Not How I Planned It

For better or for worse, my foray back into highway riding was very short-lived with much of today’s ride being back on a trail – the Pine Creek Rail Trail to be precise. It wasn’t paved but it was comprised of crushed limestone and, for the most part, provided a pretty good surface on which to pedal a loaded up road bike for more than a few hours. And, as it turns out, a few more kilometres than I had intended when I started my day. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

As you may recall, two days ago I noted there was no need to rush into long travel days. Well, apparently long travel days can begin on Day Four.

After another great Warm Showers stay, I set course for Cedar Run. There’s not much around Cedar Run but it’s about 110 km from where I was starting my day so it seemed like a reasonable destination.

Ben, my host, suggested an alternate route to Google’s route and I was happy for the advice. Sure, I only met Ben yesterday and I’ve known Google for much longer. That said, I had infinitely more confidence in Ben’s directions than Google’s … yes, I’m still a bit angry over the whole logging road fiasco in Scotland. Grrrrr. Anyway, with the course set I was ready to go – after a quick breakfast, of course, and a photo with my hosts.

The first 33 km of the ride could only be described as easy. The same can’t be said for the subsequent 6 km. At all. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun but it certainly wasn’t easy. Ok, maybe “fun” isn’t the right word but I enjoyed it in an excruciatingly exhausting way. Much of the climb in question was about an 8% grade but there was a moment near the top when my cycling computer was indicating a 15% grade – which, after 45 minutes of climbing, is a bit of a harsh finale. Fortunately, there was some pretty instant gratification. As exhausting as going up was, the trip down the other side was more than a little fun. The best way to offset a 45 minute climb is with a 6 minute descent. So fun.

As the name suggests, the Pine Creek Rail Trail is, well … a rail trail. As such, you won’t find any 8% climbs. That said, rail trails are not all flat. In this case, heading north along the Pine Creek Rail Trail means a continual climb for the duration … the duration being approximately 90 km. Sure, it’s barely noticeable except, for example, if one were the type of person who likes to keep track of one’s average daily speed. Yes, the sole purpose of this paragraph has been to explain my somewhat slow average speed for the day. Yes, I know. I’m probably the only one who noticed.

With few stops for provisions along the way, I opted to stop for a sub in Jersey Shore (who knew there was a Jersey Shore in Pennsylvania?). For what it’s worth, I pedalled right past one of those famous chain sub places and went to a local place instead. I had a meatball sub and it was delicious. I kind of wanted two! And by “kind of” I mean “really”.

Fast forward a few hours of somewhat effortless riding and I found myself about 10 km from Cedar Run where I stopped at Wolfe’s General Store – the only such store in the area. I figured if was going to stop at Cedar Run for the evening, this would be the place to stock up. By “stock up” I mean I bought two bags of chips and a Creamsicle. One bag of chips and one Creamsicle later, I was back on my bike pedalling my way towards Cedar Run and the end of a nice day of pedalling.

What happened next isn’t exactly clear other than to say my brain apparently ceased to function. The entire day I was planning to stop at Cedar Run but then when I arrived there I just kept pedalling. I don’t know why. I have no explanation. I had no plan beyond Cedar Run and yet my legs just kept pedalling. The next town on the map appeared to be Morris so I figured, “Ok, I’ll stop in Morris for the night.” That ended up being a great idea until I realized that the Pine Creek Rail Trail doesn’t go to Morris (although the road does) and, more importantly, Morris is actually kind of out of the way from my overall destination.

At this point, I couldn’t hep but think that the recently consumed chips and Creamsicle were an even wiser decision in light of the navigational challenges that were before me. That was the only fuel that was keeping me going at that point.

My backup plan to Cedar Run was Morris. I had no backup plan for that backup plan. So, after consulting the map I decided to continue following the Pine Creek Rail Trail with the hope it would take me somewhere with accommodations. Yes, I realize that’s not the most thought out plan in the world but it was the plan I was going with.

For reference, all of this was happening at about 4:30 and I had about 30 km to go. Given the fact that I was surrounded by mountains, the amount of sunlight I would normally have at this time of year would be reduced once the sun sets behind those mountains. In my experience, racing the sun has usually not worked out so well. As such, my pedalling pace increased. Did I mention the whole trail is uphill? Just to be clear, I was racing the sun not so much because I genuinely thought I’d be on the trail after dark but because I really had no idea where I was staying. Being surrounded by mountains does not make for an ideal situation to get a cell signal – and the trees weren’t offering up any magical free WiFi – although how cool would that have been?

With the sun slowly setting behind the mountains, I finally escaped the trail and found myself back on a highway. I was still without a cell signal. As a backup, I used my GPS in the hopes it might give me some indication as to what accommodation options were in the vicinity. At this point I was at 148 km for day and really didn’t want to have to resort to searching for a wild camping spot – plus I really needed to get some stuff done on the computer – not the least of which was blog updates before Julie-Ann berates me again (then again, maybe she’s the only one reading … thank you for reading Julie-Ann).

Fortunately, the GPS indicated a motel was a scant 3 km from where I was standing. Even more fortunately was that there was another motel along the way which is where I ended up stopping for the night. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I was hungry. Yes, I was a bit sore. But all things considered, I’d say it was a very good day.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 150.45 km
Ride time: 7:29:11
Average speed: 20.09 km/h
Maximum speed: 66.60 km/h