Four Rivers
So your home internet service is gonna be down for 48 hours, whaddaya do? If you’re Ornoth, you might as well bang out another century ride, right?
I didn’t have much of a plan when I set out, but began with the GAP trail along the Monongahela River to McKeesport, then down Bunola Road to Mon city. I love that stretch of road; where else (around here, at least) can you ride for ten miles right along the banks of a river and be passed by just two cars?
Forward on the Mon
Monongahela City
Back to McKeesport via the same roads before taking the loop trail down to Boston (PA) and back, following the Yuck (Youghiogheny River) branch. By this point we were in the heat of a very warm day, about 1pm.
Followed the Mon all the way back downtown to the Point, where I hoped to catch a little cooling spray from the big fountain. As I did, someone called out. It was riding buddy Ben Tu, who had just completed a three-day 170-mile expedition up the GAP trail from Cumberland. Apparently, I’d followed just a few minutes behind his group all the way up from Boston!
With 75 miles done and two rivers down, I decided to make it a four-river day by taking the riverside path down the Ohio River to the Western Pen and back via Beaver Ave; then River Ave up the Allegheny River, crossing at 31st Street and back via Penn Ave and the Jail Trail.
The whole day, I didn’t push myself terribly hard, but I earned quite a bit of damage to the undercarriage due to old bib shorts with worn chamois. Hopefully that’ll be resolved by Sunday, because… well, you can probably guess.
Not a hugely noteworthy ride except for this: as my tenth century of the year, this sets a new record for how many 100-plus mile rides I’ve done in any calendar year. It’s been a stellar year already, and I still have three organized centuries looming over the next four weeks!
With that in mind, I think I’ll go to bed now!