May 22, 2003 The bike and the Team both did well today. The Team put in a long day, but we seem to be recovering nicely. The day started with a trip through downtown Pittsburgh at the rush hour. We had intended to leave earlier, but got caught up in the hotel’s breakfast hours. Since we wanted to see the confluence of the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers, it was downtown for us. The traffic was tough, but the drivers took good care of us, and we did not have any close calls. When we got down to the rivers, we spent some time looking around the area containing PNC Stadium and Heinz Field. There is a wide concrete path along the Ohio River at that point, so we were able to ride around and see what we wanted. There is one particularly good picture of us with Pittsburgh in the background that was taken by a jogger who happened to be coming through as we arrived. After the waterfront thing, we worked our way out of downtown Pittsburgh. We were heading north because at that point the Ohio River flows north for about 30 miles. We had a real adventure getting out of downtown, and ended up going through a heavy industrial area, a neighborhood that was questionable, and one that was pretty nice. The steepest climb of the day happen during this period, and we had the legs for it. It wasn’t long, but it was close to 20%. After finding our way out of town, we rode on the Ohio River Boulevard until we reached the bridge at the northern most flow of the Ohio. There, we entered the town of Beaver, PA, and stopped for coffee. The owner of the shop was very friendly, and couldn’t do enough for us. As we headed south, we passed Three Mile Island of nuclear power fame as well as many other power generating facilities. It was fun seeing the river from time to time, and viewing the industry of the area. We entered Ohio for the first time at East Liverpool, and stayed in the state until we arrived here – Wheeling, WV. We spent most of our day on very busy roads. They were much like Highway 12 in Santa Rosa, but with formal on and off ramps. We had some challenges negotiating some merges of freeways and the on and off ramps, but we did a good job. LaValle does a super job of staying on top of the traffic in those situations. The roads were pretty good, but did have occasional serious potholes, so it was pretty intense up front. When we arrived in Bridgeport, OH, the sister city to Wheeling, we needed directions to our motel. LaValle called and got some, but we had some questions. About that time one of the local constables arrived, so I had the bright idea of asking him about what we were planning. He spent all the time telling us that what we had been doing all day way against the law, so we had to figure things out ourselves. As it turns out, the cop was full of beans! We learned this when we stopped at a bike shop to enhance our directions. The guy there told us to take a bridge that was closed to auto traffic, but was open for pedestrians and cyclists. We took it, but it had a metal grate bed, so we had to walk the bike. When we got to the little island on the way to Wheeling, we started to take another bridge only to read a sign that told us we couldn’t. So, we walked two bridges or about 2-3 miles. Fun! The weather today was magnificent. It started a little chilly, but soon warmed, and we were down to jerseys by the time we were at the north reaches of the Ohio River. It couldn’t have been nicer. In one spot, we were protected from the wind, and it was just plain hot! Ron