6/26- PITTSBURGH- DAY OFF!!!!

Today we had an off day in Pittsburgh, and boy did I need it. After two weeks of some of the hilliest and hardest riding I have ever done with no rest days, my body was reeling for rest. I woke up with my lower trapezius muscles screaming in pain, and after getting breakfast at the diner across the street, I hobbled back to the church where I tried a do-over of the morning and went back to sleep. A few more hours later, I re-awoke feeling slightly better, but still extremely sore.

After getting my wash done, I received letters from our second mail drop. The Ingber family, Dave Miller and my grandparents had all sent me letters/postcards which I was extremely appreciative of. Thank you all for your well wishes.

I spent the afternoon at the Carnegie Science Center with Lindsey, Allie, and Kyle, who have quickly become some of my best friends on this trip. We saw an Imax movie about the Alps, which made the climbing we did in western PA sound tame compared to the one mile verticle cliff found on the Eiger, the Alp's tallest and most treacherous climb.

We also saw the aquariums on the third floor that made me miss my goldfish, my goldfish, and crew very much, and a huge train set on the second floor that reinacted the Pittsburgh area in the 1850-1920 time period. We met a retired gentleman who gave us a whole tour of the entire train table, and even took us in the back room where he showed us "The Little Engines who couldn't". He also gave us a small donation for the cause, which was really nice.

The night was spent biking to Andrew Werner, who is still being architortured this summer at CMU, as he takes business classes for his minor. After biking to his place, we went out to dinner at Panera's in Squirrel Hill, which brought me back to my days in CMU precollege, where taking the 58U or 61C to the Waterfront or Giant Eagle seemed liked a really far distance. I was getting set to bike back when torrential rain and thunderstorms ruined such plans, so Andrew drove me back to the church.

Having climbed substancially the last few days, I figure I'd leave you off with this quote from former Tour Rider Jonathan Vaughters, now race diretor of Garmin/ Chipotle-

"That brings me to the key question, again: Why do people want to climb? Climbing, at its very core, is just a simple and hearty battle against gravity. The basic law of nature that oppressively pins us to the earth seems to be the one we feel the greatest need to fight against. Perhaps, then, this is why we are always trying to climb? Whenever we climb, we are proving that we can take on a force greater than ourselves. We’re pushing against something that holds us down. It’s the fight for freedom, freedom from the oppressive laws of nature as laid down by that rather aristocratically named gentleman, Sir Isaac Newton. We all know humans have a long and volatile history with the pursuit of freedom. Climbing is just a facet of this same fascination with being free.

With this noble and never-ending battle between gravity and the human race permanently underway, it would only be logical that when the greatest invention known to man, the bicycle, came into existence, the first thing we would want to do with this mechanical marvel would be try to climb hills with it. "

The full article on climbing, which I highly recommend can be found at http://theclimb.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/ready-to-edit-and-post-expert-advice-from-jonathan-vaughters/index.html