Ride 5: Pennsylvania
The Keystone State
State: Pennsylvania (#5)
Area: Southern PA/York
Route:Â Northern Central Railroad (NCR) Trail; New Freedom to York and back
Final mileage: 50.40
Date: September 26, 2020
Ride number 5 was so good, we had to do it twice.
Yes, we first tried this ride nearly one year prior, in September 2019, as Pennsylvania was nearby and an obvious candidate for one of our early 50-milers.
But alas, our date with this state was not meant to be that day. This is the story of our first (failed) attempt at this ride and how we eventually conquered it—with a little help from a friend.
During our first visit to the NCR Trail, which began in the small town of New Freedom, PA, near the Maryland border, we were coasting along enjoying some good tunes and conversation when an irregular-shaped rock protruding from the trail’s crushed limestone path suddenly caught Michael’s tire and sent him flying, nearly taking Alex down with him. Thankfully, the damage was limited to some nasty elbow scrapes and nothing more.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of our torment that day. Because we were already over halfway to the city of York, we decided to persevere and find a CVS for some first aid materials. Maybe once Michael was patched up, we could try to finish the full 50 after all.
We treated ourselves to some Taco Bell, but when we left the restaurant to head back to New Freedom, we ran into a new problem: Alex’s bike lock would not unlock. We tried everything, including phoning bike shops and Walmarts in the area that might be able to help us. But it was Labor Day, and these places were either nowhere near us or closed for the holiday.
We finally resorted to a long-shot idea of asking a man who was walking toward his truck in the Taco Bell parking lot if he happened to have a hacksaw. And if you can believe it, dear reader, it turns out he did! What’s more—he lived just two blocks away. Yes, this good citizen, Kevin, saved us from even more headaches that day. All three of us took turns sawing away at Alex’s lock (which is more difficult than you might imagine—a testament to the sturdiness of these locks) until his bike was finally free.
But we still had to get all the way back to the start. Despite all we’d been through, we thought we may yet pull off the full 50. However, that’s when we noticed something that had not been apparent on the way up to York: the trail had been a slow and steady descent going north, meaning the southbound half that took us back to the starting point would include a painstakingly slow and steady incline most of the way back.
With Michael still using his old bike and neither of us in particularly good biking shape at the time, we decided to just get back to the car with our pride at least somewhat intact and ultimately clocked in at 43.95 miles that day.
So, it wasn’t meant to be on this first go-round. But the second time, we crushed it.
Here are some highlights from what actually turned out to be a very fun trail!
This time, the ride was much more pleasant, with no hiccups along the way. For old time’s sake, we decided to go back to one of the sites of our prior misery: Taco Bell. Because this second ride happened during COVID, we had to pull our bikes into one of the carry-out parking spaces and phone in our orders.
And then, something incredible happened. As we were debating which foods we would feel the least guilty about stuffing into our stomachs, we heard a voice from the drive-thru line behind us yell, "Didn’t I rescue you fellas at this same spot around this time last year?"
It took us a second to realize this person was talking to us. Then our eyes widened, and we turned around: it was Kevin! Of all the ways the NCR could have rewarded us for giving it a second shot, it was by reuniting us through sheer happenstance with the guy who had helped us in a pinch and prevented us from swearing off this ride when we came back to Pennsylvania a second time. (Unfortunately, we didn’t think to get a picture with him, which would have been a great memento, but we importantly did get a picture with Taco Bell—and we’ll always have the story.)
We chatted with Kevin for a bit and then eventually said our goodbyes. After fueling up on a healthy dose of chicken quesadillas and Cheesy Gordita Crunches, we headed back to New Freedom. While the ride back was still a little tiring—the gradual, endless incline was indeed still there—we hit the magic 50 mark and called it a day (and a win).
And with this ride in the books, we were officially 10% of the way to 50 states!
