May 13, 2023
Day 10 - May 13 - Wheeling, WV to Senecaville, OH
Pushing Into Ohio
John’s Story
Earlier start than usual from the hotel. We were on the road by 7:30 a.m. The sky was murky with the threat of rain. We ran into our first obstacle literally half a dozen blocks from the hotel. The old suspension bridge across the Ohio River was closed!
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At 1,010’ between the centers of the towers on each side, this was the longest clear-span bridge in the world when it was completed in 1849. I guess it deserves to be worked on from time to time.
Not long after we crossed the River the rain started, which continued until about 3:00 p.m. with a few brief intermissions. We stopped at a convenience store to get coffee and tog up with rain gear when it started. I noticed some unusual activity while we were there. A woman drove up, got out of her car, walked towards the dumpster, went past it, threw a small trash bag onto the porch of the house behind Ed , then drove off. There was a body builder type guy getting in and out of his car and going into the store a number of times while we were there. He was sitting in his car when we left. I think I was witnessing a drug sale/delivery. I suspect Mr. Body Builder was waiting for us to leave so he could retrieve the trash bag thrown on the porch. Paranoia on my part I guess.
For a while we followed the river, and the hills were not bad. Soon we turned away from it and found what we’ve been missing by taking mostly canal towpaths and rail trails to this point. Hills. Hill after hill. Hills upon hills. By the end of the day my Wahoo had registered over 3,500’ of climbing. Ed’s even more.
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Our Wahoos reveled in telling us about upcoming climbs. Today it told us there were 13 climbs ahead. Now a climb is not just another hill. It is longer and steeper. The Wahoo doesn’t do a good job of characterizing the steepness of a climb. The steepest “average” grade predicted by the Wahoo was 6.5 %. Unfortunately the Wahoo includes the beginning of the climb at the bottom and the end at the top where the grade is much lower, which averages the numbers down. There wasn’t a single climb that wasn’t at least 9% grade at the heart of it. One climb advertised as 5.1% average grade turned out to have a section of 15% grade. Let it be said that it was a pretty tough day, especially in the rain.
Some scenery.
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We finally made it to camp after first mistakenly going too far to a lakeside restaurant and getting directions from folks there. In our defense, we were following the Eastern Express route exactly at this point. Getting here entailed climbing a very long , very steep hill to get to the entrance to Seneca Lake Park. Considerable “cross training”, as Ed calls it, ensued. We walked up the hill. It was at least 15% grade. Always be suspicious of roads called Skyline Drive if you’re at the bottom of the valley.
We arrived at the park 5 minutes after the office closed. The registration form required a space number for our campsite. To find one we would have to ride down to the lake, find one, then ride back up to the office to deposit the registration in the drop box. Remember, at this point we’re still up close to the top of Skyline Drive.
I wandered around the office, saw an open door on a maintenance building and someone working inside. When I asked about where the campground manager might be, and told him why, he offered to give me a ride down to the lake, find a campsite, then bring me to the top of the hill where our bikes still were. This he did, so we didn’t have to make an extra trip on the bike back up the hill. Whew!
We still have to ride out in the morning, but I’ll feel a lot better about it.
Personal Note
I saw a billboard soon after we entered Ohio about finding help for miners with black lung. At one of our stops I talked to an old guy who said he had black lung after working 25 years in the coal mines. After that he worked 15 years in salt mines.
My grandfather was a Pennsylvania Polish coal miner who went on disability with black lung after many years in the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania, so naturally I thought of him when I saw the billboard and talked to the old miner. My grandfather still lived to be 86 years old, so black lung was not necessarily a death sentence.
After my grandfather went on disability he tried making money by running businesses out of a storefront that was part of his home in Jermyn, PA. I remember playing in there when I was a kid, but it was empty then. One of my most cherished possessions is a piece of stationery from the 1930s styled, “Chimahusky and Son - Guns, Ammunition, Billiards”.
Ed’s Story
I really don’t have a lot to say today.
We came, we saw, we climbed. I think the subtitle of my journal entry would be “Cycling out of the Ohio River valley, by foot.”
The suspension bridge closure sure threw us. My wife wanted us to visit Steubenville and she would’ve used this as a good way to make sure we get up there. She probably made sure the bridge was closed. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize the walkway was still open.
We certainly did a lot of climbing; I dreaded the word CLIMB showing up on my GPS because I knew I would be walking part of the hill. I did try to pedal up as much as I could but a long wheelbase recumbent just doesn’t like to climb; especially if it is carrying a large load, and I’m not talking about myself.
I’m thinking I probably walked anywhere from 2 to 3 miles pushing my bike up the hills. I have noted before I just consider this crosstraining.
When we got to the original stopping point based on our GPS, John decided to have a beer at the dockside restaurant on the lake. I told him it would be just our luck that when we got there the last campsite would have been sold out one beer ago.
On our way to the proper campsite we crossed over a dam with water flowing swiftly from the spillway. We were told we had 2 miles to ride after the end of the dam but we were not told that we’d run into the horrendous hills. I guess to a local with a car the hills aren’t that bad.
Because of all the rain we had today, our site is wet and in places muddy. You really need to be careful walking around. I was walking to get a drink of water at the restrooms and stepped in a hidden mud puddle and ended up washing my feet in the shower.
It’s a beautiful park on the lake but there are a lot of permanent campers/mobile homes here.
Tomorrow’s ride is about 40 miles and 2800 ft of climbing as we head to Zanesville.
Until then, happy biking!
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 3,594 miles (5,784 km)
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If so, I only live about 1 1/2 miles from Creekside path. It would be interesting to meet up and maybe ride along for a few miles.
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Keep cranking!
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