Okay, today was hard work! I'm the kind of masochist who loves to climb hills, but today was the first day where the ride felt like hard work. We had our highest elevation total today- 4500 feet over 76 miles. And as opposed to yesterday's very steep grades with amazing views, today the climbs kept coming, without the payoff of an amazing view. That and the 80 miles and 4300 feet of climbing yesterday made today, in my opinion, even tougher than yesterday. Fitting with this hilly theme, we saw a lot of these squiggly signs today, which usually signifies climbs or descents, although the steep descents get their own special sign.
But once again, the route was spectacular, with lovely views along the way. We again followed the east-west PA Bicycle Route V. I highly recommend this route to my local PA cycling friends. One highlight was riding through Hickory Run State Park. Really lovely.
We had a large group of cyclists to start, with the usual cycling posse plus a large group of "youts" (the youngings). We eventually broke up into different groups, and I had a chance to bike with everyone, including just me and Adam for a very long stretch and myself for a sprint at the end of the day. Adam finished the day with the youts.
When I was cycling on my own later in the day, after a spurt of energy got me quickly up the final series of hills, I had the honor of cycling with Anchor House lgend Ken Sharples. Ken is biking in his 27th consecutive Anchor House, and has biked every mile of very year (which means he has never crashed or had a ride-ending mechanical failure). No one has biked in more Anchor House rides. But close on his tail is his wife Barb Keener, who has completed 26 rides. It took me until this ride to understand that Ken and Barb are husband and wife. Which is kinda funny, since I am also part of a Ken and Barbie duo. Below is a photo of the three of us.
I have to say though that my favorite part of the day came as Ken Sharples and I were cycling together. We got passed by "Team Red Eye", a group of very serious and fast cyclists who only ride in quick pacelines and pride themselves in finishing early and in not being passed. Once they passed me, I picked up my pace and stalked them for a mile and decided, what the hell, with 6 miles to go after 70 hard miles, maybe I'll try to beat them in. I picked my spot and sped past them. I had to stop at a four way stop and they pulled in right behind me. I crossed the intersection first and started up a moderate climb, and put my head down and pedaled at or above 20 mph for the next five miles, keeping an eye out for theIr paceline in my mirror and fueling myself with bites of my power bard and sips of gatorade. I kept the hammer on made it in a few minutes ahead of them. The Anchor House is not a race, and I never treat is as such, but I must say it felt great for once to pass Team Red Eye and beat them to the finish, especially as a solitary rider. It was a two beer finish, shared with my friends (who were not very far behind either!)
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