august 19th , the final chapter

the big dip!!! I chose to dip the “other” wheels

 

I built a cairn on the beach….mine is the tall one in the back.

 

basking shark, wierd sunfish thing with a flipper on top and bottom, and a whale!!

 

the three of us at the journeys end.

the plane ride from manchester new hampshire after spending the previous day on 3 buses!! thats manchester on the top, on the bottom a valley filled with fog. pretty cool, HUH??

    THE CONCLUSION.

     So… what questions would you all like to ask? the most common one is, would I do this trip again? the answer, YES!! without hesitation. I had zero physical problems and never once regretted getting on the bicycle for another day. NOT ONCE!! I really enjoyed riding , it was never too hot,too cold,too wet,too windy,too long. NEVER!! I loved being out there and just mindlessly riding the bike. I never wore a headset or listened to anything other than the birds singing in the trees, the tires rumbling on the road, the chain whirling in the sprokets. The wind whistling through my ears! sometimes it was hard to have a conversation with anyone, due to the amount of wind noise, so we saved our conversing for roadside rest stops and camp chatter. I know that some of you are not hardcore cyclists and the thought of riding a bicycle endlessly day after day seems like insanity. well today I feel like the sanest person on the planet. when are the rest of you going to get out there and ride??? sit by the side of the road sometime and look at the faces of the people speeding past. do they look happy?? I , on the otherhand had a smile one my face and a song on my lips everyday. ” standin on a corner in winslow arizona, such a fine sight to see….its a GIRL! my lord in a flatbed ford slowin down to take a look at me”!! can’t get it outta my head!! there was a song of the day and a waitress of the day. always something to think about and always some world problem to debate about how to fix. of course we thought about the energy problem alot. and saw lots of windmills out there. LOTS!! seems like the wind could be tapped a bunch more than it is. with the amount of wind we faced and mostly it followed us, anyone considering a trip like this traveling from east to west? I’d reconsider if’n I was you!! one day in montana I actually accelerated up a hill without pedaling….wind power!! on another day we averaged 24 mph and rode 120 mi before 2 pm!!

 

EQUIPMENT SUCCESS AND FAILURES

  If you like to backpack and are looking for a very good tent look at msr hubba bubba. mike had the double and I had the single. no one got wet or had problems other than a busted pole. My fault, put the cross pole on top instead of underneath, don’t do that, it always hangs from the underside of the long pole. msr whisperlight stove performed flawlessly , white gas is somewhat harder to find but heats quicker and burns hotter than propane. I was able to boil water 2x faster than a propane fire. HOWEVER!!! I had a gas bottle leak into my bag….not a pleasant smell and it lasts forever!! let alone the risk of one of my farts causing a sleeping bag fire!!! Lets talk about riding clothes. bike shorts are certainly on everyones mind as they ride day to day. I noticed that my giant bib shorts were not as huge as they professed!! as a matter of fact the pad in my “giants” compared to my favorite specialized they were puny!!shorts are always a crap shoot. some that you’d expect to be excellent, ain’t , your butt will tell you if you are doin it right. while we are down south , saddles. I rode a brooks b17 and loved it right outta the box. michael on the otherhand hated the one he swapped out halfway through and never rode it again. one day is all it took and off it came. tires, I though I invested in some top quality touring tires….continentials, top touring and top contacts. both had side wall failures. one was a pot hole that shattered the sidewall belt, one may have been caused by my not seating the tire properly. luckily I carried 2 spares. a specialized armadillo went on the rear, 700 x 28 and would have liked a 35 but thats all I had along. specialized tricross comp was my ride. its going on 4 yrs old and was a perfect fit for me. off the shelf and with all the braze ons for racks and bags. WHEELS!!!  oh, my,god!! I almost forgot my wheels. peter white of white industries built my 40 spoke velocity dyad wheels. they are as true today as they were on day one. I did have them retensioned in whitefish when I got my new deraileur, and that made a HUGE difference. the increased tension equates to speed and more power on the climbs. I figured that I carried about 65 lbs of gear which was on the low side most days I carried more, pile on food , water, hourly snack food , a sandwich for lunch, beer, blueberries (aka “power pills”) assorted stickers (michael was a sticker fanatic), I collect national park patches. so most of the time I had 70-75 lbs of crap hanging on the bike. didn’t seem to stop me, might have slowed me down some, but didn’t stop me!! I rode every mountain. did not walk an inch!!

GOOD BYE FOR NOW!!

watch for further adventures next year when I attempt to through hike the applacian trail !! anyone interested??? AAAHHHH, RETIREMENT! WHAT A CONCEPT!!

camden maine, august 11,the ocean!!

 

so….here we are! on the verge of completing this adventure. I’m about 60 mi south of bar harbor, by road, about 15 mi by ocean. so I am just hanging out and doing the tourist thing. checking out the scenery and trying to keep from being run over by other tourists! route 1 is a busy and crumbling road. I’m constantly dodging pot holes and cracks, all the while I’m warching for great pictures of the sea and looking for cheap lobster and campgrounds. The same as everyone else!! have had a pretty hard ride since middlebury! the rains came and I got seperated from the rest of the gang. roads were closed and there was some question about continuing. well I forged ahead and the group stayed behind….I had a couple of long days . big steep climbs and a lack of services forced me further ahead. I rode an 87 mi, then a 95 mi to stay ahead of the rain and into the few available campgrounds. today I’m just lazy and may ride 30-40 mi looking at scenery and hoping the rains hold off till I find a cheap state park campground. I paid 37.50 for a tent site last night. but was 100 yrds from the ocean with a clear brook running right along the tent. swimming pool and hot showers with laundry services are high up my priority list!! will be heading for bar harbor in a day or two and want to go off shore to an Isle or two if I have an opportunity. will be heading home ,(hopefully) over the weekend!!

east middlebury vermont,tuesday aug 5.

today is tuesday and we have less than 400 miles left to go in this journey. I really can’t believe that this trip will end. we have had a hell of a great trip. from my standpoint anyway. I’d like to get home to see everyone again. cut the grass and hang out on the deck with a beer and my girls. take a day off??? not likely at this point. the horses are getting anxious to head for the barn. but we have some pretty steep obstacles in front of us. namely the green and the white mountains!! they are large but not as big as the rockies. unfortunately according to those who have gone ahead, the roads are narrow, crappy and crowded. so the difference will be huge. were as the rockies were steep, they were uncrowded and the pavement was excellent. the scenery here in the east is just as spectacular as the west, no snow capped peaks , but the vistas are excellent. we’ve had a day or two of rain, and I didn’t take the camera out but today was beautiful and there were plenty of photo ops!! we were in michigan and then into ontario canada by way of another ferry. ontario was great, north side of lake erie , very peaceful. loads of sandy beaches. then it was into new york and the USA via niagra falls. what a hassle!! don’t ask!! anyway new york state is beautiful. the upstate area that we rode through was excellent. now its on to the last week of the trip. how can that be? seems like I just left !! right?? anyway , I’m on my way to bar harbor , and have to pass through the remainder of vermont, 2 days tops, and then new hampshire before maine. so there will be some climbs, and the heat is back on, we had a sweaty one today. 77 mi. we are in a motel for the night and we are all getting our batteries on our cell phones charged and sitting around sippin some beer. life is good!!