Day 7: Canonsburg, PA – Steubenville, PA

Today was a bad day. Most things that can go wrong did, but I made it through alive so that’s something.

The day started with me replacing the tube on my front wheel. The last time I had pumped up that tube, the tip of the valve had snapped off so I wouldn’t be able to pump it any more. As soon as I replaced and pumped the tube, it developed a flat so I had to do it again after moving all my stuff outside the motel since it was checkout time. Tubes installed so far: 2
I headed back over the large hills to the Montour trail that would take me west. All of the towns I passed by were very small so I only stopped to pick up some food from a convenience store before moving along.

There had been a steady headwind all morning that turned into a crosswind as my trail veered north. It was just about then that I reached my connection to the Panhandle trail which would take me to West Virginia. More headwinds.

This trail was very beautiful, with lots of white flowers lining the path. At one point the trees opened up and I got a great view of a beautiful sky. After about 10 miles however, the trail became very bumpy and I slowed my speed to about 8 mph to dodge ditches and rocks. This section lasted 6 or 7 miles before I entered West Virginia and the trail once again was well maintained.

I reached the end of the trail and promptly made three unsuccessful attempts to reach the town that was right next to me, wasting a lot of energy and time. The town was strange, almost all of the restaurants were closed, and those that were open had no windows, so I assumed they were strip clubs and stayed away. I wound up just eating at a kfc, despite my efforts to avoid chain food on this trip.

After lunch I proceeded to try to enter Ohio only to find the bridge I was supposed to cross was closed. Previously, while trying to get into town I had attempted to get on the freeway only to find a sign at the top of the onramp prohibiting bicycles. At this onramp, however, there was no such sign so I pedaled my way onto a 60 mph freeway.

A problem arose as I had to cross two lanes of freeway at a split in the road. I somehow managed to get across between cars screaming by me but it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. As the bridge approached, my precious 8 foot shoulder completely disappeared as the freeway gained another lane, so I kicked it up a notch and somehow managed to sprint up the bridge at 30 mph, so at least cars would have slightly more reaction time to get around me.

Once finally in Ohio I found myself confronted with never-ending hills. Already worn out from crossing the bridge, I wound up pushing my bike uphill about 200 feet until I could continue my snail’s pace on a sidewalk. The sidewalk was incredibly poorly maintained and the uphill climb seemed to go on forever as my speed slowed to 5 mph.

I reached a dairy queen and got a milkshake and refilled my water bottles. As soon as I left the parking lot though, I found my front tire had a flat. I pulled into the shade to replace it, only for my pump to break while pumping it up. Tubes installed today: 3.

Luckily there was a sporting goods store 2 miles away so I slowly rode my under-inflated tire to the store. I bought two pumps and some spare tubes only to find that now my rear tire was flat. I replaced it with a new tube, only for that tube to explode on me, so I replaced it again. Tubes installed today: 5.

So by this point it was dark and my chances of making it the remaining 25 miles to the campground were slim, so I rode 3 miles all the way back down the arduous hills I had climbed to grab a motel. On the way back I had a dog chase me. I was hoping the cars on the road would just run over it but they stopped for it.

fml.

Today’s mileage: 57 miles
Total: 426 miles