Me, Ellen and Phil before leaving Langhorne

We awoke later than planned, at 9am.  Ellen’s friend, Dan, stopped by with coffee, tea and bagels from Dunkin Donuts on his way home from his graveyard shift job.

Phil changes his flat tire

Fortunately, we had a short ride to Philadelphia from Langhorne, although, after Dan’s suggested changes to our route, the distance went from under 30 to close to 35 miles.  We made good time in spite of the wind, stopping only twice – once for a snack and once about 4 miles out from our destination due to a flat tire.  This was Phil’s 4th flat tire in only 4 days of riding.  This time it was the front tire, which isn’t as much of a pain to change, but we are going through tubes much faster than we had planned!

Philly Cheesesteak!

When we reached Steve and Lucia’s home in Philadelphia, their dog Danny greeted us eagerly and followed us to our room.  We quickly changeed our clothes and walked a few blocks to Jim’s on South Street, where we ordered the classic Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (hoagies?).  After eating, we walked west to EMS, stopping for ice-cream at Scoops DeVille on the way.  After purchasing a pair of pants at EMS, we walked back towards our hosts’ home.

Phil relaxing at the Coffee Bar

I was really craving a beer, and Phil wanted tea, so we found the perfect place to chill out and drink our beverages of choice while listening to good music and catching up on e-mail – The Coffee Bar.

We walked back to Steve and Lucia’s house, where we had some tea, loaded the next day’s route into Garmin, and talked about bicycling and traveling before retiring to bed.

Phil with Liz and Brian

This morning we weighed our bikes on Liz’s scale.  My bike weighed just over 80 pounds with all its gear, and Phil’s weighed in at just under 80.  This was going to be my second day riding the heavier bike, and my legs could definitely feel the difference after day one (although maybe climbing the mountain had something to do with it).  Phil and I had changed our brake pads the day before, so we felt ready to go downhill.

When one begins at the top of a mountain, and there’s nowhere to go but down from there, one would expect the day’s ride to be relatively easy.  This was not the case for me and Phil today, as we fought strong headwinds for the entire length of our course.  Even going downhill, we struggled against the wind’s invisible force that was persistently trying to push us backwards, barely able to reach 20 mph at the steepest descents.  I am almost certain that if the wind had been at our backs we would have reached Ellen’s house in half the time.  There was a beautiful bike trail that went on for a sizeable portion of the course, but its surface was composed of loose gravel and was bordered by steep banks down to a river and a canal on either side.  It was flat, but slow, so we decided to deviate from the original path and take the roads to where we met up with the course that Garmin had laid out for us, in Princeton.

Despite being on fairly main roads for most of the journey, the apple orchard was the only place we passed where we could get food, so it ended up being a wise move when we allowed the alluring aromas of apple pie to pull us off the road for a pit stop about 16 miles from the end.  We bought an apple cranberry crisp, which Phil strapped to his bike to bring as a gift to share with our hostess.

Ellen met us outside of her house and invited us out of the wind.  She is an avid cyclist who rode across the country, from Portland, Oregon to Gloucester, Massachusetts two summers ago, and she shared with us photos and tips from her touring experience.  She also has traveled extensively and has lovely decorations from all over the world around her home.  Since the grocery store did not have anymore roasted chicken, Ellen actually cooked for us, which apparently never happens, so I feel rather special.  The food was delicious.  After the meal, Ellen went over the route we planned to take out of Langhorne, making suggestions to put us on better roads, and taught us the numbers in Arabic.

Phil and I decided to stay in for the day in Watchung, and Liz and Brian were generous enough to allow us to stay one more night at their home.  It was going to rain all day, and would have been a miserable ride to Pennsylvania.  I feel like it was still a productive day, as I made progress on the website.  Please excuse the slowness with which we have been able to improve the site by adding content.  We are always so tired at the end of our ride, and the few hours between arriving somewhere and going to sleep are usually spent showering, eating, and making conversation with our gracious hosts, leaving little time for web content editing.  It still needs work, but today’s work brought the website a great leap forward, in my opinion – although, I still need to figure out how to display a map of our journey.  I worked on the website nonstop until 3:30, when I decided to venture out for a run before it got too late.  I’ve only been able to run twice since we left Providence, and I really miss it.  Since I’ve only brought my vibrams with me, I can’t yet run more than 5 or 6 miles without my feet and calves screaming at me.  Running back up the steep mountain was a wonderful cardio experience, and I felt quite good afterwards.  The rest of the day was spent inside eating, talking and reading.

This morning I woke up to Phil making blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  I made peanut butter sandwiches with the leftover pancakes, and discovered that they are a surprisingly tasty and satisfying snack when you’re in the middle of a long bike ride.  Getting out of the city was a challenge.  I realized when we got to Central Park that Garmin was not cooperating, and insisted that I was off course.  Stopping to investigate, I saw that all of the courses saved in Garmin were actually maps of the course we had done on Friday on our way into the city.  That didn’t help.  We continued through the park and made our way to the nearest Starbucks so we could use their free wifi to sort out the map issue.

Even with Garmin programmed correctly, finding the proper route to the George Washington Bridge was tricky.  I kept missing turns, and then when I paused to consult more closely with Garmin, the orientation would change and I would have no idea which way to turn until I started going in the wrong direction.  It must have been frustrating for Phil to follow me in circles.  At one point, I saw a way onto what I thought was the bridge, up two long flights of steps.  We struggled with our heavily loaded bikes to climb the stairs, only to find that we could have ridden around a block and ended up in the same place without involving the stairs at all.  When we did finally reach the bridge, the experience was breathtaking.  There was an excellent view of Manhattan from a distance, and we were so high above the water.  We could feel the bridge shudder with every passing vehicle.

Phil and Sarah on the George Washington Bridge

If the ride out of the city was bad, the next bridge we ended up crossing in New Jersey was a nightmare.  Garmin had led us along the river on a pleasant pathway for a few miles, but then we were forced onto a main highway with no shoulder or bike lane, and with several lanes of high speed, heavy traffic. After this, we were led into an industrial area, past a prison and straight into a train that was sitting idly on its tracks.  We waited for a few minutes as the train started to move forward.  Unable to see the end of the train, we weren’t sure how long we’d be waiting.  Before we could see its end, the train stopped in its tracks and started to slowly roll in reverse. This continued for a few cycles, where the train would go one direction, stop, and then go in the other direction, but it never went far enough in either direction for us to get around it.  Phil was getting impatient and contemplated jumping between cars while the train was stopped for a few minutes, but a man who had approached from behind in his SUV saw his intentions and warned against it.  He did tell us how to get around the train, but it sent us back in the direction from which we came, to the main road.

Once again, large trucks whizzed by us while we maintained our course on a busy highway lined with garbage and other debris.  From diesel fumes to chemicals to garbage, there were all sorts of horrible smells in this part of New Jersey.  We had a bit of trouble relocating the route from where we had deviated but we did pick it up again.  An ice-cream truck drove behind us for a while in the run-down industrial neighborhood outside of Newark, playing an almost eerie tune that got stuck in my head for a few miles.  Another point of confusion was when Garmin directed us to a commuter rail station, where we had to cross the tracks and take an elevator up to the street on the other side.

Eventually the roads grew more residential as we approached Watchung.  Watchung is actually a mountain, and the roads through the park area are really quite nice, albeit steep.  We had a great climb about 6 miles from the end and were rewarded with a really pleasant descent.  Then, about a mile before we reached our destination, it got steep again.  In our lowest gears, we pedaled hard to reach the top of the mountain where Liz and Brian live.  Liz (also called Mike) is a friend of my step-mom, Paulette, who is from New Jersey.  Brian invited us in and showed us our rooms.  After showering and eating Chinese food, we both retired to our rooms and found books to read.  Feeling content, but slightly sore from the climb at the end of the day, we prepared our route to our next host in Pennsylvania.  Depending on the weather tomorrow, we might delay our departure by a day and leave on Thursday.

I really can’t complain.  There are far worse places to get held back a day, and we happen to have the most gracious hosts/friends here who are kind enough to put up with us for another night.  Phil and I got off to a very late start this morning.  Or this afternoon, rather.  We are headed to Watchung, NJ, where my step-mom, Paulette, has a friend who will host us for a night.  It’s about 50 miles from Queens, but we didn’t even get out of Manhattan before Phil got his second flat tire of the trip (the first was on Friday on our way into NYC).  We spent most of the morning getting our stuff ready and getting my new bike ready, and didn’t leave the apartment until 1pm anyway, so when the flat tire held us up another 20 minutes, we decided it was probably best to stay in the city another night and get an early start on Tuesday morning.  So we rode around Central Park, bought some extra tubes and brake pads at Liberty Bicycle on 9th Avenue, and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant before Phil realized he had another flat on the same tire.  After picking out more glass and fixing that tire, he went to get tire liners at another bike shop down the street (47th St and 9th Ave) while I had an ice-cream cone somewhere in between.  We then rode back to Central Park and stayed there until riding back to Queens.

Since I was going to be in town another night, I decided to check out the restaurant where my cousin Ari works.  I had asked Jeanne about it the day before, but he doesn’t work there on the weekends so I didn’t think I would get a chance to go see him.  Rym, Phil and I met Emily at Benoit, a fancy French bistro.  I talked to Ari about our bicycle trip, and he got the bartender, Paul, to give us some tips on navigating through New Jersey.  Thanks to Ari, we had an excellent experience at the restaurant.  The food was delicious, and we got some complimentary champagne, appetizers and dessert!  The evening wound down shortly after supper, and we hope to get an early start for take two in getting out of the city.

After purchasing my new bike from Eli in Manhattan

Over the weekend I bought a bike in Manhattan.  I believe I mentioned that on Friday we had run across a guy on a touring bike who had ridden from Toronto to Manhattan in two weeks and was selling his bike before catching a bus back to Toronto.  I test-rode it in Central Park on Sunday, and was very happy with the way it felt.  It’s a green and brown steel-framed Opus Largo, with Mavic wheels, Vittoria tires, and Shimano components, made in Canada.  I just have to switch my pedals and saddle and add my aerobars on, and it will be ready to roll on Monday morning.

Of course, I wasn’t thinking when I rode out to see the bike on my own bike, and ended up with two bikes.  I was all alone and ended up wandering around the city for a few hours trying to figure out how to get both bikes back safely.  I ended up leaving one of them at my cousin Jeanne’s apartment while I biked the new one over to where we’re staying in Queens, and then took a subway back to get the other bike.  The doorman at her apartment jokingly told me that he sold my bike while I was gone!  So…now that I have two bikes…anyone want to buy a Fuji?

I absolutely LOVE bicycling in the city.  I find it thrilling, and it just feels great to ride along with the traffic (and beat most of it) in New York City.  It’s probably a dangerous thing to fall in love with, so it’s a good thing we’re heading out of here in the morning.

We had hoped to get an early morning start and beat the rain, but when Phil’s alarm clock went off at 6:30 I could hear it downpouring.  Michael had left even earlier, at 5am, so we ended up sleeping in until 8 or so.

It rained on and off throughout the day, but it was never too unpleasant.  We stopped around 11 for food, at a place called European Deli that was clearly Polish.  One highlight of the ride was when a woman started cheering for us from her vehicle, using an orange cone as a megaphone.  Penny rode alongside Phil for a bit, and he shared our website with her.  Cheering is always wonderful motivation, so we appreciate the support!

In front of the water in NYC

The worst of the rain happened after we made it into the city, and immediately after Phil changed his socks, since the sun had finally come out.  We were on a path along the river, and the wind was pretty strong.  I wanted to take a photo of the sky, but then it started raining heavily, so we found shelter under a bridge for a few minutes until we thought it had passed.  At least it wasn’t cold.

A few miles from our destination, a guy rode by on a touring bike with a For Sale sign on the back panniers.  I asked him how much he was asking for it, and he said that he had bought it new only two weeks ago for $2000 and ridden it from Toronto to Manhattan.  He was asking $1000.  I am considering it, since the bike I have is not designed for touring, but the frame might be too large.  My first fall of the trip happened when we were heading for the Queensborough Bridge on York Ave.  I was riding behind Phil and looked down at Garmin to see where to turn, when Phil stopped and I crashed into him, knocking off one of his panniers and falling over.  Fortunately, both of us and our bikes were fine.

We arrived at Rym and Emily’s apartment in Queens around 5pm, and waited in the lobby for Rym to get home.  After Phil and I had each showered and Emily came home, we went into Manhattan to have dinner with 6 of their friends at a Korean restaurant.  The food was incredible.  We are spending the weekend in NYC, so I will be seeing family and friends (and running) over the next two days before moving on south.

So its about time I got my act together and wrote a post or two.

“It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of three”

This trip has been a dream of mine since I was 13 years old. For everyone out there who has dreams of a trip to just set a date and work for it. If you say something like one day or someday it will just keep getting pushed back. Set a date and work towards it.

This part of the trip has been wonderful. Sarah is an excellent travel partner and our personal interests seem to compliment each others fairly well. To all of you planing a trip or thinking about one I strongly suggest a travel partner. I have done a fair amount of traveling on my own and having another person there can be a big  mental help.

As for the trip. Its been great aside from today the weather has been amazing and even today’s weather is nothing to complain about. I having been keeping a notebook to record the event and here a few of the technical details for the trip.

10/10/2011

Weather: Clear and Sunny
Temp: High 81 low 58
Distance: 61.15 Miles
Max Speed: 39.5 MPH
Travel Time: 4:52.12
Average Speed: 12.5 MPH
Height Gain: 1515 ft

Total Distance: 61.15 Miles

11/10/2011

Weather: Mostly Sunny/ Cloudy late afternoon
Temp: High 72 low 52
Distance: 37.56 Miles
Max Speed: 34 MPH
Travel Time: 4:44.28
Average Speed: 7.3 MPH
Height Gain: 749 ft

Total Distance: 98.71 Miles

12/10/2011

Weather: Overcast/ light rain past 15:00 pm
Temp: High 65 low 57
Distance: 41.37 Miles
Max Speed: 27.0 MPH
Travel Time: 3:09.27
Average Speed: 13.1 MPH
Height Gain: 701 ft

Total Distance: 140.08 Miles

13/10/2011

Weather: Overcast/ Mist and drizzle past 16:00
Temp: High 65 low 62
Distance: 37.91 Miles
Max Speed: 25.0MPH
Travel Time: 3:07.36
Average Speed: 12.1 MPH
Height Gain: 749 ft

Total Distance: 177.89 Miles

For more on what happened each day you can rely on Sarah’s previous posts a bit more so far but I will be posting more. I promise.”

To everyone who has hosted us so far, thank you so much for all of your kindness and hospitality. I hope to be able to be as generous as all of you someday soon.

All the best,

Phil

Before leaving on October 13th, with Pete at his studio

In the morning, Pete and Sarah made apple pancakes for breakfast, which were delicious.  We only had to ride 37 miles to Norwalk, so we got off to a late start (around noon).  After packing up and saying our goodbyes, we were off for day four.  Phil had spent a fair amount of time figuring out how to get Garmin to tell us our route, which facilitated our navigation considerably.

We stopped once for lunch, at a sandwich shop in Stratford called Roly Poly.  The roads were pleasant aside from a bumpy stretch through Bridgeport.  Having Garmin know the route and tell us where to turn was a huge time saver.  Still, we didn’t arrive at our host’s house in Norwalk until just after 5pm.  Michael is also a triathlete and plans to go on a cycling tour himself next spring, riding out to his daughter’s graduation in California.  We relaxed in his living room, drinking Sam Adams Octoberfest and talking about bicycling, while he prepared dinner.  Since we’re expecting rain tomorrow, we’re hoping to get an early morning start in our ride to New York City.

Phil and Bobbie were kind enough to let us stay as long as we needed before heading off, while they went to work in the morning.  We had a good breakfast and ended up leaving around 9:30.  This was going to be a short day, only 41 miles.

Our first stop was the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, which we passed by before deciding to go in and see if they wanted to interview us.  After a brief interview with Art, the director, we were on our way again.  The course brought us through some scenic bike trails, and right by an aromatic barbecue place, which drew us in for a late lunch.  This day was cooler than the first two, and it started to rain a bit for the last 10 miles of our ride into New Haven.

We arrived at Pete’s apartment in the late afternoon.  Pete is a sculpture grad student at Yale, and he showed us his studio behind his apartment, where we could keep our bikes.  He had some very interesting projects going on in the studio.  Pete shares a spacious 4-bedroom apartment with Thomas, another sculpture grad student, and Sarah and Daria, architecture grad students.  Sarah is actually from Rhode Island, and Daria went to Brown, so we were familiar with the same places.  Pete found all of these connections fascinating.  While Pete was in class, Phil and I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner and Starbucks to take advantage of their free wifi.  Afterwards, we shared some good conversation and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream with Pete, Sarah and Thomas.