Miles - 0.0

Avg. Speed - 0.0

Max. Speed - 0.0

Time 0:00:00

I woke up this morning on the field of the gettysburg middle school with the sun beating down on me.  So I figured it was then time to get up, since everyone else was already up.  Liz and Ane had already left for breakfast so Sean and I went to go meet them.  And they had scrapple!!  I had almost gone too long without having that delectible meal.  After that, I went to the library quickly just to check my email but not spend too much time blogging and doing pictures because I wanted to spend time with everyone instead of spending all day on the computer.  It was then time to do laundry.  We went to the laundromat and just as our clothes were starting to get washed, a loud crack of lightning struck close by and all of the power throughout south Gettysburg went out.  So we spent the time playing cards, napping, writing in journals, and finding food at anywhere that happened to be open.  We finally were able to get some of KFC's warm chicken and mashed potatoes right before they locked the doors.  It ended up being about 4.5 hours in the laundromat, which was a lot of fun and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.  By the time we got back, we got ready and then met Jean Anne and Brack for dinner.  The place that they were eating, though, was very fancy and definitely out of my poor college student budget so all of us college kids ate at the pub next door.  Its kind of just hit me that in only a couple of days, this amazing experience will be over and then we will all go our seperate ways and then go back to the "real world."  It is good to know, though, that the next two days are short and we can just appreciate the time that we still have together.

Miles: 105.51

Avg. Speed:  13.4

Max Speed: 49.9

Time: 7:51:16

I'll start out with the ride description given at the top of the cue sheet for the day:

"Huge day on the bike.  This is the "Final exam." This ride is very challenging.  The first 40 miles feature several big climbs and treacherous descents.  Last 60 miles is more rolling into Gettysburg.  Follow "S" Penn DOT bike route signs most of the way but be careful of missing signs.  This route was funded during the time that Tom Ridge was governer of PA.  Mr. Ridge is an avid cyclist."

That was what we liked to hear, especially the "treacherous descents."  All of the climbing of today along with the weather (100 degrees with almost 100% humidity), definitely made for a challenging day, but it was nothing we couldn't handle, especially after already biking 45 days straight.  I surprisingly felt really strong all day.  The views and the back roads were once again exquisite.  I definitely give props to the people who made the system of road trails accross pennsylvania, the back roads were ideal for road biking and well marked.  So in Breezewood we decided to have our second breakfast where I had a sausage egg mcmuffin and a syrup container (energy shot).  We stopped a couple of times at gas stations for cold drinks and to soak up the air conditioning for a little bit, which was refreshing.  Coming down the last hill of the day, me and Sean decided to pedal as fast as we could to try to get 50 mph.  Unfortunately, my computer was still broken, so I was just relying on Sean's.  So we were going along, pedaling as fast as we can, going about 46, then a semi comes behind us and we catch its draft and get pulled along for a little bit.  And let me tell you, that is the fastest I've ever pedaled, my legs were moving so fast in my highest gear.  We got to the bottom and learned that our official top speed was only 49.9 mph.  Oh well.  It was a nice easy relaxing ride the rest of the way into Gettysburg.  Tonight and tomorrow we are staying at the Middle school which is pretty much in the middle of town.  It was hot outside and inside it wasn't air conditioned so Sean, Liz, and I decided to sleep outside on the grass.

Miles: 81.31

Avg. Speed - 13.6

Max Speed - my computer was broken, but I'm sure it had to have been more than 50 mph

Time - 6:01:34

Today was another very relaxing and fun day.  I started out and rode most of the day with Ane, which was a lot of fun.  For the first 30 miles or so, it was on the same bike path, which kind of got a little tired and monotonus because it was all the same views, in the trees, along the river, which dont get me wrong, was really cool.  We were so lethargic and slow getting started that we stopped at a bench and sat and enjoyed a peanut butter and jelly together.  this was invigorating and we continued down the path.  A couple miles later, we suddenly came to a large clearing which turned out to be this gigantic bridge that hat to at least be a couple hundred feet high and about half a mile long.  It was just amazing.  The rest of the day was on back roads through the picturesque mountains of pennsylvania.  It was a good change from the bike trail and I really liked getting back to the climbing and decending and constantly changing scenery.  About midway through the day, we came up to the Flight 93 memorial.  This was very moving and was definitely an experience to see all of the different memorials and things dedicated to this.  Towards the end of the day, after a lot of climbing, we came to a decent with really big warning signs, and even a map of the turns for driver's reference.  This was what I liked to see.  Unfortunately, my computer was broken today, so I wasn't able to get an official maximum speed, but Jodie was almost going 50 mph and I was definitely catching up to her on the downhill.  Ane and I rolled into camp today with Jodie singing the Halaluia chorus and then we were surprised to see that someone anonymous had donated ice cream for all of us (thank you).  Dinner was papa johns pizza.  After dinner we were treated to a tour of the canondale bike factory which was conveniently right at the enterance to our campground.  It was really amazing to see all that goes into making a bike that you wouldn't even think about.  How the bikes start from shelves full of metal tubes and they turn into top of the line bicycles.  Pretty cool stuff and really interesting for the engineering types such as myself.  We got back from the tour and pretty much went right to bed after that.

Miles - 89.24

Avg. Speed - 12.6

Max. Speed - 47.1

Time - 7:02:52

This morning was very damp and foggy.  Last night it rained pretty much all night and this morning, everything is wet.  I have a feeling everythings not going to dry for a while.  The first half of today was through some beautiful back roads through the hills of Pennsylvania.  It was really cool seeing all of the mountains blanketed in fog.  Pretty much the entire second half of the day was on a bike trail of pretty much packed dirt and a little gravel.  It was really flat too - the average grade was something like .212 percent.  We hit a lot of rain and as a result, everything got dirty and muddy, our bikes and ourselves.  After riding for a while, we came into a water stop provided by Fred, a Big Rider from 2000, drenched, dirty and hungry.  After another 20 miles or so we finally got to camp at confluence.  Right next to our camp was a little river at the bottom of a dam which made it really foggy and really neat.  It was really nice to sit along the water in the fog, talking for a while with Tom, Ane, Liz, and Helyn. 

Miles – 57.67

Avg. Speed – 13.2

Time – 4:22:05

Today started off going through some really nice green forested hills of eastern Ohio.  It was fun going up and down, over the rivers and through the woods.  For our second breakfast this morning, we stopped at a place called Tim Hortons where I ended up having three crème filled donuts.  It was pretty funny because Liz, who was sitting across from me had 3 donut holes at the same time.  Ok it doesn’t sound that funny, I guess you had to be there.  So then, at the bottom of a hill, of course, we got into state #11, Pennsylvania.  There was no state sign on this road either so we ended improvising one by writing on Ane’s arms with a permanent marker.  In Pennsylvania, we passed through a cool little town with a pretty big nuclear power plant right next to it.  We crossed a river and were literally right next to it and it was pretty impressive.  However, we were strictly forbidden from taking pictures of it from several different local cops.  Oh well.  The rest of the day was rainy.  We ended up stopping at a little café for lunch and both me and Sean ended up getting ¾ pound burgers.  The owner said that he would be impressed if we finished them.  Not only did we finish them, we also both had desserts.  Evidently they also served a 1 pound burger, but it wasn’t on the menu, but I could have definitely gone for that.  We ended up getting to camp and it was still raining and there wasn’t much shelter at all.  Liz and I laid down in the grass and just let the rain fall on us.  It was actually really cool and felt cleansing and really relaxing, until we started getting cold.  It rained for pretty much the rest of the night and I’m sure all my stuff is going to be wet for a while.

Miles – 61.58

Avg. Speed – 14.2

Time – 4:18:57

We went into today with the goal of taking our sweet time, making plenty of stops, and definitely taking it easy.  And we accomplished this.  We ended up with more time out of the bike seat today than in the bike seat.  Breakfast this morning was at Cogans again, but this time, ALAW paid for it, which was nice.  We took our good old time, helped a few people change some flats, then we got to the town of Canfield, Ohio.  Kathy always seems to find the best spots for water stops.  Her stop today was in the town square with a lot of shade and a really cool war museum close by.  It was run by the local American Legion and the men inside were very nice and willing to show us around.  I found it pretty impressive.  There was a different room for pretty much every major war over three stories.  It was just full of uniforms, relics, posters, weapons, newspapers, and lots of other things.  One could have easily spent a whole day in that place.  After the museum, we were all feeling a little tired, so we had a little nap on the grass at the water stop.  After a bunch more stops, we finally made it to camp which was very nice and relaxing.  We sat out until dark on our sleeping bags talking and having a good old time.  Me and Liz decided to sleep outside under the stars, which was definitely worth it.  Tomorrow its another short day, so it should be lots of fun again!

Today was the most restful rest day that I’ve had so far.  It was so nice.  Burton is a small town in Ohio with pretty much three restauraunts, a library, a coffeeshop, and a gun store.  It is a very nice town though.  Just for effect, I’ll outline the whole day for you:

Wake up

Laundromat

Cogans (Restauraunt)

Laundromat

Library

Coffeeshop

Library

Camp

Library

Belle’s grill

Coffeeshop (where we spent literally all afternoon)

Cogans again

Gas station

Camp

And tomorrow, its back on the bike!

The only word to really describe today is wow.  It seems like the beginning of the day was at least a week ago.  So much happened today.  It started out waking up earlier than normal, at 4:45, doing the normal morning routine of packing up the tent, throwing stuff into my bags, getting dressed, loading my bags, eating breakfast, getting the cue sheets for the day, and then heading out.  The morning was a relatively quick ride right along Lake Erie.  Most of the way leading up to Cleveland, we were passing a lot of huge mansions and estates.  And as soon as we knew it, we were in Cleveland.  11 of us made our way to the Indians stadium only to be pleasantly surprised by huge tables full of free cupcakes.  Evidently it was the mascots birthday and they were giving out free cupcakes.  Five of them made a delightful lunch.  The nice people of the stadium security let us all park our bikes in their little locked headquarters area, which was really nice of them and nice that we didn’t have to worry about them.  The game itself ended up being pretty fun.  I hadn’t been to a baseball game in years and it was cool to come to one again.  We were sitting in the nosebleeds, but we could still see all of the action.  The Indians ended up winning 5-0, which was good I guess.  So the game ended and it was a nice sunny day and then as we were on our way out of downtown, on lake Erie a huge storm blew in.  And when I say huge, that’s definitely an understatement.  There was lots of thunder and lightning everywhere and wind blowing sideways.  Me, Sean, Ane, Steve, Bob, and Brian ended up taking shelter under the overhang of a roof of a restroom literally 100 meters off the lake that was convieniently “closed for the season.”  So there we were huddled under the overhang and all was going well because the wind was going the opposite direction, so we were protected enough.  Then suddenly, the wind changes 180 degrees, forcing us to scurry around the building to the other side.  We end up doing