Day 8
October 11, 2021:
I woke up just before dawn. I packed my bags immediately, eager to make back the 11 miles I had sacrificed for my bike gloves the day before. I devised a method to better keep track of my gloves. I took two of the key rings I brought with me, and attached one to each glove via the holes the original store tags hung from. New policy: every time I take off my gloves, I will physically attach them to my bike with the key rings. They’re not standard key rings, and unhook very easily, so it’s quite easy and quick to do.
I cycled to Jewett, arriving at around 9:30 am. I followed the country highway out of town, past the bowling lanes. I decided to take a shortcut around a big hill, but ultimately found I had made the trail longer for myself. There was a sign that a bridge was closed ahead, and I asked a local to confirm. It ended up being a longcut.
I followed 22 for a while, enjoying the wide shoulder despite the fact that it was a busy state highway. After a while, I followed 152, which sort of zig-zagged across 22 several times towards West Virginia. The country road had fewer cars, but steeper hills.
I stopped at a Kroger in Wintersville for bread, Clif bars, vegetables, hummus, and grape tomatoes. After shopping, the employee that collects carts reprimanded me for parking my bike inside the entryway. I apologized if I had been in the way, but explained that the Kroger didn’t have a big rack against which I could lock my bike. I got out of his hair and got back on my way.
Up the very next hill, I passed a sign on a restaurant that stated ‘Long-Haired, Freaky People May Now Apply.’ A friend recommended I walk in and ask why they couldn’t apply before. I had assumed it would be some sort of insult to the Irish. I had quickly cycled past though, so it may well remain a mystery. As I was close to cresting another hill, I stopped at a bench and called Dada back. He recommended I get a double cheeseburger to reward myself. I’ll do that next I get a good chance.
Cresting that hill, I had a long descent toward the Ohio river and the border with West Virginia. I passed through Steubenville, stopping to take a brief look at the main street through town. There were some nice murals there of Lincoln’s war telegram office in Steubenville. For the most part though, the town looked really run down and in bad need of infrastructure investment. It reminded me of Freeport, IL (not a compliment).
The sidewalk on the bridge to WV was closed, so I cycled across the metal grate bridge itself, thankfully to the patient drivers stuck behind me. The road on the WV bank was under construction, so I had a bumpy descent past an industrial site. I wanted to stop at a café to work on my blog, but found that in WV, a ‘café’ is a casino. I moved on, ultimately walking up a giant hill past some residential neighborhoods.
One of the roads wasn’t paved, and as I walked up it, I discovered that one of my rear bike panniers was damaged. The collar that secures the clips to the bag was pealing off, the screw that once secured it having gone missing… somewhere. Looking at the map, there was a Walmart just three miles away, over the hill. I figured I’d go there to find a replacement screw for the bag.
Maybe one minute later, I was riding down the gravel road warily, and my back tire popped, going flat instantly. I swore to myself, then walked it to the crest of the hill, where the road from there was paved. Looking at the back tire, I also noticed that the entire tread had been worn off, perhaps due to the heavy load or underinflation of the tire. I took each of the bike bags off, then unhooked the rear brakes and flipped the bike upside down. I took the back tire off and got my tire repair kit out. I replaced the inner tube, put the tire back on, and tested the inflation. I also discovered that one of my extra gopro screws had either the same or similar thread as the original pannier screw. I used it to fix my bike bag as well. I then used a flathead to tighten all the other pannier screws. The screw on the other rear pannier corresponding to the one that went missing was loosest.
I then cycled all the way down the other side of the hill and through Colliers, WV. I noticed that the wobble in my back tire which had been iffy in the previous few days was not VERY bad. The tire wobbled so much that it hit my brakes twice each rotation, parasitically slowing me. It was frustrating, but it would have to wait for the bike shop in Pittsburgh.
I took the Panhandle Trail from Colliers to the Pennsylvania border! Two new states in one day! At the border, I met a guy on an electric scooter whom I spent a few minutes talking to. His name is Venjo, and he recently got into cycling, but has an injured knee, from some other sport. He talked about wanting to do the GAP trail from Pittsburgh to Maryland. I asked about his scooter. Apparently it eats through hills, has a range of about 50 miles, and can go 35-38 mph, though Venjo doesn’t dare take it that fast. I ate some sugar snap peas with hummus while we talked at the picnic table. He told me the path ahead would be a bit uphill for a long while, though at a low grade. I got a picture with him before I carried on. Venjo was cool.
I made it a few miles further, ultimately camping up a hill to the right side of the trail. It was the only way to be out of sight, so I pushed the bike up the hill despite brambles. I was just 23 miles from my friend’s house in Pittsburgh, so I told her I’d show up around 1 pm the next day.
