Mountains and Tornados

Day 5

Chambersburg, PA – Everett, PA

65 Miles

Conditions: Mountainous, humid, severe weather forecast

Mosher:

*The Mosher is an Illini 4000 tradition that is literally an ID of a man named Eric Mosher. The team tries to pass it off to one another throughout the day without anyone noticing. If you successfully pass off the ID without the other person noticing- that person has been “moshered.” If you are the one with the ID by the time breakfast is served the next day you have the lead the team in a short group activity before the ride starts. The activity can be anything of your choosing from a speech to a game.

Today Yang gave the Mosher. He gave us a crash course in Chinese (hard to do early in the morning believe it or not) and taught us 3 helpful phrases that we could use while riding. He taught us how to call out: “pothole”, “stopping” and “slowing.” From what I can remember it was something like: “Keng,” “Ting,” and “man.” Didn't sound too pretty.

Overall: Hardest day I have had so far.

I rode with my sister Queen of the Mountain, Katie and 4 other guys including Ron, Cristian, Josh and Bopp-It (Greg).  The guys are very fast so I had to push myself to keep up.  On top of that my quads and knees were starting to tighten and get very sore.  Oh- and we were going through the Appalachain Mountains.  I was not feeling positive energy today.  I was lagging for sure.

Once we started pedaling we quickly realized how tough the day was going to be. There was no warm up- just several steep climbs in our very first miles. We added one more to our group temporarily.  Zion Reformed Church's organist (the church we stayed over at the night before) rode with us the first 20 miles.  He had been a biker for over 20 years he said and despite his old age, he schooled me on the hills.  This was not great for my optimism that was already dwindling with every climb.  He rode all the way with us until our first rest stop at Cowans Gap State Park. The park was beautiful, complete with a manmade lake that was way too cold for my liking.  (I did dip my feet in though.)  However my favorite part about the day was an amazing and much needed nap that I took in the shade.  The team wanted to wait until everyone arrived at the park so we could take a team pic by the lake.  We were one of the first groups in so it took over an hour for the last team to roll in.  I passed out- but had nightmares about climbing mountains.

The rest of the day proved to be one of my toughest days to date with humid weather and impossible climbs.  I actually had my first almost I4K cry today- but I kept my cool with the help of Ron.  Not only was I in pain but I hated the fact that the boys could fly up the hills (at least it seemed like it) and always had to wait for me and Katie at the top of every hill.  It was frustrating but Ron assured me that I was doing great and to go at my own pace and let them go at theirs.  Who cares if they had to wait for us.  

Our team slowly, but surely, conquered steep inclines including the infamous Mountain House Road.  And let me tell you that I don't remember seeing any houses but I promise there was a mountain.  A big one.  It was one of the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  It was a steep 3-5 mile gradual climb up a mountain.  I have no idea how I did it.  It kicked my butt.

But what goes up must come down. And down we came with a greatly appreciated 2 mile downward slope into the town of Breezewood.  It was funny because going up the mountain we were crawling at a whopping speed of 6 miles an hour and going down I hit my high of 40 miles an hour!  There was one point where I literally had to check if I was going the speed limit on the curves.  

We stopped 10 miles out from our destination in Breezewood to go to the bathroom and share an ice-cream cone from DQ.  However unfortunately this is where our ride came to an end for the day. It seems like bad weather has been following us wherever we go.  The clouds turned black and the wind picked up. We found ourselves right in the middle of another severe storm and another tornado warning. I have never seen a sky green before.  We quickly took cover in a Quizno's. The plan was to wait the storm out but it only got worse and all groups were instructed to stay put until we could be picked up by the van.

Even with the series of unfortunate storms in Pennsylvania, we all arrived to the Everett Church of Brethren safe (and a little wet). We believe a huge thanks needs to go out to our organization's president, Connor Canaday, who is our van driver for the first few days of the trip. He has helped us immensely by not only fixing several bike problems, but also by shuttling everyone in the van safely the last couple of days.

Our difficult day was rewarded by a generous and warm welcome by the Church of Everett and its pastor, Frank Ramirez. We were provided hot showers a delicious home cooked meal (lasagna and salad) compliments of Ella, Anna, Beverley, and Thelma. It was a perfect way to end another day and to also prepare for our next day in the mountains!  :/