Day 1- Jamestown to Olean NY

It was a lovely day one of the Anchor House ride. We left Jamestown around 7:30AM, and cycled through the lovely countryside of Cattaraugus County. It was a relaxing route today, with rolling hills and great views of the hills and valleys and for a while we cycled along the Allegheny Reservoir. The weather was perfect- mid 80's and sunny to partly cloudy. This part of New York state, like many rural areas of the country, is economically depressed (it was hard to find an open restaurant for lunch!), but there were pockets of economic activity, as evidenced by this sign where you can get redemption from 10AM-10PM AND a cold beer (photo compliments of my friend Val). Or by these sweet girls selling delicious Kool-Aid before the biggest climb of the day (a 2 mile climb with an 8-12% grade). Perhaps a fundraiser for the area could be started- one idea is a calendar called the "Women of Anchor House" (see below for a possible cover- lovely and well defined legs complete with henna chain ring tatoos). Tomorrow it's the longest ride of the week, 90 miles to Corning.