Tunnels, runnels, flowers and steamrollers

Saturday, I was stuck tending to the needs of my car, it needed an inspection, oil change and recall work done. We dropped it off and I wasn't about to wait 2 hours in a car dealership, so I walked down to Dormont's main street and found a used book store.

I needed some good reading for upcoming car/plane trips

After the wait for the car, we picked up Ruby for a Montour ride the next day. I tooled around the neighborhood briefly, maybe a mile or so.
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Sunday, I woke up early and got on the road before 8. My intentions were to get to Boggs and make up for the day I'd bonked and only made it to Quicksilver.

There's a wonderful aspect of riding the trails, it's the delightfully intoxicating scents that accompany it. Yes, there's a really nasty smell once and a while along the rivers, but in the Spring there's the lilac week and the city gets inundated during honeysuckle week. I was treated to the lilacs a few weeks ago and now is the time when the honeysuckle blooms and impregnates the entire city with their aroma. I love it.

When I worked nights, I would have the advantage of riding home in the wee hours of the night, when it was cool enough to roll down the windows of the car on the drive home and revel in the scent. No other cars at 4AM to adulterate the experience with car exhaust, just a clean breeze full of honeysuckle. I can do the same again, but now on my bike in the daylight. There's a huge patch of it on the South side of the Smithfield bridge which I've taken to riding by this week, just to breathe it in early in the morning. (EDIT: it seems the flowers near the Smithfield bridge aren't honeysuckle, I'll have to find out what type of flower is putting out that wonderful smell.)

Flowers are a wonderful thing, they're gorgeous, they smell nice and they make lovely gifts. They make a bike ride even better.

Here's some of the flowers I encountered today:

The common daisy

Foxglove at Boggs

Appendaged Waterleaf

Viper's Bugloss

There are 2 interesting tunnels along the route, the Enlow tunnel and the National Tunnel. The latter is often clogged with ice in the winter because so much water seeps down into it.

Here's a video of my travels through National tunnel today.



Then there's the runnel, which I enjoy taking a heavily laden bike up and down. It's a workout.

For those who've never heard of or used a runnel, here it is:



It was a gorgeous cloud-free day with low humidity.

I noticed a part of the trail was paved very nicely, it was so very flat and densely packed, the sides where the limestone ended were very angular, as if it was just laid. In fact, it was! Ahead I saw some idle equipment and learned that they use a large spreader for the limestone and a steamroller to pack it down.

After I passed the equipment, the trail was muddy, slick and in terrible condition. It's very good to see work being done to improve the trail.

I lunched here:

A wonderful quote to go out on.

While I was resting and lunching, a pair of young men came along to use the fountain. One of them asked about my grips and if I liked them, I noticed immediately he was wearing a Sriracha tee shirt, we exchanged pleasantries about our love of the Rooster Sauce and they were on their way.

I made it to Boggs!

I made a small trek onto the Panhandle Trail, just to say that I was on it. This may be my next excursion.

I rested at the Arabian horse farm

Jackson the Westie stopped to rest with me,
he enjoyed the ear-scratchings I gave him.

 I saw several deer in Bethel park, and a set of twin fawns.

This fawn's twin ducked behind the bush before
I could get a shot of the both of them.

I only got two comments about the amount of stuff I was lugging around. One was from a woman who asked if I was going to DC… when I was headed in the direction of Pittsburgh.
the other was from a guy riding towards me who just shouted out a "You need more STUFF!" at me as we passed. I love a smart ass.


56.7 miles, I had no issues with energy levels or dehydration. Yaaa me!

This bumps me back into the top 30 in the National Bike Challenge. Sweet.

Hey, half of these 10 folks are women! HALF!

Hellacious Headwinds reap Extreme Exhaustion and Designs Dashed.

Today was a Montour Trail day. The plan was to ride from Logan Road to Boggs Road and to do it in 5.5 hours, but with many well-laid plans, things don't go as intended.

I planned for rain and hunger and thirst, drained phone batteries and flat tires. I didn't plan for incredible headwinds and a case of what might be exercise-induced hypoglycemia or maybe my iron and b-12 anemia? Whatever the cause, I hit a wall. I had a really hard day, it took 8 hours to complete what should have taken less than 6.

Choosing a path

An old gas station along the trail

One of several tunnels

I noted on the way out that this place sold ice cream.

This tunnel grows huge stalactites and stalagmites of ice in the winter

Whoa, a runnel! My first experience with a runnel.

Using the runnel is fine going up, but going back down with a heavily laden bike is dangerous. Ruby nearly dragged me down the steps.

That's OK, I didn't need any water. :/

 I'm on a 50 mile journey and water was hard to find. Booo. I snacked and drank all along the way, I tried to include salty things, complex carbs, simple carbs and protien, but my ratios were off, I guess. I bonked hard and early. I didn't make it to Boggs. I got as far as Quicksilver and decided it was best to turn around.

I'm NOT running away from home!

 I must have received 15 comments about how 'over-packed' I was.
"Long Trip?"
"Going camping?"
"Running away from home?"
"How far are you going?"
"Multi-day trip?"
"That's a big haul!"
"You're over packed!"

Ugh, really? I'm NOT over-packed, you jackasses! I need and may need all this shit I'm hauling around! I ride around the city with both panniers and don't get all those comments! What the hell?

Hey, this looks like a nice place for a nap if there was a shade tree here.

Ice cream on the return leg!

Religious icon bike guy's bike.

I encountered "Religious Icon Bike Guy" who stopped to chat while I was resting on a rock. He seemed genuinely disgusted that I was using two panniers and not doing an overnighter.
I caught up to him at the ice cream place and snuck a photo of his bike. He smirked at me when I entered the shoppe as if to say "You'd have been here sooner if you weren't lugging all that crap." In actuality, I was fatigued beyond belief and I was there hoping sugar from an ice cream cone would level out my glucose. It didn't do much, unfortunately, other than taste really good.

A gentleman in an Escape to the Lake jersey slowed down and rode along side me for a bit and seemed concerned by my sluggishness. I was 45 miles into the ride and going a snail's pace of 5 MPH, and still had 3 miles to go. I was bonked, and hit the wall a long time ago and the headwind in both directions was killing me physically and mentally. I assured him I wasn't far from home and that I would be OK.

I rested again at this tranquil waterfall.

I took the 'fearsome' roads to and from the trailhead. No incidents!

When I got home, finally... I remembered that I had promised Hubby we would go to dinner. I was late. I slept in the car on the ride to the restaurant, barely ate and nodded off at the table. I'm not sure I'm cut out for long-distance rides.

48 miles on a windy day.