Starting July 3, 2010 Michael Rubillo and Barry Peters, bicycle across Pennsylvania to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Philadelphia & Susquehanna Valley. We will be starting at Bull Island on the Delaware River and will ride to West Alexander on the western border. We expect to reach the end on July 7th.
Our goal is to raise a minimum of $10,000 for charity. Click here and then the DONATE button to support the cause!
I am proud to share this letter I received from Make-A-Wish thanking everyone for their support and sharing with us how our money was used to make a young man's life better. Barry and I thank you all again personally for your support and hope you will help to support us monetarily or by joining us on the ride in 2011
Barry and I received many messages of encouragement during our ride across PA and they were truly were motivating.
We are happy to report that we were able to achieve our primary goal of cycling across Pennsylvania. You can view details of our adventure on the web at http://cyclepa2010.posterous.com/
During the experience we were faced by a great distance (341 miles), ominous hills (totaling 24,413 feet high), and oppressive weather (thank you heat wave of 2010). These challenged us both physically and psychologically.
Challenges not like these, most many times harder, are faced by young people and their families every day. The physical and psychological endurance needed can be overwhelming. That is why we are making a final push to try and reach our secondary goal of raising $10,000 for Make-A-Wish. Currently we have raised $7,150. To place a donation visit The Catalyze Group’s website, on the menu at the bottom of the page click on “Cycle For Charity”, than on the “DONATE” button. You will be taken to a Make-A-Wish site were your donation will be tracked and credited to Barry and I.
Thank you all again for your support.
Wednesday morning around 1015 AM just past West Alexander....we had looked on google street view....
1. junk yard on left? CHECK
2. ramshackle shack with rusty cars in fron on right? CHECK
3, seam in pavement? CHECK
4. we are in wild and wonderful West Virginia!
The GPS track is below. Lots of climbing for no mountains. Never seen rollers like this before!
Since we started day 4 early we also ended the day early. This gave us enough time to make a side trip to Fallingwater, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. http://www.fallingwater.org/37/what-is-fallingwater
Another clear, hot day for a our fourth day toward the western PA border. As indicated in an earlier post, Mike fixed the "miss" I had on our GPS program to take us south into Somerset and then PA31 all the way to the end. If only added a mile and prevented us from ending up on mountain trails without a mountain BIKE.
We waited for the sun to come up (literally: 520 AM) and got done both mountains before 9. Day 3 we learned that climbing for 20-30 minutes in the open sun is not smart. Kudos to Jim Rubillo for the idea.
We did 2 mountain ascents today Bald Mountain (2906) and Laurel Summit (2723). Bald Mountain is the highest point in our trip!
Tomorrow we head the final 58 miles to W. Alexander on the PA/WV border and hope to arrive by 10. So far, an amazing, rewarding experience!!
The Garmin track is at the bottom of the post
this is Mt Ararat, a vista halfway up the Bald Mountain climb.
Mike just texted me (230 AM) to tell me that our Delorme route (Topo USA 7) that I used to route the whole trip jumped us onto a trail system after 40 miles. Since I didnt bring a mountain bike, I thought that we should probably re-route.
Mike arrived at my room at 245, laptop in hand, to show me the new proposed route. A mile longer (66 vs 65) and 300 feet less climbing!
Reloaded our Garmin Edges and back to rest.
Moral of story: sleep kills!
