Bicycle Trip

After savoring the feeling of standing in the Atlantic. Maggie and I picked up a bike box from a local shop and checked into our hotel in downtown Boston. We spent the evening packing up my bike for the train ride back to Ohio, and generally enjoying the feeling of completion. She treated me to a celebration dinner at a Japanese hot pot restaurant and after hanging around for a while got dessert and calculated some data about the trip (shared in the next post).

The next morning we got breakfast and carried my bike to the train station. It was the end of an amazing experience.

The final day started around 8:00 with a breakfast of pancakes complete with Mike's homemade syrup. It was a delicious way to start the day, and I was excited to finally be reaching the Atlantic. But the weather forecast looked wet, and there was a steady drizzle outside the breakfast room window. I took my time getting ready not wanting to go out into the rain, but just before 9:00, my planned departure time, a bike trip miracle happened: a bit of sun showed through the clouds. The rain slowed and stopped, and suddenly I was excited to head out and finish the adventure.

I set my alarm early expecting rain in the afternoon. Although I was a little sleepy, I managed to be packed up and on the road by 8:00. The terrain was still hilly and my legs were sluggish at first, but they warmed up eventually and I was on my way. I passed from town to town and the short ride went by quickly.

I was very slow getting up this morning and didn't even get out of bed until almost 9:00. By the time I found a campground I liked and plotted my route it was 9:40. But today didn't have to be as long as yesterday, and with no rain in the forecast, it didn't hurt much to sleep in.

It looks like mother nature decided to postpone (or hopefully cancel) monsoon season part II, so instead I'll recount my four state day -- something I didn't expect to happen on this trip.

I woke to the sound of rain on the pavilion roof under which I had pitched my tent. The forecast had predicted rain all day, but I decided to sleep a while longer anyway to see if it lightened up. It didn't much, so about 8:30 I got up, and just after 9:00 I rode into the wet beginning of what I'm calling monsoon season. This was the heaviest rain I've been in on the trip.

I managed to get up and say goodbye to Reuben in decent time this morning, and headed out with an idea for a stopping point, but no definite plans. I had worried somewhat that today would be hard because I had planned to go about 160 km and with the hills that might have been tough. To my surprise it didn't feel significantly harder than previous days of the same distance. And apart from a few steep climbs the terrain wasn't a lot harder than the rolling hills of Missouri. Of course it helped that it was sunny and beautiful today too.

This morning was one of the toughest of the trip. I woke up in a wet sleeping bag and had to get ready in the cold. And although yesterday's ride was mostly on bike trails, the few steep climbs caused my formerly broken arm to be sore again. I guess I must be getting tougher mentally because I managed to get going without wishing for a nicer day too long. I started by heading to Walmart to get granola bars and breakfast at the subway.

I said goodbye to Pilang as she was getting home from her overnight shift at the hospital. After using more of my subway gift card for breakfast and taking a quick stop at the grocery store for granola bars, I was on my way.

Since most people probably aren't familiar with the cities in the title today, I basically rode from the southwest suburbs of Pittsburgh through downtown to the east suburbs. It wasn't quite like the rest day in Gallup when I didn't even touch my bike, but it was a short day, and hopefully put most of the slowness that comes with leaving a metro area behind me.