Rob's Blog

Today’s ride started out just as the last had ended, with a lot of wind. The wind was certainly worse this time, as I had a difficult time, with fresh legs, keeping a steady pace. As I headed south from Franklin, down the Allegheny River Trail, my speed fluctuated from a wonderful 17 mph all the way down to a hard earned 10 mph. When the wind blew, I struggled.

My destination of choice today was Brandon. It totals about 25 miles round trip, which is an excellent distance for my second ride of the year. I enjoy the ride there and the scenery along the way. Additionally, I am secretly performing reconnaissance, in hopes of finding a nice place for us to buy someday.

Of course, I could not ride past the Belmar Bridge without snapping a couple of photos. These ones are unique as the camera was catching a little glare from the sun, producing a stunning beam of light from the sky. I also took this opportunity to eat one of my sandwiches. It was good, but I did not stay long as the bugs were getting bad.

I guess that is the only really bad thing that I could say about the river, it attracts the bugs. On this day, they were loving every minute of the river. It was not too bad coming from Franklin to the Belmar Bridge; it grew worse as I approached the bridge. As I passed south of the bridge, the bugs situation worsened. I was now starting to get bugs in my mouth, nose and ears. I could hear the sound of bugs hitting my golf jacket. I could feel them penetrating the holes in my helmet and nesting in my hair. I was ready to turn around. My only hope was that the bugs would thin out once I hit the shady part of the trail, and they did.

I cruised through the shady part of the trail with fewer bug interruptions. I do say shady even though there are no leaves on the trees yet, there is enough pine and branch coverage to produce a shady condition. The wind was still a nuisance, seemingly gusting harder the harder I tried to defeat it. The day was not very warm to begin with, and the wind and shade made for a very cool ride. I was enjoying it.

Soon, I was at the Indian God Rock. I planned on stopping to record some video and maybe get a couple more pictures from the river level. But, once again, I had to fight the bugs just to get down to the river. For some reason, they were congregating by the path that leads from the bike trail overlook down to the river. I did not plan on running down the steep trail, but I also did not want to end up covered in bugs. So, I sucked it up and ran down the dangerous trail.

The bugs were minimal at the river and I was able to accomplish my goals. Now, it was time to head back up the trail. Running up the trail was not quite as easy as running down the trail. I did my best to avoid the bugs, hopped back on my bike and set off for the Brandon trailhead. As the Indian God Rock was 9 miles south of Franklin, I knew it was just a another mile to the trailhead and then a mile into Brandon.

I was making good time, as I hated to stop for fear of a bug attack, and found time for a brief stop to check out some ducks. They were just hanging out at the water’s edge, just waiting to do whatever it is that ducks do on a Saturday afternoon.

I made it into Brandon and rode for another mile south, stopping along the way to get some video and pictures. I got to hear a crowing match between two roosters on opposite sides of the river. One would give out a loud crow and then a few seconds later, the other would answer back. I am not sure what the conversation was, but it only lasted about 5 minutes.

I was feeling pretty good about my ride today and decided to turn back homeward. It was about 2:30 and I could be home well before 4:00 if left now. That sounded like a good idea to both me and my stomach.

All the way to Brandon, I kept thinking about how nice it would be riding home with the wind at my back. All of this wind in the face was taking its toll on my legs and back. As I set off, I couldn’t feel much wind and was making good time with little effort. Unfortunately, that did not remain. For some reason, I could feel the wind hitting me hard in the face again. I have no idea how the wind can blow so strong in opposite directions. This must have been some crazy wind swirling around in the river valley, making it impossible for me to go fast.

I, once again, struggled to get home. My speed was a little better, as I was able to catch a few breaks in the wind and get back up to 16 and 17 mph. But then there were the bugs again. They seemed much worse this time and I quickly became covered in them. I could not look up for fear of them flying in my eyes and I spent much of the time brushing them from my clothes. I just wanted to be home.

It was a great day, even though there were many reasons for it not to be. I made it home well before 4:00 and was able to relax a little before getting some dinner. I cannot wait to do it again next week.