Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 1, 2005

Butler, PA
Today was our second official day climbing the Appalachians. After climbing three mountains yesterday, today seemed like a piece of cake. We had a couple mountains to climb, however they were not as hard as yesterdays.
By now all the 4K riders know the difference between bumps and mountains.

Lunch break, may have been the most interesting part of the day. We were sitting causally under a tree when we saw a chopper cruising through the air and started hearing police car after police car screaming down the road. All of the sudden a car, with a flat tire, screeches around the corner with, what we believed to be, every single cop car in the whole county following it. Later we found out the man committed an armed robbery, crashed at the bottom of a hill, and was finally detained.

After Lunch, even with the exciting entertainment, everyone’s spirits were a little down. The morning had been hard, the day before had been even worse, and we could all feel our strength failing us. However, Weijie, our trip leader, knows what roads to put us on when we need a break. After one more hard climb there was the sign 8% grade, 3 Miles. Not only were those three miles amazing, but also the fifteen that followed. The road, for the first time, instead of going over mountains, wound between them following the path of a river. It was beautiful.

Finally after an incredible easy afternoon we finally arrived in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. We stayed overnight in the YMCA.

Dinner

Hopkins 4k for Cancer Travel Journal
• Everyone came in really early
• Great facilities at a new host
• People who fixed our bikes
• Dinner
• Massage
• Downhill into town
• Lunch (leftovers from Joe’s)


Everyone has been looking forward to today because it is a much easier ride and a much shorter distance than the previous three days. We started the day with breakfast upstairs with the kids at the YMCA who made the welcome banner for us, they enjoyed our company and asked quite a few questions.

The ride today was relatively uneventful compared to previous days in the mountains. We only felt a few remnants of those with a small hill or two. It’s funny now because it wasn’t too different from the first day with respect to physical difficulty, but we are certainly more prepared mentally and conditioned for these longer rides with mile-long hills as opposed to 3 mile-long climbs.

Trucks. No day, however, is out its hazards and ‘trucks’ sums it up well. Every rider at the end complained about how close they all came to us. There were a few instances when there were only a few inches between us and them, but we know enough to stick to the white line and keep a calm head. Thankfully, everyone made it through safely. Riding into the city of Butler was simply fun. A Dairy Queen at the outskirts welcomed us and a few riders actually stopped for ice cream there. Then there was a huge downhill brought us into the city faster than the cars. The main street was lined with the kind of shops that gives a town its character. The Westminster Presbyterian Church where we stayed for the night.

All of the riders were in by 500PM, so all had a chance to shower at the local YMCA and perform bike maintenance before dinner time. We were lucky to have people from a local bike shop to come fix our mechanical problems, and we couldn’t be more grateful to them as it will make riding the rest of the trip much easier.

The Westminster Presbyterian Church and its people were simply awesome. We knew this from the start when we were shown the room where we would sleep, in the basement equipped with couches, a large screen TV, pool table, and ping-pong table. The dinner that was prepared for us was another fabulous meal consisting of salad and pasta (great for riding), and of course chocolate brownies (bad for riding, but soooooo good).

The presentation is getting better every day because it is constantly being upgraded with new pictures that we took. We had fun with the question and answer session afterward, but the best part was when we learned there would be free professional massages given to everyone; the room filled with applause. Ask any rider and they’ll tell you how wonderful it felt. A million thanks to the two ladies who gave them to us. The rest of the night was spent just hanging out, really one of the first times afforded to us during the trip.