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Naomi  The Biking Life

 by: Naomi Bloom  8/1/2002

Home Again: Tour de Nostalgia

For many years I've fantasized about cycling around my hometown of Altoona, Pennsylvania. This summer Pedal Pennsylvania gave me the opportunity to do it on their "Penn Central" cross-state ride.

I rode some 400 miles from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, through territory I may never get to ride again. It wasn't a perfect dream come true. But it made the fantasy real, and that was all I asked.

Let me tell you, this was one tough ride. Not just for the steep grades of the "Agonies," my personal epithet for the Allegheny Mountains I grew up in. I'd trained for those hills in our equally challenging Santa Cruz Mountains. But PA roads consist of long, ribbony rollers with abrupt whoop-dee-doos. I quickly learned to attack those suckers at full speed in order to coast a good part of the uphill side.

Even worse was the weather the July and August days of the tour. Hot and humid, one expects in the Mid-Atlantic region. This year we had record highs for both. The Weather Service even put out a "Tornado Watch" on our fourth day!

I also suffered from fatigue caused by lack of sleep in college dorms with no air conditioning. Putting us up in dorms was a great idea. It not only kept rider cost low, it also provided a sampling of the Pennsylvania higher education (not to mention collegiate bars and brewpubs).

Lost in Pittsburgh

The first day we gathered at Duquesne University in order to take off from downtown Pittsburgh.

First activity: a "Warm-Up" ride. Whoa! What's this? Two double-sided pages of directions? Thirty-four miles starting at 4:00 pm, with dinner scheduled for 6:00? Climb Mt. Washington? Are they serious???

Whew! Thank goodness! Four options, from 25 to 32 miles. Option 1 looked like just the ticket. But since the volunteer leader never showed up, we all got lost looking for the river trail. Once we found and circled around to Shadyside, we realized we'd never finish in time.

So we turned around and headed straight back through the University of Pittsburgh campus. Not included on any of the route options, this quickie down Fifth Avenue turned out to be the most scenic tour we could have asked for. And we made it back in time for a quick shower before dinner.

Indiana, Indiana

Our first full day took us to Indiana State University. No, not "Breaking Away" country, but rather the descendant of a former State Teacher's College in little Indiana, PA.

Just a few miles out of Pittsburgh came my first nostalgic experience. "Where you-uns goin'?" some guy yelled from his porch. I'd come a long way to hear that "you-uns"!

Next highlight - lunch! Pedal PA had arranged with local restaurants, church and community groups to provide catered lunches every day. Each caterer went out of its way to provide tons of fresh fruit, water, Gatorade, lemonade, and plenty of carbos. This lunch, at the "Family Restaurant" in Shady Plain, was no exception.

Another highlight repeated daily: road shoulders. Several Californians had told me, "There are no shoulders in Pennsylvania!" (You think we have shoulders on every backroads and state highway here?) Well, sure there are shoulders in PA. You just can't ride on them. Roughed-up conglomerate at best, gravel at worst, with plenty of nasty looking debris and cracks. It's safer to ride to the right of the right lane.

Homecoming

New experience: Rumble strips leaving Indiana. Apparently meant to keep drivers from drifting into an expressway (what we'd call "freeway") interchange, these were small strips, only about six inches wide. It was easy to ride on either side of them.

Some 50 miles of ups and downs later we reached Gallitzin. My immediate reaction: "I'm home!" When I was a kid, we'd often stopped here on our way from Altoona to Johnstown.

Then a long, lovely downhill to the "World Famous Horseshoe Curve." Before the tourist attraction there's a traffic light guarding a one-lane tunnel under the Curve. Stopped by the light, I heard a familiar rumble and looked up to see freight cars moving through the trees. "Wow! There's a train on the curve right now!"

At the museum-snack bar parking lot (much smaller than I remember) it started to rain, the only shower of the entire tour. I dove under a tree and waited it out. When John from Philly showed up, we rode together on wet pavement down into Altoona. On the way up, in the opposite lane, Tour de 'Toona organizers were setting out traffic cones for the Horseshoe Curve stage. (Try this link at your own risk; the Tour de 'Toona seems to have disappeared from the World Wide Web, but maybe it'll be back?)

We rode through downtown Altoona, much changed since my childhood, and up the north side to the Altoona campus of Penn State University. There we wallowed in luxury -- brand new, air conditioned dorms and a fine catered dinner at the PortSky Cafe, named for a family of childhood friends.

Old home day

I bailed on the ride from Altoona to Pennsylvania State University. Virginians Jim and Carol Taylor were on the Pedal PA tour with a car. While Jim rode the route, Carol, a non-cyclist, followed in their Subaru Forester. She generously offered to drive me around Altoona and then to the dorm at State College.

Once on the Penn State campus, I couldn't pass up a trip to The Creamery for the best ice cream west of Ben & Jerry's. It was the only thing about staying at State that I appreciated. In fact, I'd have to say this was the most repressive environment we experienced, in stark contrast to the Altoona campus just 45 freeway miles away. Signs proclaimed NO! for everything -- NO cleated shoes, NO water bottles in the cafeteria, NO this, NO that. No air conditioning in our ancient dorm, either.

Amish country

Now that I've seen it, I have to admit the countryside between State College and Selinsgrove is much more scenic than anything around Altoona. Lush rolling plains redolent with natural fertilizer and new-mown hay, surrounded but not interrupted by the last of the Agonies.

This is Amish country. Entering Rebersburg I passed a farm lane and saw a horse and buggy approaching. At the Rebersburg General Store we spied some Amish kids waiting for their mother to load their buggy. "They don't want you to take their picture," we were told. But there was no problem with snapping the horse and buggy next to all the high-tech bikes.

End of the road was Susquehanna University, a gorgeous campus in classic collegiate style, with modern, air conditioned dorms. After dinner we walked into town and discovered the local microbrewery in an early 19th Century governor's residence. A fine dark IPA and time for bed. But first a lazy hike back up to the campus, framed by a red sunset with fireflies flitting through the grass.

Two more days to Philly

The last two days were not my best. I was literally "burning up" in the hot sun and had to sag out twice. The first time was on the toughest hill of the tour -- Gold Mine Mountain, roughly equivalent to Fort Ross Road up from Cazadero.

The schools hosting us, Lebanon Valley College in Annville and Cheyney University, didn't begin to measure up to campuses like Altoona and Susquehanna (although they did their best to be hospitable). I was definitely eager to get to Philadelphia and back to my real home - California.

End of the line

The last early morning start, to beat the heat, began with more ups-and-downs through posh suburbs. We rode through Valley Forge National Monument, picking up a bike path that would take us all the way into Philly.

We crossed the Schuylkill River on a narrow wood plank adjunct to the bridge. Then we followed some 15 miles of well-maintained paved trail that dumped us in Manayunk, just around the corner from the infamous "Wall" of the CoreStates Classic. Across Falls Bridge we cruised along West River Drive, closed to motor traffic on Saturday and Sunday mornings for folks like us.

Tour's end was at the Quaker Meeting House, around the corner from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. A fitting finish to a fantasy come true.

Was it worth it? You bet. Despite the torrid weather, I'd enjoyed fantastic support, scenery and nostalgia.

Pedal Pennsylvania was recently acquired by Bill and Michelle McCoach of Indian Valley Bikeworks in Harleysville, PA, and Fred Vielhauer, a veteran Pedal PA staffer. There a still a few bugs in the new system but they're working them out. Both staff and volunteers (yes, some folks work the ride without pay) kept us all pedaling happily. The Pedal PA team will offer a different cross-state ride in 2003, possibly starting further north, in Erie. They may repeat the Penn Central tour in two to four years.

Naomi can be reached at naomibloom@earthlink.net



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