May 30, 2019
Connellsville, Pa. to Meyersdale, Pa.: Into Everyone's Life, A Little Rain Must Fall
At morning’s light, there was no rain. Not a drop. Phew. The forecast called for a chance of rain much later in the day … mid-afternoon … but something easily escaped given our expected pace. At breakfast in the B&B, the husband of the owner team said the forecast he had read bolstered that idea as well. No rain until 3 or 4 PM. Armed with that knowledge we had a relaxing breakfast chatting with a young woman who had just finished her Junior year of college and had taken Amtrak from Pittsburgh to Cumberland for a three day ride back home. She was great, especially when she realized that the two of us were not your usual geezers and had something interesting to add to the conversation. Jeez. She did think that right? Maybe she was taking pity on us. Well, whatever. I enjoyed talking to her whatever her motivation.
We shoved off a hair after 8 AM, And, let’s not be too coy here and bury the lede … by 8:45 it was flat out raining. Steady, committed, enthusiastic rain was falling and seemed happy to stick around for a while. We kept a stiff upper lip and all that, and donned our rain jackets (which THANK GOD we had decided to invest in some properly high tech stuff that actually breathed instead of functioning like the rubber lined tops I remember my wrestling friends wearing in high school when they were trying to drop weight). So, we were fairly dry from head to waist, and not overly hot, but legs and feet were slowly getting wetter and wetter.
This continued for about 15 miles until the skies lightened and … Huzzah! … the sun came out. Oh my, we were pleased. In what seemed an obvious good omen, the rain stopped just as we were about to cross an amazing bridge far above the river. We stopped for the required photo op, stripped off our jackets, and documented ourselves with the camera. We were covered in liquid crushed limestone, and even more so the bikes. Oh, our poor bikes. I’m surprised a Velo Social Worker didn’t arrive and accuse us of bicycle abuse and neglect. We hosed off a bit of the more offensive grime with a water bottle and went on our way.
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After another 10-11 miles we reached the town of Confluence, and decided since the weather was so grand, we could find a café and have an actual sit-down lunch. We took a right hand turn over the river into the tiny town and saw what was brewing behind us. Big, black, boiling clouds. “Huh,” said Margaret, “That doesn’t look good.” In answer to that thought the skies opened up, as if on cue, and rained like the bejeezus. Fortunately we were close to a vacant rental house with a large covered deck and canopy, so we wheeled the bikes underneath and sat down. We passed the time by each eating a Bobo Bar and splitting an apple instead of the beautiful lunch we’d imagined. After 15-20 minutes the sun came out again. “Ha! Just messing with ya,” he laughed. “Let’s go,” said Margaret, and we slowly left behind our vision of a Great Gatsby style meal.
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Essentially the entire day was a series of head fakes from the weather. Ten miles of sun, seven miles of rain, nine miles of clouds with some sprinkles … everything that could be on the summer precipitation menu was being served today. It was certainly Type 2 fun.
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Slowly but surely we pulled Meyersdale into our grasp, where we were spending the night. It was a slow 57 miles what with the rain, the wet trail and the havoc said rain played on our bikes and our heads. Just beside the trail in Meyersdale is a small local history museum and a visitor center that caters mainly to cyclists. Let’s hear it for that place, because they let us borrow their phone when we discovered we didn’t have service here, and they ran out and set up a hose so we could spray the road crud off our bikes. That is the definition of Road Angel right there.
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The place we are staying is very cool. It is the Trailside Inn … an old home that has been split into rooms to rent. It has a feel of being half B&B and half youth hostel. There is a shared kitchen and living room area, with about 6-7 rooms to rent. Best part? We are the ONLY people here tonight and we OWN this place right now. Depending on which weather app you look at there is either NO chance of rain tomorrow, or a 30% chance between 3-5 PM. I pushing all my chips onto the table for the first one. I mean, c’mon man. Enough already.
Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 120 miles (193 km)
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