Day 60: Binghamton to Dalton 93km Uphill 3245 ft Downhill 3154 ft

Every evening before I zip up my tent and call it a night I ask John what time we’re leaving in the morning. John’s reply is, ‘don’t worry, take your time’. But you’d think I’d know by now that by 6:30 a.m. there is John, helmet on, sitting on his bike just doing circles in the parking lot waiting for me. To be quite frank, this morning I stalled John because Barb wasn’t quite ready. Anything for a friend.

The morning started off cool. Most cyclists had leg and arm warmers on. I haven’t used the leg warmers yet. I’m trying to stay tough.

Pete is on sweep today so I started off with John, Jake, Barb, Gerry, Andy, and Louie. The first 20km were okay but then I had a breathing problem. Just couldn’t catch my breath. I blame it on emotions. I was fifth from the back of the pace line with John and Louie behind me but I couldn’t see what was on the road in front of me and we were clicking along at a good pace. I knew that if the pavement became rough or that if there was a piece of debris on the road that I would have a hard time missing it simply because the further down the line the less reaction time. So I panicked. The solution to the problem was to break up the pace line, which the guys did quite willingly. I finished the reminder of the day biking with Andy, Jake and Gerry. No more panic attack, thank goodness. My cadence is back to normal (around 90 revolutions pr minute) and I can keep up with the guys on the flats. They still beat me up on the hills but I think guys are just naturally stronger and they have more power at their disposal than most women.

Today was a short day. Last evening during peloton Ed told us that the elevation chart was not correct…not as many climbs as were indicated in the Shifting Gears book.

Our first SAG was being manned by Julie. She was at the border sign welcoming us into Pennsylvania. We told her we would stay at her SAG if she wanted to go for a coffee. We even suggested that she just put out the water jugs and chips and hang up a sign…. ‘Be back in 5 minutes’ and join us for a coffee. But Julie is too devoted to her duties that she couldn’t be persuaded. We thanked her to all she does for us and continued along to find a coffee stop.
We had a few rolling hills early this morning but by the time we stopped for a coffee at 8:30ish we were mainly going downhill. Gerry had left Julie’s SAG just before us and in the next town we saw his biked leaned against this sport bar building. We have a rule, never let a cyclists have a coffee alone, so in we went. As always we handed out cards. When we asked if they had any pastries the owner said. ‘no’, but then a little while later he came back with two platters of timbits that he had purchased for us. Cyclists kept coming in and when it came time to pay the owner said it was on the house. Such random acts of kindness are always appreciated.
We stopped at this cement bridge to take photos and to peel down. The temperature outside is heating up so it’s time to lose the arm warmers and jackets. Walters RV was our next SAG stop. I’m not sure when we reached the town of Nicholson, probably around 11ish. At this point we only have around 10km to go. The gear truck won’t be in camp for another hour, so we figured why not stop for another breakfast. The town of Nicholson is pretty desolate. We decided to eat at Nicole’s diner; good food and great coffee. After breakfast we investigated a few of the shops. The one shop still had Easter candy out. Gerry was trying to get Andy to purchase this Halloween witch that laughed whenever you walk by it. He thought Andy’s wife would loooooove it. Andy knew better….no laughing witch for you, Siska. Empty handed we went back on our bikes and continued on our way.

Now heres where the ride became interesting. With only 6km to go we faced some terrific climbs. On the way up the first climb (I’ve heard some talk that it was a 12% grade) Gerry’s chain snapped in two. Jake didn’t noticed what happened and he continued to sail down the hill, leaving Andy and I with Gerry at the top of the hill. Now Gerry has a bit of everything in his bag (just like John) and he had the tools to fix it. I took a few pictures of the guys working away and then decided to remove my helmet and sunglasses to cool off. Jake waited at the bottom of the hill for around 15 minutes and then decided that he should go back and check out what was taking us so long. Up the hill he goes, just as he comes to the top we are getting on our bikes ready to head down the hill. We did say he was a good friend to go to come back for us.


When we sailed to the bottom of the hill I noticed that I didn’t have my sunglasses on (I had left them on the side of the road. You guessed it; they were at the top of the hill. Gerry decided it was his fault because he had the broken chain and went back to the top to find my glasses. Later on I told Gerry that I wish he had been the man in the Garden of Eden because then Eve wouldn’t been blamed for anything! Andy told me never to take those glasses off ever again.

The last couple kms where nasty. I think I know what tomorrow will be like; very difficult but hopefully manageable…one pedal stroke at a time is my motto. I guess we are cycling thru the Pocono’s tomorrow.

Tonight we are staying at Lackawanna State Park. The rain has held off and we are optimistically hoping that our clothes will dry.

This is the last supper that our cooks are preparing for us. Below are a few photos of the cooks in action.

The last few evening Peloton has been devoted to 'life after the tour'. One evening those who where going to school were asked to go to the front and a prayer was said for them. The next evening concentrated on the ones that had jobs to go home to or know what they are doing (retirement). Wednesday evening we prayed for those that either quite there jobs for the tour or do not know what they are going to do. Last evening several people spoke on what the tour has meant to them and how they view life now after the experience of the tour. We also formed a circle and shared communion . Another meaningful worship.

Just as I retired for the evening, the rain started coming down. I'm glad, that means there's less to fall tomorrow during the ride. Good night one and all. Cynthia

Time on the bike 3:41:06 Max speed 62.7km Total km biked 91.4km (first time on record that we are actually under the kms for the day).