I headed up towards the Md/Pa border for a ride on the North Central & York County Heritage Rail-Trails. Both trails are nice and smooth, but there's a deceptively slight uphill grade of 2-3% for about half of each direction (nothing like Sara's Sierra foothills, of course ). Today was definitely a summery day, with gorgeous blue skies and temp's in the upper 80's. Hot but beautiful weather combined with terrific farmland scenery made me stretch a planned 20 mile ride out to a total of 34 miles. It felt great! The only problem is the dust on the Pa portion of the trail. Throughout the ride, I felt like Pigpen from the old Peanuts cartoon, followed by my own little cloud of dust. By the time I got back to the car, my drivetrain was creaking and squeaking, and everything below the top tube of my bike was greyish-white (including me!). I've got some serious cleaning to do now...