Day one end. 69 miles done! Mix of sun and rain.
Good evening Brooklyn. This is Northern New Jersey! Well, we've officially hit the open road and at least in terms of biking, new York is far behind. The first day was blessed with only a few setbacks and some unexpected strokes of kind community.
Adjusting loads and weight distribution is just something we'll probably be working through all this week. Sam's made whole heaping leaps in his bike to trailer comfortability level, but the bob is still slowing him down a little on the downhill. My navi skills stuttered right after the GW for a grueling fifteen minutes as we missed a turn and cruised down this huge hill in Fort Lee. Aaaarrgghh! Just as we turn around for the climb back up (fort lee is apparently split with half the city by the river and the other on a fairly sheer ledge above) we received our first touch of rain. Ok so it was More like fifteen minutes of buckets crashing on us. At least our rain gear is solid.
Back on track the rest of the day went smooth, miles and miles of hills, dips, strip main street townships in the sloped valleys between. Nevermind shooting out to Montauk or The Hamptons for a bike ride Here you ride, ride, and ride up until summit points finally crest only to descend in a quick reprieve to do it all over again. You're legs whining to you about how its been miles while the little comp on your handlebar clicks by in feet. A lot of trouble with my comp spared me this, but Sam offered the distance every once in a while so i wasn't excluded. We'll get back to the computer in a minute.
We had a lovely up hill climb on a detour after find a bridge was out on our route right after our picnic in front of a local 7-11. I did have a quick scare when I pulled ahead of Sam on a climb. I had just begun my descent when behind me a car made a clipping sound and skidded to a stop on my side of the mountain bend right in the space between Sam and I. You'd be amazed at how fast you can spin a 100 pounds of bike around on a high traffic roadway when motivated. I started yelling towards the driver who assured me he was ok, ignoring that I was asking about the biker. When he finally listened to the words I was saying, He said he had already passed the other biker, which is the exact moment Sam cleared the bend. Whew! I mean, something happens to me that's fine. Well, not fine at all, but it's my burden. But I don't think I'd be able to handle my best friend getting hurt on one of my grand ideas (even if the trip is his idea too). Besides Shani kicking my ass, the thought is too much to think about. Just got to have faith in his caution and my good luck...we're doomed!! Just kidding. Sam's pretty cautious.
Final negative issue: The constant let down of my bike computer. My sensor konked out on me before I even had cleared midtown. Then as I'm biking down these windy north jersey slopes, through the drizzle and the fading light, the damn things zip ties bust off! Not even a pothole of provocation too mind you. I recovered it but I'm not impressed so far on this journey Sigma.
The high points? Clearing the urban sprawl leftovers of Bergen county. Entering into the domain of all those long rolling climbs of the Tri-state area, even though I think I'll curse them seven times till' Sunday, I'm sure, over the next few days.
The best thing to happen on day one has to be though me overshooting our campground on a dark downhill descent, and stopping at some random Louisiana style steakhouse, meeting Todd and Stephanie It's rare that you meet two people like this in the world let alone at an intersection restaurant in what seems (at 9:30 at night) to be the middle of nowhere. I went in asking for directions to the nearest campground, what I got was an offer to get put up in an empty downstairs apartment. Todd and Steph loaded our bikes into their pickup, took us to the store to pick up groceries and treated us to a few very tasty (especially after 69 miles) glasses of tempranillo. Todd, a fellow hardcore cyclist, offered tips and stories for our journey, and just plain old hospitality, something that I don't remember as a native New Yorker receiving so openly since childhood. At the end of the night, after Todd and Steph finished their last cigarette (I did abstain, thank you), we bid them a goodnight and as we were going back to the downstairs, Todd handed us a donation to our cause. Wow! All I can say is wow! Despite the rain and any of our setbacks, if everyday could be like this. Meeting and learning all those good people out there in America that you read about in Highlights as a child or see in a Norman Rockwell, this trip will have been worth everything, even if we don't make it another twenty miles, which we will.
As to yesterdays entry, am I still scared...you bet your ass man! Shitless! But the good news is not so much as long as I'm peddling. It's when I stop and start thinking about my life and where I'm going, that things start growing giant's legs and have to just close my eyes and breathe.
Sent from my iPhone |
