Day 3- Corning NY to Wellsboro PA- not a smidge of rain!

Know that line from "It's a Wonderful Life"? "Not a smidge of temperature! Well the forecast today was very ominous as of last night. It had rained before we woke up (at 5:15 am!) and was cloudy as we biked to breakfast.

I'll cut to the chase- Not a smidge of rain! We dodged a bullet as all the storms slid to the north (Oswego and Geneva got hammered today), leaving us with a cloudy day with alternating head winds, tail winds and cross winds during the day. Which was welcome, as it was a hilly 70 mile day with very little shade. Phew! Actually it's pouring now as I write this at 6 pm. Dodged one for sure!

Besides the weather, which is always an issue and hot topic on a 7 day ride, the other theme today was local flavor. We had breakfast at Donna's, a local diner in Corning.

Ten of us descended on Donna's to be greeted by Donna herself, and she was ALL by herself. Donna has spent her whole life in Corning- she worked in the diner for 20 years before buying it 30 years ago. She took an immediate shining to Jim Brady- Jim was all charm as usual. Donna eventually got help, in the form of two of our Anchor House Sag team who helped pour coffee. All in all, a great local experience.

Lovely riding today, as we headed south in NY towards the PA border, passing through farmland and enjoying several mile long but not impossible climbs. We started out as a big group, but after SAG 1, it was just Adam, DJ and I.

We got to the PA border by late morning, but not before passing a liquor store that we had no business visiting, despite its inviting name.

The countryside in northeastern PA was beautiful, and we enjoyed some great descents. We kept marveling at the weather, and realized soon enough that the radar was showing no threat of rain. So we took our time, as DJ, Adam and I are wont to do, riding our own pace and enjoying a nice lunch at a great Mexican place. (Sorry for the repeat photo, can't delete it- at least it's a good one!)

One of the sweetest and very local moments of the day, was when we came across two young girls, Kira and Raven, outside their home in Cherry Flats, PA. They had heard about the Anchor Ride on the radio and knowing that the ride was coming by their house, were handing out ice cold water to riders passing by. Their Mom thanked us for what we were doing. We thanked them! It was a nice treat, before we began the last of the big climbs of the day, a 5 miler that seemed to keep going and going. All of this riding was made pleasant by the cloud cover and constant cooling breeze. We would have thought differently about this day in pouring rain or 95F blazing heat.

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we felt lucky to enjoy unexpectedly good weather. And I felt lucky biking with my awesome son and my best friend.

 

 

 

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