What's Another 17 miles...Bike2Build Day 3

Day 3 - Sunday, September 11th - White Haven to Shamokin Dam [84-mi, 7:31, 4285-ft]

I knew that this probably was going to be my hardest day and I only made it harder. It rained lightly for much of the day but the temperature was comfortable and I was well equipped. In my experience hypothermia is a potential problem cycling in the rain and a rain jacket’s function is not to keep you dry but to keep you warm. I followed PennDOT Bike Route V to Catawissa making navigation easy. Especially after Conyngham it’s very rural making for some fine riding.

I was lucky to find an eatery out there that made a great cheese steak hoagie. The owner treated me really well.

At one point a pickup pulled up next to me to yell that he really liked my bright taillight which he could see a good way off. My main sensation was sound of the swishing of my tires on the wet road and the dripping of the rain on the tree leaves. Nice vistas on the hill tops. The anthracite region is healing from its mining history little by little. In Elysburg I made the fatal decision to go electronic and let Google Maps guide me last leg of the day and made a user error. Keying in Shamokin Dam, I must have settled for just Shamokin. I didn’t discover that something was wrong until I was nearing Shamokin. This added about 17 miles to the day. I was so angry with myself that I able to power through to the end 30 minutes before sunset. I felt like I might cramp up and that I might have tendonitis in left knee, so I soaked in the tub.