Epic Bicycle Trip

Goal: be able to do the "lake ride" without shifting off of the third chain ring. Status: made the whole ride EXCEPT the hill out of the park - still have to go to 2:2 for that one. The rest of the ride, lowest I want was 3:2.

Summary for week ending 7/15/2017. Achieved goal of riding 10 miles every other day for a week, with rides on 7/9, 7/11, 7/13, and 7/15. 7/15 Odometer reading (est. 610 miles [I had to reset the odometer.]) 7/15 goal MET: no lower than 2:2 on my entire 10 mile ride. Next Goal: add a 20 mile ride each week. The wheel ratio on my bike computer got messed up, but I think I have it set correctly now. Will have to do a measured mile somewhere and see how it's reading.

Wife and I rode 10 miles on the Franklin trail. Climbed up onto the Belmar Bridge just to look at the awesome fog.

Tried for more speed, didn't gain a whole lot.

I've settled on a ride (for now) and I'm working on a routine. This morning: 11 miles, average speed 11 MPH, course has some hills so it's just enough challenge to work me, and it's local so I don't have to drive anywhere before I ride. ... and it's beautiful early in the morning!

Got a brief 10 mile ride in this morning. First time on the bike in a while. Rode to the lake and back.

I was just going to do a quick ride before dinner. Ended up riding to Oil City then down the bike trail to Franklin. Part way into the ride the skies parted and a deluge hit. My loving wife picked me up in Franklin as it was getting late and I was soaked. 22 miles, took about 2 hours, great ride.

The name of this blog refers to a bucket list item of mine: an epic bicycle trip, riding from my home in Venango County Pennsylvania all the way to Washington DC using as much of the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Path as is available. This year was supposed to be "the year of the ride" but the possibilities are slipping away, the money is going to other places, and the ride is no longer looking like a sure thing. That said, I had an experience today that has caused me to rethink my definition of "epic bicycle ride." You see, I've been very sick for the past week. Nothing life threatening, but I'm sure you can all relate: sniffles, sore throat, fever, frequent "potty runs" and EVERYTHING hurts. Today at my house it was sunny and 60 degrees. Finally, a break in the weather. I was up several times during the night with sweats and chills, but looking at the day, all I realy wanted was to be on my bike. There were two voices in m...

I rode five miles to my mechanic's garage to pick up the farm truck today. Not a long ride, but I was dying to get on the bike and the weather, and my schedule, just haven't been cooperating. It was 49 degrees when I took my ride five hours ago; it's 32 and snowing now. Ugh. Got a new headlight and new mirrors - one for my handlebar and one that clips to my helmet. Getting ready!

61 degrees on February 19 in Franklin, PA. So of course we went for a bike ride. One hour out, one hour back on the Justis trail got us to Brandon and back. Apparently the village of Brandon once had a station for the Pennsylvania railroad, although a quick Google search didn't turn up much.

This is the year I plan to ride the Great Allegheny Passage and the Cumberland trails. I am looking forward to getting started on my training, as soon as the temperature gets above 32F LOL.

Rode to Franklin today, including "the hill." The ride in took about 30 minutes; the ride home took about 60 minutes. I actually had a purpose today - I strapped the paniers on my bike and picked up a few grocery items for my wife. I'm trying to decide if this ride is a good one; on the one hand, I want to be able to ride to town whenever I want. On the other hand, the traffic is pretty steady and I'm not sure if breathing all of that carbon monoxide is good for me. Total distance 13.35 miles.

Today I only had a few hours to ride so I decided to just ride to Franklin. This ride takes me through the village of Galloway via 417. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the shoulders of the road are in great shape, I felt pretty safe doing the ride in spite of the traffic. I stopped at the top of the Rocky Grove hill, so technically I didn't make it all the way to Franklin. This is a challenging ride due to the hills, and I've decided I'm going to use this more often when I am only doing a short ride.

Today we took another leisurely ride, this time to Fisherman's cove. We left from the Belmar parking area, and the ride to the Cove road was about 4.5 miles. It didn't take us long, so on the return trip we continued past the parking area, across the Belmar Bridge , and on to the Sandycreek Tunnel, then back. Total trip was about 14 miles.

Wife and I took a ride together today; we rode the Oil Creek trail, which I rode on 8/20/16 . Of course we took it slower - average speed 9 MPH - and when we got to Drake Well Park , we decided to continue via the Queen City Trail into downtown Titusville . We visited the park in Titusville and enjoyed some refreshments while sitting in the gazebo. On our way out of Titusville my wife's pack came loose from her bike; we didn't discover the loss until we reached the Drake Well parking lot, so I got a "sprint" in; I rode back the entire Queen City Trail length into Titusville hunting for the pack. Fortunately I was able to find it, and nothing was missing. Total distance: 28.6 miles Max. speed: 26 MPH Average speed: 9 MPH Total Time: just over 3 hours, but we stopped several times on this trip.

I finally got a "major" (for me) ride in today, riding from Franklin to Emlenton on the Allegheny River trail. The ride turned out to be just a bit more of an adventure than I had originally anticipated. All was well until I got to the first tunnel . The tunnel is nearly a mile long and has a large curve in the middle, so you literally can't see "the light at the end of the tunnel." I forgot my glasses have transition lenses, and when I hit the tunnel at 15 mph, I went from bright sunlight to total blackness faster than I could adjust. The result was that, for the first time in a long time, I went over the handlebars. Ouch. I also learned that I really, really need to "upgrade" my headlight. The next adventure is a short stretch of this trail that requires looping up onto a poorly maintained dirt road to avoid a contested piece of real estate. The road was pretty washed out and provided a challenging ride. I was glad I had a mountain bike cro...

I did the entire Oil Creek bike trail today, from Oil Creek State Park to Drake Well . Not a long ride (just 18 miles) but a good one.

I got up early and did a 25 mile ride today. I remembered to "tank up" on water before I left. My plan today was to try for a little more speed. Unfortunately, I haven't been as regular as I would like with my riding, and I chose to leave before breakfast and I didn't eat anything before the ride, so I ended up "bonking" pretty bad about a quarter mile before I finished; but I did manage to finish. Along the way I saw some amazing scenery, including one stretch of road where both sides of the road were lined with wildflowers - chicory, Queen Anne's Lace, ditch daisies, and clover - that looked like someone had planted them on purpose.   My ride took me through Chapmanville, a small village with ties to my family (my cousin lives there.) - history snippet below. STATS 25.73 miles 2.094  hours Average Speed 11.9 MPH CHAPMANVILLE. This village is situated on the Oil creek road, the shortest route between Meadville ...

Today I rode the tandem to Two Mile Run Lake with my grandson as co-pilot and second source of power. Not a long ride, but it was good to be on a bike and my grandson seemed to enjoy it.

So, I managed a 25 mile ride today, which included a pass through Plum Corner. I have not found any historical information on Plum Corner, so not sure what the story is on this community; today there is not much there.