Week 2, April 28 - May 4


For the week
Distance ridden: 390 miles
Time riding: 35:27
Ascent: 12,529 feet

For the tour
Distance ridden: 743
Time riding: 67:04
Ascent: 18,257 feet


We rode all seven days this week. Tuesday, in the West Virginia panhandle and Eastern Ohio, was brutal, by far the toughest day of the trip. The rain on Saturday was not much better. But the other days were much better. 

My body seems to have adapted. Fifty miles rides feel relatively easy in the flats of the midwest. I still have a few aches and pains -- I'm 61 years old, after all -- but my legs feel good. It takes them a little while to find their rhythm every morning, but they eventually warm up to the task.

I still do not know if my body and my mind will hold up for the eight weeks it will take to get to Astoria: the Rocky Mountains look large. But we have a good shot of at least crossing the Mississippi River near St. Louis, ile 1100 out so on our route. When we started I was not sure we would even get to Pittsburgh.


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