I love to ride my bicycle
As the song goes, 鈥淚 want to ride my bicycle.鈥�
In the past year or so, I have developed a taste for riding my bicycle, especially the Greater Allegheny Passage.
My athletic ability isn鈥檛 what it used to be, but I enjoy the sights and sounds of the trail and it also provides a great workout. I am usually very sore the day after riding the trail due to going too far and not knowing when to quit, until it is too late.
I can remember trying to ride as a kid and failing miserably. I don鈥檛 remember when I was able to ride with the training wheels off, but I do recall the frustration. However, I tend to be a little mopey when things don鈥檛 work out.
I was able to figure out how to balance my bicycle and took a ride with my grandpap when the trail was starting out. We rode from Dickerson Run to Connellsville and came back. I did it fairly well and wasn鈥檛 that tired, but kids have a lot more energy and my grandpap wouldn鈥檛 let me stop.
I continued to ride at my house around the yard (we had a big yard) and such until my high-school years when I started wrestling and running cross country and track. I took a break from riding my bicycle and found running to be more exciting. And, after a wrestling practice, I was totally spent and decided to take a rest.
After high school I would ride some in the summers around my house and did make it to the trail after college, but I slowly lost interest in riding my bicycle.
Last year, I randomly decided to ride the trail from Ohiopyle to Connellsville and back. I rented at a local shop and made the 34-mile journey. I did well going down, but it was very tough coming back. My friends said it was because of going up the mountain, but I think it was because I was not in the best of shape and very tired.
I also took a trip to Confluence from Ohiopyle and went from West Newton to Little Boston. I rented for those trips and even bought a book on the Greater Allegheny Passage and the C&O Towpath that runs from Maryland to Washington, D.C.
The interest moved me to purchase a rack for my car, and my good friend, Steve Homer, helped me install the product so I could ride whenever I wanted to and didn鈥檛 have to rent.
The best part of the GAP is the ride from the Salisbury Viaduct (which is 101-feet high and about half a mile long) to the Big Savage Tunnel. The tunnel is 3,294-feet long and is lighted.
I hope I can continue to ride and my goal is to ride the whole Greater Allegheny Passage and maybe the C&O Towpath. I鈥檓 not sure I can do it in one ride, but maybe in sections.
Cyclists that can ride the whole trail, and then some, will be competing in the Tour de France, which begins Saturday.
The race is the most grueling and difficult in the sport.
What got me into the Tour was Lance Armstrong and his seven straight titles. It is disappointing to find that such an inspiring rider was cheating, but I still find the effort the riders go through to be outstanding.
The race is conducted over 20 days, that are set up as specific courses known as stages, and climb mountains, go around dangerous curves and can reach speeds up to 50 miles per hour. Then, they come back and do it again the next day. I usually need a week after my long rides to recover. And my rides consist of about 30 miles, not 100, like Tour de France stages.
The sport has lost some of its luster since Armstrong was caught doping and stripped of his titles, but I encourage you all to watch some of the Tour. If nothing more than to hear play-by-play announcer蘑菇视频 Phil Liggett蘑菇视频 voice. The man is fabulous.
Then, use that inspiration and go out and peddle a few miles. You don鈥檛 have to go 100. The race is in the morning, so you can do all that before starting your family picnic and watching fireworks.
Happy Fourth of July!