June 9th: Wellsboro, PA to Smethport, PA

In which the brave Oregon Trailers conquer Potato City Hill, only to be undone by wrestling-club chickens.

Today – by which I mean three days ago; graduating college has not done as much as I hoped to improve my punctuality – we biked from the little town of Wellsboro, PA to the littler town of Smethport, PA, passing through some of the most beautiful scenery that we’ve seen on the trip so far. The first half of the day – up to about mile 40 – was a gradual climb, first through an agricultural valley surrounded by mountains, then – as we rode up into those mountains – through state-owned game lands. The last grade – which was apparently called Potato City Hill, although neither potatoes nor a city were anywhere to be seen – looked intimidating on the elevation profile of the day’s route, but ended up being not all that bad. We ate lunch when we got to the top of it, laying in the sun and watching people ride by on their ATVs. (For you city types reading this blog, an ATV – a.k.a. four-wheeler – is a motorized off-road vehicle with four wheels that you sit on top of and steer by using handlebars. So it’s kind of like a bicycle, except that you don’t have to exert yourself and it’s harder to fall off. I confess to feeling small twinges of jealousy as the ATVers rode by, and to stopping and taking a good long look at the next ATV
being offered for sale on the side of the road.)

After lunch, it was a long downhill through the towns of Roulette and Port Allegheny. Being, as usual, somewhat easily distracted, I ended up at the back with Jessalee and Alex. We were almost out of Port Allegheny when we noticed an inordinate number of chickens – hundreds of them, actually! – on two big grills by the side of the road. It turned out that the local youth wrestling club was having a fundraiser, timed to coincide with some sort of town-wide yard sale festival and – evidently – the arrival of the Habitat Bicycle Challenge. Of course we had to stop. We ate a whole chicken between the three of us, washing it down with cans of Mountain Dew. Little did we know – little did our elevation printout suggest – that the next seven miles or so into Smethport would be by far the most mountainous of the day. This provided our formerly-feathered friend with the opportunity to have the last laugh from the insides of our stomachs. Eventually, after much grasping at our stomachs, we made it to Smethport, mildly worse for the wear.

The church in Smethport was one of the friendliest we’ve stayed at so far and definitely the most thematically decorated. There were bicycle-themed tablecloths and several Tour de France posters, and one of the church members who fixed us dinner brought an old cruising bicycle to prop at the end of the serving line. Dinner was, of course, delicious.

The day ended with our first “town hall meeting,” which is HBC-speak for the weekly gathering at which we discuss problems and make group decisions. After hearing horror stories from last year’s leaders, I was expecting the meeting to be several hours of pure pain, most of it probably consumed by impassioned argument over whether to dry our bike shorts for seven minutes or eight. But it was surprisingly peaceful. The only semi-contentious issue was wake-up times, with the question being whether we should wake up really frikkin’ early or really, really frikkin’ early. And so, I am happy to close this blog entry with the news that the 27 riders of HBC Central 2007 still love each other.

-Rob Inglis

June 8th: Towanda, PA to Wellsboro, PA

Last night on the Susquehanna River, Rob and Severin decided to turn the plastic Thule into a raft, and successfully forded the river. This magnificent and epic boat launch/river ford was just another reminder that we were on the Oregon Trail. This morning we woke up really early, and continued biking through the “endless mountains” of Pennsylvania. Although the ride was pretty, I think we are all ready for some flat terrain, and if possible, less road kill. We promptly stopped for lunch at 9:15, and were into Wellsboro by 12:30! After showering, we took on the town, getting ice cream and milk shakes, and also having some bikes looked at by the wonderful Country Ski and Sports outdoor store.

Since more than 60 minutes had gone by, it must have been time for dinner. Pasta and sandwiches were donated by two local restaurants, and we drove 10 miles to see the Grand Canyon… of Pennsylvania. Although I’ve never been to the actual Grand Canyon, I am sure it cannot compare to the wooded valley at which we gazed.

It’s 8:30 now, and I think that’s past my bed time. Brian “Mad Dawg” Allen is still alive and pedaling, for all those curious. Today was our first mail drop, so thank you so much to all for everything!! It seems as though some of the baked goods we received will up our calorie intake to over 5,000. Three more days to Ohio! Yippee. Thanks for reading and for all the support.

-Kathleen Abels

June 7th: Waymart, PA to Towanda, PA

First I want to extend a big thank you for the great send-off this morning at God’s Mountain. We really appreciate everything all of you have done for us. If we receive an equally good welcoming everywhere than we will really be spoiled this summer.

As for the riding, it was our longest ride so far and we felt it. Pennsylvania has a lot of hills (East coasters call them mountains…). We are all exhausted and going to bed early but at least we know now that the group can handle the long rides. We are ready to tackle the rest of them but we all look forward to getting out onto the flatland where we don’t have quite so many hills to climb. The physical difficulty of the trip is finally beginning to set in.

In other news, Rob and I had an exciting adventure crossing the river in Towanda today in our new boat. It was about one hundred yards wide and all we had to paddle with was our hands. Little did you know that we could turn over the top of the luggage carrier on our car and use it to float. It drafts very little but the freeboard is even smaller, an inch max. We got wet.

Yet another amazing meal was received from the Presbyterian Church in Towanda. You can’t imagine how grateful we are for the time and energy complete strangers are spending on our behalf as we work our way across the country.

-Severin Knudsen

June 5th: Port Jervis, NY to Waymart, PA

We started the morning in Port Jervis to a sky threatening rain, but by the time we got on the road the sky was clear. Port Jervis is located in the very bottom of a valley so while yesterday we ended with a nice downhill run, today began with a nice climb. We spent most of the morning riding along the Delaware until we crossed over it into Pennsylvania across an old canal aqueduct. From there we switched to following the Lackawana (I actually have no idea what this river was called). All the river valleys made the morning fairly flat (though slightly uphill) and easy and we made good time to lunch along a lake around the 40-mile mark.

After lunch we left the rivers for good and switched back to hills. The wind picked up strongly through the afternoon making some of the hills even harder. We went up and down for 20 miles culminating in our ascent to God’s Mountain Retreat, our stop for the night right outside of Carbondale, PA. The view from the top of the mountain is amazing. We can see back over most of our day’s journey, which is a little depressing. All along the top of the ridge is a wind farm with a dozen or so wind turbines. We hiked up behind the lodge to beneath one of the windmills. Somehow I had expected them to be taller, but they were certainly impressive.

The lodge we are staying at is amazing. We are being completely spoiled by our stay here. Our hosts treated us to more home-cooked food than we could possibly eat, good conversation and a couple off-color jokes. The lodge itself lies along the edge of the ridge giving us a perfect view out to the east. The area is wooded with lots of animals though the only thing we’ve seen from the lodge was a lone black bear that rambled through the back yard before spooking and running away. We also get a pool and, for maybe the only time on our trip, beds. While we were splashing around in the pool a local news station came and filmed a short segment on our trip and stay here. They had no footage of us working or biking, but showed a lot of us playing and carrying our bicycles. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a (relatively) late start at 9am to rest our legs and do some work.

-John Vinson

June 4th: Central Valley, NY to Port Jervis, NY

Day three presented a bit of inclement weather. It was our first encounter with rain, and I wouldn’t exactly call that aspect of the ride enjoyable, considering that it was also freezing. Or so it seemed. I also continued the curse of the HBC birthday person by getting a flat. Let me just add that this was my first flat. Ever. The ride got better with a mid-ride stop for lunch and amazing hot chocolate. After the cessation of the rain and some minor up hill climbs, we had an awesome four mile downhill into Port Jervis, NY. After reclaiming our jerseys from South (p.s. we’re so much cooler than you, south), we ate dinner made by a wonderful lady at the church we were staying at. We tried to go bowling at the local lanes, but apparently, pulling the Habitat card doesn’t tempt everyone to keep their businesses open after closing hours. An unnamed individual subsequently had his clothes stolen, and then we finally headed to bed to ready ourselves for our first long ride. And so, the trek continues…

Oh yeah, and if anyone is wondering, despite the fact that Brian dressed like Johnny Cash on a bike today, he’s still alive. Go team.

-Liz Ferro

HBC Central 2007 Mail Drops

Here's a list of the towns where we'll be picking up mail along the way for anyone who'd like to send us anything (cookies and Clif Bars are our favorites!). To send mail to a rider in any of the towns below, mail your items at least seven days before our date of arrival, and use the following address format:

Rider's Name
Habitat Bicycle Challenge
General Delivery
Street Address
Town, State ZIP


Thanks in advance!
-HBC Central 2007


June 8:
14 Main St
Wellsboro, PA 16901

June 15:
206 W Washington St
Napoleon, OH 43545

June 22:
223 W Main St
Morrison, IL 61270

June 29:
348 E 6th St
Fremont, NE 68025

July 10:
112 Wyoming St
Shoshoni, WY 82649

July 20:
150 N 4th St
Hamilton, MT 59840

July 27:
128 2nd Ave
Walla Walla, WA 99362

August 3:
28515 SE Highway 212
Boring, OR 97009

June 2nd and 3rd: New Haven, CT to Ridgefield, CT to Central Valley, NY

Our epic journey started in a magnificent fashion: escorted by the New Haven police, we set off. Next stop: Ridgefield, Connecticut. The day before, we biked up to Lighthouse Point and dipped our bikes in the Atlantic, but today it was time to start heading west. After about a 44 mile ride, we reached our first destination. It was a good first day. Our team is getting along really well and I can already tell it’s going to be a great ride to Portland. We stayed in a gym at St. Mary’s school and the following morning, during breakfast, everyone sang for my official “HBC birthday”…meaning I get to write the blog for today.

Day two of our journey was about a 50 mile ride to Central Valley, New York. My buddy Brian, who thought he would not survive this far, is still pedaling strong and everyone else has proven to be well trained. Despite falling off my bike twice and also getting two flat tires, it was a great HBC birthday (thanks Liz for helping me fix my flats). After lunch we took a small detour to Lake Tiorati. Some of the brave riders (including David, Meg, Rebecca, Kathleen, Niko, and Jessalee) went swimming and played a great game of Marco Polo. We were supposed to camp tonight, but since the weather called for rain, we ended up staying in a fire station, which was awesome!

Since this is the first entry and since I’m sure there are a lot of anxious parents reading this blog, I just want to thank all those who have supported this cause thus far and to let you know that we are staying safe and looking out for one another. The leaders are doing a great job organizing our voyage and they deserve our personal thanks. Anyways, it’s far past time for bed. Tomorrow’s destination: Port Jervis, New York!

-Nick Kostreski