I didn’t sleep last night a whole lot. Classic nighttime cold symptoms with runny nose itchy throat thing. It was fine in the morning and during the ride thankfully. I found this great French bakery on my way out of town and stopped for a massive coffee and three croissants – ham and cheese, brie and chocolate. I could of easily eaten another 6, but settled for a half dozen rolls to take on the road.
This is the first day that I’m questioning the load that I am carrying. My bike has 27 gears and even in the lowest combination I can really only make it up around a 5% grade without going all out. I am still working my way through the case of sardines so maybe that will make all the difference, but I may have to let go of some of the video equipment – yes I’m taking to you lights and light stands.
The stats – 74 miles averaging 7.1 mph with 3,445 feet of elevation gain. I felt everyone one of those gained feet of elevation.
I got to Conshohoken for lunch and it was a nice treat to ride on the Schuylkill River trail to Valley Forge. I wish I had time to stop and check it out, but I needed to make it to the camp ground before it got dark and I was starting to slow down. Valley Forge is stunning. I can see why George set-up there with the troops.
Apparently cars don’t break down in this part of Pennsylvania because there’s no shoulder on most of the roads between Valley Forge and French Creek State Park where I stopped for the night. Not a single car has honked at me so far this trip, but it was a little nerve-racking to be climbing hills at 4 mph with a line of cars behind me. Very thankful for the review mirror on my helmet even though it looks dorky.
Tonight I am pretty tired so going to bed right after I eat. It would be nice to socialize around a fire with some neighbors, but I need the rest. Oh, and there is a shower here. A nice hot shower, which I took as soon as I drank 2 bottles of water and ate some food to keep from passing out.