May 19, 2003 The bike performed very well today. The only problem was our second flat – more about that later. The drag brake got a real workout today. We put a standard caliper on the rear, and converted the disc to be used as the drag. It takes the edge off the descent speed, so that the bike can be kept under control with a minor amount of feathering of the caliper brakes. LaValle and I are both tired – 10 hours makes for a long day. However, a shower and some good food worked wonders. We are very happy to have4 hit our goal for today, and look forward to Pittsburgh and a rest day. Today we rode from Hancock, MD to Meyersdale, PA – another new state. We had decided to ride the C&O Canal Tow Path after having tested it yesterday. It is not paved, so we were somewhat concerned that we would have some problems with our skinny tires. We left the motel at 7:00, and headed for the canal. We were about 1.5 miles toward Cumberland, MD when we flatted. We really couldn’t determine why we had the flat, but it was enough to turn us around to get on the paved roads. Our primary route today was old Highway 40 –The Old National Pike (A part of it is now known as the Scenic Byway). So, we were on 40 most of the way to Cumberland. After Cumberland, we were on back roads that LaValle did a great job of finding. There was only one stretch of road that wouldn’t fall within the good/excellent category, but it was only about four miles long. We had a very quiet day of riding. It was also a very scenic day with the mountains always in sight, and many old farms to see. Speaking of mountains, this was our first day of real climbing. One of the pitches we did was three miles of a nine percent grade. Most of the time, the grades appeared to be about 6 percent. One descent was 12 percent. We were well in excess of 100 feet gained per mile ridden. Take a look at the stats for the details. An average speed of 9.6 mph sort of tells the story. The weather was wonderful. After two days of rain, it was nice to see the sun. It was warm enough that we got very hot climbing, and then chilled on the descents. The biker’s tan has started! Ron