Friday and Saturday - Hill mania in Pennsylvania

Hello boys and girls if blog world, here's a quick update on our recent mishaps....

Our Pennsylvania experience started well with us spotting some Amish people with horse and carts and also having a good downhill section to the morning. This was soon to end when the big hills began to kick in. The climbing however wasn't so bad as the scenery was pretty nice especially the massive low clouds that sat atop of all the hills. A generally good cycling morning was quickly interrupted by massive downpour from said clouds. We all got pretty soaked as we have realised that our rain coats are useless as althugj they stop the rain they make you sweat and so make you just as wet as the rain does. After a big scary downhill section (all of our brakes are useless) we arrived at the allgheny river (looked like something out of jurassic park) where we stopped for breakfast. The blueberry pancakes here were pretty special and lead Ben to declare that this was his best breakfast yet.

The climb away from the river was pretty steep but was made quite comical by a dog that waddled after Ben the whole way and then took a poo in someones garden before waddling home. A few more dogs chased us that afternoon with none suceeding in catching or biting us, phew. More hills and more scenery later we stopped for lunch in Brooksville where we went for another subway which we think is the healthiest meal choice in America and apparently some used-to-be-fat bloke called Jared agrees with us.

After lunch we had more hills before hitting what seemed to be a mountain mainly because it had a sign showing it's elevation (barely 2000ft, small change for us charity athletes). After a bit if downhill we began to climb again. We stopped at a gas station to evaluate our options and where told by the locals that it would be best to Carey on cycling to get to the bigger town of Clearfield. Getting there however would involve climbing up another mountain and a further fifteen or so miles on top of the 100 we had already amassed.


As we had no option we went for it. In the heat if the moment Jack forgot what country he was in and cycled off onto the left side of the road, again. After wondering why no vlcars were passing him and hearing Spokey shouting he quickly came to his senses and cycled over to the right. The climb to the top was long but quick and about seven miles in we reached the summit and after another scary downhill section we reached Clearfield.

Here we went for the motel option as it was getting dark and Americans are useless at directions and have no local knowledge of the area they live in. The motel of choice was a Days Inn and we also picked up some of the Colonels fried chicken for dinner.

In the morning we awoke to find Jack had a puncture. He set about fixing this and his brakes while Ben and Spokey went to breakfast. Half an hour later he was still fighting with the brakes as his back wheel had developed some sort of wobble, a budge job later obln the brakes (now useless) we headed off. Again more hilly miles where nothing apart from the odd mountain happened. We arrived in a place called State College which seemed to be a whole city setup to house Penn State University.....a city for a unubersity, it was our dream home. Bendeclared that this area would be flat as they'd never build a university in a hilly area, he wad wrong but as with all of his ridiculous claims he tried to pull it back into contention by stating it wasn't that hilly. We popped into a bike shop to pick up some ammo for Ben (inner rubes) and Spokey (spokes). Whilst Spokeys bike was getting fixed we went fir breakfast at Arbys.

The bikes were dixed pretty quick although Jack neglected to put his in to get fixed as the bike shop looked expensive (it was ) and he reckoned his bike would hold out until Times Square. The road away from the shop was less hilly than the mornings cycle as it followed a valley. We took this highway all the way to our next food stop in the barn yard restaurant and banquet facility. Here we had a good feed and chat with the people working there, one of which had cycled to Muchigan whilst dragging his kid along in a trailer.

The final few miles of the day to Lewisburg were pretty boring until Ben decided to go and get another puncture. Spokey and Ben fixed this one alone as Jack was at the top if the next hill and refusing to cycle back. Puncture karma got is own back on him by giving him a puncture two miles from our destination. We pulled into a school car park where jack pumped the tyre back up enough to try and get to the campsite which Spokey was asking an actual marching band (geeks) for. This quick fix didn't work and Jack ended up walking there while the others cycled in.

The campsite was called the Yogi Bear Shangri La and was more of a holiday resort for kids, there goes the early night plan! The tent is also starting to smell bad and is a bit sticky inside from all the sweat!

So Ben usually does his five facts here but him and Spokey are off playing bingo or frolicking in the soft play area so I'll give you a couple....

1. You're never at the top of a hill/section of mountain until you see a radio mast
2. Amish men are not allowed the shave after they get married
3. If you see a sign for a casino in Nevada expect a handful of slot machines and a shit buffet
4. Pennsylvania smells like Wrexham
5. Amish people only pay road tax and real estate tax

Oh and in other news we are only 200miles from NYand should arrive there on Monday evening bat any disasters....