Halfway Happy

Half way- 75 miles-  to Pittsburgh from Cumberland on the Great Allegheny Passage-our first stretch on teh Great American Rail Trail, and we are doing well! Had a few rough spots but we are stronger every day. The first day Todd didn’t realize that he did not activate his e-assist and he rode 5 miles on just his beastly power! The second day, as soon as we were dripped off by our professional shuttler, Rod Mann, Todd could not move very fast. He thought his legs were just really tired from the day before. He was only doing 3 MPH and I’m thinking- how are we gonna do 25 miles ? He stopped and said, “It feels like I have my break on” and sure enough he forgot to take his parking brake off! Now today, day 3, it was freezing cold in the 40s and very windy and I didn’t know how far we would get, but we did great. Todd even said that if the sun had come out and his hands wouldn’t have been so cold and stiff, he could have done another 10 miles. Every day he feels better, so does our veteran, Danny Stein. Today, Dan had a really hard time because he didn’t realize his two front tires were half way deflated. Tomorrow, we will fix that! The trail surface was very soft too from the pouring rain last night. But we are right on schedule and ready too crank the miles up to 30-32 in the next few days. Todd’s legs were a little wobbly when he got off the bike the first two days, but today, day 3 is much better. 

Our Team is doing great and helping so much! Leslie Krater and Beth Ellen Pennell are the two chefs and food organizers. Rod shuttles and meets us half way every day for lunch and to see if there are any troubles. Danny, our Army Ranger Veteran, is doing great too. Knees holding up well and he is there to help with Todd and stretches him every night. I can ask Dan or Walt Krater to help with Todd any time I need to do something. Walt helps me with the RV. And they all help to keep Todd’s spirits up which helps us all. 

Our sights are set for Pittsburgh on Tuesday, and hoping we don’t have any mishaps. Expecting to meet up with a few newspaper reporters too along the way. We are very grateful for all the support from all our people. We couldn’t do this without you.