute about just staying home but then the reminder of doing miles on the stationary bike was my final push there was no way I wanted to do that again!

I figured I would have to take the detour this morning because I figured they would be doing construction on the trail, but when I arrived there they weren't, which made my life 2 less miles better. The ride the first half was pretty quiet as usual, just the usual bunnies, beavers, chipmunks and the birds chirping, oh yeah I did see one of those cats again. I made it to Kirk Rd 3 minutes faster then last time which to me was pretty good considering I was so sore.  But from Kirk Rd to the end of the trail I struggled big time.  My muscles were becoming more and more sore by the minute, for a brief second I almost didn't think I was going to be able to complete this journey today.  Guess riding almost 120 miles in three days was alot harder then I thought.

Once I made it to the end of the trail, I stopped for a brief second to take a cliff shot because I was hungry, I didn't eat breakfast again.  Shame on me!  Well atleast I would have some form of energy to continue my 17 miles back home.  I was about 2 miles into my ride back and I see this big black thing moving around by the trail.  I instantly start freaking out, the bear sightings this year have been bad.  My heart was going 1000 miles a minute, what am I going to do? I slowed down my pace considerably and start inching closer down the trail, I slowly reach for my ipod to snap a picture as I am debating what the hell I am going to do.  Now mind you I am about a 1/4 of a mile away from this and still inching forward very slowly, why? I have no clue because if it's a bear will it maul me, or if it runs into the woods when I get closer am I just going to put my feet to the pedal and go as fast as I possibly can? As I reach for the ipod slowly, I look back up and I am about a tenth of a mile from it, when i realize it's just a bigger guy in all black. I busted up laughing to myself, wow. I am starting to believe I need to see a doctor for my paranoia at this point.  But thanking the good Lord that it was a person and not a bear.  I know, I am one goofy lady!

My journey continues at a much faster pace now, maybe it was the rush of adrenaline or maybe it was the fact that the trail was declining.. who knows.  My ride was pretty nice on the way home.  It got to the point on the way home that I thought I was just going to have to give in an call Jim to come get me, my legs were cramping alot, I don't know why because I eat like a horse now that I am doing all these miles, but they just really hurt.  I tried to take my mind off of things with music on my ipod, but I just couldn't.  It was hard, I could of slowed down my pace to, but I didn't want to, I was trying to beat my time from yesterday.  With Ashley creaming me with her times lately, I felt I needed to turn my training up a notch and push myself faster and harder. I don't want her to feel that I am holding her back on this trip. Anyways, You ever get in that state of mind when you kind of zone out of reality, like you know your riding a bike, but you zone out into lala land, not paying attention to anything, like your here but your not?  Well that was me, if you know what I mean.  I was so deep into this trantz and all of a sudden  I hear this voice say, "Passing on your left" I screamed so loud and almost fell off my bike, talk about coming back into reality... holy crap is all i can say, the guy chuckled a bit then apologized for scaring me.  It's my own fault, I should of been tuned into reality. My oh my I am really starting to think I need some help..

The rest of my ride to the Niles trailhead was quiet and peaceful.  I was thankful for that.  I stopped at the trailhead and called my husband to check in.  He was having computer issues and wasn't in a good mood, but I can't blame him it's one thing after another anymore.  but thats a whole other story, anyways I asked him if he could make me one of those salads again and he said he would.  So I hung up and yeah smoked a cig before finishing my journey home.  Yeah I know, I shouldn't smoke but I did and then headed on home. 

Standing there with my bike, there are these two guys riding in this convertable car who beep and wave at me.. They must of thought I was someone else. because who beeps at a lady with a helmet and sweaty and nasty looking.  So I go down the sidewalk and am just about to stop at the cross walk and a landscaping truck beeps and waves!  Nice, two beeps in a few minutes, either I have something seriously wrong or this bike riding is toning me up.. lol anyways i suppose it's a nice ego booster.  Guess at 33 I still don't look to shabby.. lol

Just like yesterday As i rounded the corner from Robins Avenue, the same corner i seen that big bike, I seen a group of people dressed all in black.. figured they were either some kind of church group or landscapers.  I was not sure but they were some kind of working group taking a break in the shade under the trees.  After  I refocused my attention to what was in front of me, there were police and fire trucks and ambulances everywhere at the Macalis Giant Eagle.  The parking lot was vacant, and everyone was evacuated, through all the excitement I forgot to take pictures, I never seen anything like it.  Police blocking the exits and entrances directing traffic.. Still wonder what that was about.

So my journey continued about another mile up the street I was getting ready to go through the intersection and this white truck almost clobbered me, he stopped his truck and said sorry about that. I smiled and said it's okay.  I know for most of you it's not, but atleast he took the time to apologize not many people do that..

Welp that's my excitement for the day.. Seems like there is never a dull moment these days.. Can't wait for the big trip and wondering what Ashley and I will encounter.

Todays mileage was 34.5  which was plenty for me... beat yesterdays time by a little over a minute.. taking the bike in for a tune up, keeps skipping gears and have to get fenders added to it, hopefully they have the fenders, because drinking a mouth full of dirt from your water bottle is just gross. 

I need a rest day anyways, I am beat.  So If i do decide to ride it's me and the stationary bike...

7/1/2012 solo again

As usual the alarm went off at 6 a.m., I looked at the weather, and decided just to lay there I was still super tired and I was riding solo again, and when you go by yourself it just seems like it's harder to motivate, or maybe it was the fact that I had 40 miles to do, I don't know but I just felt sluggish. So I stayed in bed until 6:50 a.m.  Then I mosied around the house for a bit and headed out the door.

7:22 a.m. began my journey towards Niles, nothing exciting,  I was able to take the trail all through Niles today which sure was nice. They are almost done with the whole path and even extended some spots which was even more of a pleasure for me. The ride was pretty quite, I seen a few cats that made me nervous because they looked like they were in attack mode but they just left me be which was nice.

I made it to the end of the trail in record time for me, or maybe it was the fact I was only carrying 8lbs, or it could of been just the fact that I was trying to get it done because it was boring being by myself. Once again who knows.  I stopped for a brief moment at the end of the trail to take a energy gel pack since I had not eaten any breakfast today, I had an apple and a pear with me, but didn't want to take the time to eat it, I was on a mission to beat my time of 3:37 minutes which was my best time ever doing that many miles.  So on that note I headed back, tried to use my phone to talk, but the wind was just to bad for me to use my bluetooth, so I just turned the music back on and headed back. i always look forward to my ride back because most of the trail declines which helps me tremendously especially since I have 40 miles to do.  When I got back to Kirk I seen my naturopathic doctor running on the trails. Well atleast there was someone I knew.

I realized today while i was on the trail, that there just aren't to many friendly people out there. I do my best to say good morning to everyone I pass.  But some people well they just aren't so nice, or maybe they aren't morning people. Just made me realize what a fast pace world we live in we are all to busy to take the time to say hello or good morning to people. The world would be so much nicer if we could just all get along.. Hey?

The ride back was smooth except for the point when this chipmunk darted out in front of me, I put my brakes on and bearly made the stop, that little guy almost lost his life.  I don't know why they insist on playing chicken on the trail.

I took some pics of this one part of the trail where people spray painted gang signs and  everything, it makes me so bad.  People try to do something nice for the community to be able to use, and other people are so ignorant and feel the need to destroy something. I just don't get it. I mean how would they feel if I came to there home and destroyed there things? They wouldn't, I would probably get beat up or shot. I know the trail isn't mine its the communities, but it just infuriates me that people have such ignorance. I mean they can't even pick up there trash either. They just leave it laying around. I am sorry to rant and rave about this. I feel like I should be the bike police for the trail.. bahahaha

When I made it to the trail head in Niles I called my husband to check in and let him know that I was close to home and told them I was famished and would really love a super big salad with turkey and shredded cheese.  He said he was getting right on it.

As I was riding home I seen the coolest bike ever, it was a bike and on top of that bike was another bike that was welded to the other bike, of course there were no tires on the bike that was on top, but it was so high in the air, i rode thinking how the heck did that guy get up there. I mean it had to be 12 feet in the air no joke.  I told him that was just awesome. He said thanks, didn't think to grab a pic until i was already past him. That dude was not even wearing a helmet, which brings me to the question what the heck would he do if he fell, he would surely get injured. Not to mention, how the heck does he stop. Because when I stop my feet have to touch the ground.  I don't know maybe I will run into him another time and I will have to ask him.

I really struggled the last mile, it took everything I had to make it home, with no food, hot as day out, and all these miles. I wanted so bad to call my husband and tell him to come and get me, but i talked myself out of it just saying one more mile... you can do it.

When I got home there was this beautiful salad waiting for me, i ate it and took about a 20 minute break then hopped on the stationary bike to finsih the 6 miles I had left.  so I had fanastic time today 3 hours 17 minutes for 40.84 miles. 

 Now this is a big salad!

Here are some pics of the Niles green way alot of this was just done last week!

6/30/2012 boring

Today's journey was not to exciting, I woke up at 6 a.m., and looked at the weather map on my phone, I seen that there was storms near Toledo and heading our way so I didn't want to take a chance and get caught in the storms. So on that note I layed in bed for the next hour trying to figure out if I was going to venture off later or the stationary bike.  Around 7:30 a.m I decided that I was just going to do the stationary bike.  I figured I would run to red box rent some movies and  sit in front of the t.v while I did it.  There was just no other way around sitting on a bike that long with no scenery.  So on that note I left home, stopped at red box and then got Mcdonalds breakfast for everyone.  I thought it would be nice to have a family breakfast real quick before I was stuck on the bike. Figured I needed the energy to ride the bike and thought it would be a great idea. Yeah  right, after I consumed my breakfast I entered my food intake into myfitness pal, I about fell over. I had no idea there were that many calories in fast food breakfast... oh my is all I will say, don't think I will ever do that again...

So I popped in movie one, Jeff Who Lives at Home, all i can say about that is that was the longest hour and 23 minutes of my life.  The 7 minutes of advertisements were better then that movie, but that's just my opinion.  After 90 minutes I took a 10 minute break because riding a stationary bike is worse then riding a bike, the seat is totally uncomfortable.  lol anyways I popped in movie number two which was A Thousand Words, that movie was okay definately better then movie number 1, and there was a good moral to it, but not the best movie I seen.  So anyways after that movie I took another break and then finished up my miles... Total mileage on the stationary bike was 42.01 and it took   3:35:55.  Tomorrow I shall venture out on the road hopefully!

Lesson learned when riding a stationary bike that long, make sure you find good movies! 

6/27/2012 AAARGH

Welp as usual my morning started off nice and early, my husband woke me saying it's 7am, i was like what I must of slept throught my alarm, i look at the clock and it was only 10 till 6.  Thanks Jim... lol then Chris text me saying he would be late because he fell back asleep so instead of 7 he would be there at 7:15 am.  So I took my good ol time and mosied (sp) around the house.  I ran a few minutes late myself because I couldn't get my blue tooth to work, but figured that was okay, Chris would have to wait on me for once. 

I added extra weight on my bike today, 25 lbs to be exact so that one it would slow me down a bit so that Chris could keep up with me, and two I don't have a choice but to add weight because here soon it will be 50lbs might as well start getting used to it now.

I arrived at the trail at about 7:21 am figured Chris would be there ready and waiting, wrong answer he still wasn't there.  Glad I took my time, so I sat on the bench by the restrooms and waited for him.  We were on the trails by 7:30 a.m. apparantly today was the day they decided to work on all the niles trails doing finishing touches and adding more road, so it was a very slow start and alot of detouring.

With the extra added weight and me only breaking 9mph, Chris still struggled to keep up with me and at one point he totally gave up and just did his own pace.  He said I must be getting stronger.. BAHAHAHA I doubt that, I have let my mileage slack so bad because I hate riding long rides like that by myself and I have had noone to ride with for quite some time, everyone thinks I am nuts and don't want to go.  But guess that's besides the point.  All this riding and slacking is just making me more nervous for this trip.  I Don't know why I keep second guessing myself, I never did that with running, I just kept pushing myself, wanting more and more, but with biking I don't know what my problem is.  Guess I am just loosing ambition or something.  Maybe it was the doubt my husbad had when I first started this venture. He just didn't think I could do it. I don't know, I know I can because I am crazy like that as most people say, but lately I just don't know.

We only went to Kirk Rd, had my lunch of almond butter and jelly on spelt bread and headed back home.  I always enjoy the ride home, it's so fast because it's mostly down hill.  I just went, I rode fast and hard and realized that probably wasn't a good idea because Chris was way way back there.

 No Chris, I have been waiting for ever

 Still No Chris Time to turn around and go see where he is at

 This is my mileage on my journey to find him

oh look there he is

so I found him and here is the miles now mind you I am riding to him and he is riding towards me so if you double that he was about a 1/4 of a mile behind me or better because remember I stopped for a bit before I went to go venture out for him. 

ROUND 2

 so as you can see he was well over a half mile or better behind me this round once you double it... my oh my

Well that's pretty much how the latter of the trip went, just stopping at every stop sign and waiting.  So none the I was not exactly thrilled.

We decided once we got to Salts Springs that we were just going to head straigh down I believe it's Main because there was just entirely to much trail work going on today in Niles to take the trails. So We did some Road riding for a while and finally made it back to the Niles Trail Head. 

So Rode here took a break for a minute then from here I have 2.6 miles to go home. Which totally stunk because I needed a restroom facility badly. Lol and the Niles trailhead one isn't open yet, so that made for a long ride home.  Every bump was horrible and then the incline going home just made it worse because i was only topping out at 7mp.. aaargh but I finally made it home.  Total miles was nearly 25 today.  Not to happy because I really do need to kick it back up to where I as otherwise I am not going to succeed at this trip... So frusterated, but what cha going to do? My average was 10mph with my 25lbs.. not good but not bad.

I just hope I don't hold Ashley back on this trip because she is a billion time faster!