RUSA#3088 - Not Crush The Commonwealth.
Early start Friday as my train left New Brunswick at 5:30am. Took most of the trip to fanagle my bike into the rack but it’s not a terrible way to go. Got into Philly at 6:30 and rode over to the Bell. To give myself as much time I got dressed and did my pre-ride adjustments before taking a picture at the Bell…this would pay off later on.
Left 2-hours and 3 minutes behind the field. Traffic through the Shulykill is a lot different at 7am than 5am so that ended up being super slow dodging runners and whatnot.
Decided at the last minute to throw on some feed bags, which could’ve been the best decision I’ve ever made.
About 100k in I caught the back of the field. I was actually surprised at how quickly I made up a 2-hour deficit. I rode behind them for a few miles into Lancaster until I was able to get though them. They were only riding to Columbia and then going home so, I was in last place again.
A little after getting by them I rode up to a single rider who seemed to be struggling a little bit through some of the climbs through Michaux. He was running a pretty heavy setup.
Stopped at Sheetz just before Chambersburg and ran into a pack of the Philly Randos. Normally a fast bunch but apparently one of their crew hit a rock, crashed, and was hospitalized so they were hanging out waiting. They were stopping for the night in Chambersburg so, I continued on.
My first on course Control was Burnt Cabins at 300k, which I hit just after dark. As I approached the abandoned turnpike I decided to stay on Route S because I have never done that section and was curious. Had no idea it added like 3k of climbing because it went OVER the abandoned tunnels. I don’t know how to explain what doing that 200+ miles into your day is like, so just imagine whatever terrible thing you want. It was worse than that.
Got into Breezewood at 1:30am and checked into the Days Inn. Quick shower. Plug my stuff in. Flip all my kit to air out. Walk to Sheetz. Eat all the food. Bed at 2:30am. Up at 6:30am. Breakfast. Repack bike. On the road at 7:30am. It’s 35 degrees and raining heading into the hardest section of the Route.
Maybe an hour in I was soaked clean through and shivering, it was cold. I brought a pair of rain pants and my puffy but it wasn’t quite enough for the weather. Climb after climb for hours in the rain just trying to stay above hypothermia. I’d take shelter under an overpass when they were available. At one point I stopped under one for about 30 minutes.
Eventually the rain stopped and was replaced by fog and my poop started to dry out a little.
Took an actual Lunch Break in Somerset, which was my 2nd Control point. I needed to be warm and dry. Came out to a sunny beautiful day and felt a lot better heading down to Rockwood.
Hit the GAP trail and started the 107 miles of gravel into Pittsburgh. I wasn’t going particularly fast but being on the trail was really nice. It’s so scenic through there.
100k to go I catch my first mechanical, front flat. Caught a shark rock. Changed the flat easy enough and continued on.
Right as night fell I caught another front flat. This one was just these POS TPU tubes splitting at the seam. Change it and head on my way, it’s not super far to go but I was sitting a little close to the time limit and getting a bit anxious.
This tube had a slow leak so I had to stop every 30 minutes or so to top it off. I was in the middle of nowhere with no cell service or anyway to get into civilization so I was praying it didn’t split like the other one. Kept it slow and steady and safe.
Then there was this fucking thing someone built on the trail. I almost shit myself when my light hit it.
Who does that!!?? Anyway, I pumped up my tire and boogied.
The last 15 miles on the bike path are the longest miles on earth. You totally feel like you’re in town when you get to it, but you’re not. It zig zags all over the place around buildings and through weird industrial areas and over abandoned bridges. It’s a lot. Technically you can ride off course through here and be OK but I wanted to stick to the GAP for some dumb reason. I had less than an hour to finish within the time limit so there were some desperate intervals and several lights ran in the closing KMs.
Hit the Fountain at 12:50am with a time of 41:47, 13-minutes under the limit.
At some point on the last cobble section I ripped my front tire and had another flat so I walked uptown to the hotel to meet Ron who I was staying with. Got in at 1:30am again and we pretty much stayed up all night telling battle stories until we had to leave at 6:30am for our train back.
Earned every single inch of this ride.
