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Cute little squirrel statue. |
I managed to get up and ready by 6:30. This would prove a much better start than the first day. I was off before any church goers were even awake. I took a few minutes to explore Olean. It wasn't very far from where I grew up but I don't ever recall visiting the small city. The city had a theme of squirrels that it would decorate. Lots of cities and towns do this.Warren PA has bears. Erie has frogs.I have seen places with other things. Some were cute. But I didn't quite get the Ronald McDonald squirrel in the park in the center of town. I would have understood if the local McDonald's was nearby, but it wasn't.
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I just don't get it. |
I set off after a terrible convenience store sandwich. Along the way I had to stop to adjust the front racks. I was missing several parts and the eyelet was stripped. I think I had done a fabulous job at rigging it up with random nuts and bolts as spacers and zip ties instead of screws. The only problem of course is that this would require frequent adjusting and possibly replacing the zip ties periodically. It was still holding up astoundingly well despite the regular adjustments. I also oiled the bike's chain. Sadly, and neglectfully on my part, I had forgotten to oil Upstate's chain prior to the first day. The squeak and rack issues were fixed and I carried on.
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high winds |
The hills were easy and rolling. That may have been partially due to the early start. I had 20 miles in well before 9:30. My goal was only 53 miles so this was an excellent start. My next stop
I forced myself to eat and drank a soda. I liked the town I was in. It looked historic. It apparently had an oil history to the area. I tried to read the historic markers as I came to them.
I forced myself to eat and drank a soda. I liked the town I was in. It looked historic. It apparently had an oil history to the area. I tried to read the historic markers as I came to them.
The next section of hills were rough. The wind was at my back but I still couldn't seem to climb the hills with any speed. The road barely had any shoulder. I couldn't understand why they chose this road to be part of a bike route. Almost an hour into this and 4.5 miles out of town I stopped to eat and hydrate. It was then that I pulled out my map and realized that they hadn't chosen this road to be part of their bike route. I had gone up the wrong road. The roads out there were scarce and I really only had the option of turning around and backtracking. At least the ride would be downhill, albeit in very high winds. Even with the winds I breezed back into town at a third of the time it had taken me to get the 4.5 miles out. I believe that was testament to the kind of hills I was riding up.


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small town? yes, I think so |
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I didn't get this either. But to some people, this is a dream day at the lake. |