Church bells

I’m relaxing at the Inn at Jim Thorpe right now. We got a pretty sweet room. Top floor. It dropped into the mid-50’s last night. Aaahhh, that felt nice.

I worked the MS 150 ride this weekend. I had the last rest-stop Saturday which drug on forever waiting for everyone to roll through. Sunday I had the first stop which required less time but more work. Lots of flats and gear adjustments. Sometimes it’s tricky to tell someone the reason their bike is not shifting is because it’s P.O.S.

I was home in time to catch the final stage of Le Tour. Waytogo Floyd. I have no stories of being passed in the woods back in the day by a wheelie-ing Floyd to tell. I really was never a big Floyd fan. Sorta ambivalent really. Until that mega-comeback last week. That was freakin’ macho. Legendary. How can you not root for that? Anyway, pretty cool. Erin’s dad now has a new hero.

After watching the tour finish we hit the open road for JT. Got here quickly and settled into lounge mode. Due to my work schedule I don’t need to be back to work until Thursday. Sweet. Looks like nice days for my lounge. This town is cool. Quaint. Touristy but I like it. The local church bells ring on the hour telling you what time it is. Reminds me of when I lived in East Berlin growing up. I would ride my BMX bike all over town during the summer but never knew what time it was until the church bells rang.

I brought my TCX so I could do a road ride and an extra set of wheels so I could then get on the rail trail for a bit of ‘cross type stuff. Sunday afternoon I got out for a road ride. I wanted to explore a little so I tooled around town and then headed toward the mountains. The town itself has some VERY steep little climbs all over. Not exactly short ones either. I mean not a tenth or two. Half milers straight up. Warmed me up good. Once I crossed the Lehigh River into the other part of town I new I had a more sustained climb. 3 miles of it. The first part of it was steep but in steps and also still in town so I didn’t pay attention so much but as I headed north out of town I realized how much elevation I had already gained. At that point I climbed through the woods on a nice paved road with a wide shoulder. It never got hard but I was in my 25 most of the time. I never imagined I would be climbing for 2 more miles. At the top it plateaud so I kept going for about 7-8 miles to the next town and then turned around. Just before I dropped back down the climb I saw a sign indicating a 2 mile descent at 6%. That put it into perspective. Halfway down I saw another sign indicating the first mile I climbed through town was 9%. It helped me in a small way gain an appreciation for the Tour climbs. Say for instance La Toussuire. 12 miles @ 6%. Or the Galibier. 26 miles @ 4.5%. Not particularly steep but I only went 2 miles @ 6%. Pretty nuts. I couldn’t imagine something like Joux-Plane 7.5 miles @ 8.7%! Ri-damn-diculous.

Today we had breakfast at a diner down the street. I had French toast and some scrambled eggs. Erin had a mega-omelet. Now we’re back in lounge mode. I’m going to throw on the ‘cross wheelset this afternoon and do the Lehigh Gorge rail trail. Out and back should be around 50 miles or so. Flat obviously but that’s good. No coasting. It’s like riding at the beach without the wind. Nowhere to coast. Tempo, tempo, tempo. Plus it’s scenic. I can work up an appetite for more grub and a nap. Maybe a lounge in our whirlpool tub.

Enjoy the day.