Our “short” day. Frank’s 60th. He rode 60 to celebrate his 60th so I did 78 to celebrate my 76th coming up October 2nd. After breakfast at a café near our hotel we headed out-bit chilly at first- but got hot fast. Good thing I had a Texas filet at ye old Texas restaurant in old West Virgini to beef up the night before. We knew the next 3 days were going to be tough and day one was. Started off with a 2.5 mile uphill, not a bad grade but they kept coming at us all day. Hard to get over 6-7 mph up but the downs could get you over 30. The day gave you hill after hill, and some seemed endless. As it got hotter it didn’t get easier. Most of the day was on Rt 50 expressway with a wide shoulder and screaming truck traffic tearing by on your left and gravel, broken glass and all sorts of debris on the right. Finished up with chocolate syrup sundae at Dairy Queen. Still looking for that West to East tail wind. It hasn’t materialized to date. Head winds got so bad at times that it was hard to get above 12-13 mph on slight downgrades. We are celebrating Frank’s birthday at Tygart Lake State Park and lake. Tygart Lake is a flood-controlled lake created with a 230 foot high dam in 1938 by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers. We are staying in several cabins overlooking the lake, which is 10 miles long, and coverers 1750 acres. The area surrounding Grafton looks really interesting but we have to move on. Looking at the elevations for our next 2 days though WV, Maryland, and Pennsy until our last flat 110 miles to Atlantic City today is going to seem like a piece of cake!!!!!! Over Days 17 and 18 we log more total ascent feet than we did through the Rockies. Hope Frank’s birthday party and something in the cake gets us fired up!!!!!!!!!!!!
