How To Spend A Rest Day

It's a rest day and I'm so excited I actually slept in until 7:00 a.m. this morning. I took my time getting ready this morning and then to breakfast. It's so nice not to have to rush to get everything done in the morning so you're ready to be on your bike and on the road by 7:30. It's like a mini vacation!
Bill, Doug, Larry Jan and I walked into Rehoboth Beach and stopped to smell the flowers along the way, find the local watering holes, which weren't open yet, check out a bike shop then have lunch at the Green Turtle.

While sitting on the balcony at the Green Turtle, waiting for our lunch we noticed pods of Dolphins swimming south in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw adult as well as baby Dolphins, maybe 20 small pods in all.

After lunch we walked back to Dewey Beach and now I'm doing laundry one more time and preparing for our ride tomorrow to Pocomoke, MD. I'll close now so I can take a quick nap before going to dinner. But before that just one more picture that I hope will bring a smile to your face. It's was taken on the Boardwalk in Rehoboth and I think it explains how we spent the remainder of our day at the beach.

8 Straight Days of Cycling

It's 10:00p.m., do you know where you are? After 8 straight days of cycling we are finally in Dewey Beach, Del. We left Hammonton, NJ this morning and had another long day of riding and a deadline to be in Cape May before 2:30p.m.We left under cloudy sky's, boy there's a surprise.......not. The roads were great with wide shoulders and minimal traffic, quite a change from yesterday. For the first part of our day we were riding in the countryside of New Jersey under tree lined roads.

We had our first "official" SAG at mile 36 and just as we pulled out from our stop, it began to drizzle and then about a mile down the road it just opened up and pured. We found cover at a store front which was being renovated. The workers were so kind to allow us to get out of the rain, but after 10 minutes, we knew that we needed to get going. We had someplace to be and needed to be there no later then 2:15, so it was back out on the road and away we went in the rain for our destination.As we rode on we began to get the scent of the Atlantic Ocean and found ourselves heading into a number of seaside towns like Sea Isle and Wildwood. It was fun to have the roads pretty much to ourselves since it's off season. But there was no dilly dalling along the route today because we had more bridges to cross and about 15 miles to ride, to make it to our destination in Cape May.

You ask yourself "what's so important about Cape May and getting there by 2:15? We had to catch the Ferry so that we could get to the hotel before dark and we made it! It was a 17 mile ride that took 80 minutes and no those 17 miles didn't count as part of the 80 mile total for today. As we were getting ready to dock, I took this picture that I thought told the story of our ride today, a little bit of sun, clouds and rain!

I'm happy to say that even as we cycled through the country roads early this morning, I only saw one very smooched snake. Guess they knew we were headed their way and stayed home.

So now you know how the first 8 days of my trip ended...in Dewey Beach, Del. and tomorrow I am delighted to tell you is our first rest day, so I will bid you adieu, hope that's how you spell it!, and get some well deserved rest. I am soooo excited that I don't have to set my alarm!

Have a great Friday, I know I will!

Narrow Roads and No Shoulders

The road we took out of Somerset, NJ was one of the narrowest roads we ridden on since beginning our trip. At 7:30 this morning it was crowed with lots of people in their cars trying to get to work. Imagine I-95 during early morning rush hour and there is only one lane! At one point we pulled off the road to let a number of cars go by us so that we wouldn't slow down their way to work and be mad at us, or glad depending upon whether they like their jobs.

I also noticed something different about starting out today....NO HILLS, whoopee I was so happy. We did have a few rolling hills but nothing steep. I think steep hills are in our past...finally!

Our SAG stop today was at Russo's Orchard where we saw lots of pumpkins just waiting to be cut up for Halloween and beautiful mums waiting to be planted. We each got a piece of apple or blueberry pie, which were made at Russo's. I had a piece of apple pie, it was delicious! I love those little extra surprises at the SAG stops.

We made a stop to use the "facilities" at a local Greek Restaurant and ended up eating lunch there because the skies just opened up and poured! It turned out to be a great decision, totally unplanned, but just what we needed.

After lunch we still had about 25 miles to ride to get to our hotel. Thank goodness the roads were flat and for the most part smooth with very little head winds. But more importantly, no more rain!!! We actually rode into town with sun shine on our backs!

I did see some more snakes today, one was black and really, really fat! I thought that it was a piece of tire but it wasn't. So the snake count for today was 5.

The ride today was 79 miles and took 5 hours and 35 minutes. That also means we have one more day of riding and then we get a rest day!!!! You can't see it but I'm doing the happy dance right now.

The Pups versus The Big Dogs

We all wore our yellow cycling Jerseys today so that we could be seen. As we started out ride from Suffern, NY to Somerset, NJ, it was very foggy. How foggy you ask?....It was so foggy that every mile or so I had to wipe off my glasses, just so that I could see. Thanks goodness Bill could see without his glasses and had a Garmin 605 that mapped out our route. That was a life savor and puts Bill in the "Big Dog" category as he lead the entire way today.

By the way the name of "Big Dogs" is for Michel, Sam, Peter and a couple other riders because these guys are always finishing each days ride before anyone else. Our group is know as the "The Pups".

It was too bad that the fog was so thick and lasted until about 11:00 because we cycled through some very beautiful New Jersey neighborhoods. We were disappointed that we couldn't see the sights or take pictures.

No country roads today, we cycled through local neighborhoods and towns. Despite that, I still saw three smooches snakes, mostly when we were going by lakes. I also watched as a deer jumped across the narrow road, during rush hour traffic in front of cars and the cyclist riding in front of me. It took just one leap across the road while his buddy waited for him on the other side of the road in the bushes.

Our ride today was 64 miles and took about 5 hours. We still did a fair about of climbing, including a hill that was suppose to have a grade of 8-9% for .7 of a mile. Either I am getting stronger or the grade wasn't that steep, because it was rather easy peeasy! I would like to think I am getting stronger!

Another Day Cycling Through New York

Our day began like yesterday. A bit overcast with the prediction of the sun coming out by early afternoon and temperatures in the high 70s. Such a great day to cycle that I didn't even wear my jacket!

We cycled today from Fishkill, NY to Suffern, NY. Our ride took us through the beautiful New York countryside on US 202 where we stopped to check out Bear Mountain Bridge.

As we cycled across the bridge, we headed into Bear Mountain Park and more hills to climb before getting to the SAG. It was a pretty ride and since everyone is back to work and school, very little traffic to content with, whoopee!!!

It was a short ride today, 53 miles that took us about 4 hours. We stopped at Subway for lunch to reward our efforts at cycling today.

Oh yeah, I saw lots of snakes again, not as many as yesterday, but still quite a few; 10. Some were big black snakes and others were small silver snakes. The good news was that all of them were smooched!!

Did you notice my cycling jersey for today, it's my Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund jersey. I wear it for all our heroes do for us, thank you!

Steep Hills Bad, Pitches Good

The day began with some clouds but with the hope of ending in sun and warm temperatures. The day also began, again, with climbing and more climbing and more climbing and then we had our first SAG stop. It was at this Fire Station in Harwinton, CT. I had my picture taken in front of this truck because of the saying across the top of the front windshield..."Go Big or Go Home". That pretty much says it all for the ride today.

Did I mention that we did some climbing in our ride today? Our route was full of steep hills some with pitches which gave you a chance to recover before starting to climb again while others were just climbing for 2.7 miles, 3.6 miles, 2 miles. Plus there were lots of rolling hills in between.

As we all know what goes up must also come down which says it all for my second picture, thanks to Jan. Trust me this was not the highest downhill grade we cycled today either!
Despite the climbing, I still had time, since I was going a super sonic speed of 6 to 6.5 mph, to look for and count smooched snakes. It was a record day too, I counted at least 15! This has to be the highest count for a single day.

It was a long, hard day on the road, but still saw some beautiful scenery and rode through some very quaint towns like, Collinsville, New Preston, Litchfield and New Milford.

So it's 4 days of cycling down and another one on the way for tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be full of steep hills,but if it is, I hope we also have some pitches!

A Day Without Rain Is A Day Of Happiness

Similar outfit, different day. Not quite dressed for rain, because it's not been predicted for today, I'm doing the happy dance!!! Today's weather is cloudy, hot and humid as we cycled from Worcester MA, to Windsor Lock, CT.

Our day began with climbing out of Worcester and continued with climbing almost the entire way into Windsor Lock. I never new how hilly Connecticut was. It's almost as hilly as our ride into Worcester...wait a minute, there were some hills that were longer and steeper then yesterday. Yeah, Connecticut wins, it has more hills!

Here is a picture of me crossing into Connecticut at the state line. We road through some very picturesque countryside where we saw leaves already changing on the trees. We came around one corner to see houses that had no roofs and the sides of the houses were missing. We were told this is an area that was hit by a Tornado. Trees were bent over and some were split like toothpicks. It was so sad to see how the Tornado torn through this small valley of homes!

As we continued our ride we cycled through Brimfield, Stafford and finally into Windsor Lock. I saw two smooched snakes today and loads of smooched frogs. They must have been out dancing in the streets during the recent rain storms, looks like it was their last dance!

The ride was 68 miles today and because of the hills it took about 5 and a half hours. We took a few breaks and were sure to eat some lunch before heading to check in to the hotel. All in all a great day.

After route rap I went for dinner with Carolyn and Lou McAdams, dear friends from our VBT Ireland trip. Thank you so much for making the trip to Windsor Lock, I really enjoyed catching up with you and hope Lou enjoys his new job!!!

Rain, Rain go away...PLEASE!

Today was a long day of cycling, 93 miles. We began with overcast skies and hopeful that the rain would hold off until we rode into Worcester MA.

There wasn't much to see on the first half of our ride out of New Hampshire. The roads were pretty good as we cycled through the countryside. Some roads were narrow lanes while others had wide shoulders to keep us out of the way of the traffic. I did see something I thought strange as we rode along, I counted at least 10 old banana peels laying in the shoulders. I was wondering what's up with that...was there a bunch of Monkeys living in the woods?? If there were, they had better to careful of the snakes.

Yep, I saw two smooched snakes today. Guess since there wasn't any rain today, they decided to venture out..big mistake on their part.

In the afternoon we rode into MA. I've seen this sign before when we rode into MA last year on my cross country trip. It was great to be in Massachusetts again. The sights changes as we cycles along, we actually saw some of the leaves had already changed and lots of Pumpkins for sales at the road side stands. I would liked to have gotten some pictures but about 3:00 with 20 miles left to go to the Hotel, the rain was back.

It started slowly then with about 10 miles left the sky opened up and poured! It made for an interesting time riding through Worcester to get to our Hotel. It was slow going but we finally made it. I immediately checked into my room, turn off the air conditioning and switched on the heat.

The ride today was about 7 hours long. That was due mostly to the rain in the afternoon and a lot of hills. It wasn't so bad going up the hills, but with the wet roads I pumped my brakes for a controlled descent, so it was slow going. We all want to know when do we reach the "flat lands"!

Tomorrow is another day and I'm hoping it's without rain, enough already. Go rain on someone else's parade! Hope you have a great evening!

Rain, Rain and more rain

Today was the first day of my trip cycling down the Eastern Seaboard. In my mind, it didn't exactly play out the way I thought that it would. I dreamed that it would be sunny and warm with a nice trail wind.... and then I woke up.

We began in pour raining and relatively warm weather. Thank goodness for the warm temperatures! As you can see I dressed for wet weather with my leggings and bright yellow jacket so I could keep my legs warm as well as be seen. Even Jan put on her jacket before leaving!

I know we were cycling along the coastline today because I could smell the sea. I just wished I could have stopped to take pictures, but with the rain and the fog we encountered we were lucky to have been able to see the beaches as we rode through Kennebunkport, Ogunquit and York Maine.

The rain finally began to slow down as we crossed over the bridge into New Hampshire. So I was able to take my second picture of the day as we rode into Portsmouth. The bright side of cycling in the rain today was that my snake count was a big fat zero. Unless they were wearing water wings, there weren't any to be seen, it may have been a wet day, but it was a good day!

The ride today should have been 70 but was actually about 75 miles. Doug and I just couldn't get enough of seeing the sights of York, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Following my ride I spent 45 minutes cleaning my bike and I'll bet when I get back to Richmond and have it tuned after my trip, they will still find sand from my ride today.

T- Minus 23 Hours and Counting.....

This morning was a great morning, blue skies sunny and warm. After breakfast Jan and I took our bikes out to do a short test ride and then back to the hotel to get our orange flags on the back of our bikes. It was so nice to finally get back on my bike.

Once our flags were installed we were off to explore Portland and several lighthouses. Here's a picture of me at our first stop. I have on my custom made Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund cycling jersey. I also met a "old Corp" Marine and his dog, a Bull Dog to be specific. The official Mascot of the Marine Corp.

The weather was great today for our 30 mile "test"ride, no winds lots of sunny skies and smooth roads. What more could you ask for.... I can't think of anything. We stopped at a local sandwich shop for lobster rolls and for me a chicken wrap.

On our way back to the hotel, I saw the thing I feared the most.... yeah, they have migrated to the North East to haunt me, I saw two smooched snakes! My ride hasn't even officially begun and I'm already seeing dead snakes, the count continues.

Have a great day an let's hope for smooth roads, sunny warm weather and lots of "photo ops" as I begin my trip south.

From York to Portland, Maine

I had the best time visiting with Char and Jay in York! Thanks for all your hospitality and for keeping the "tradition" alive with breakfast at the Goldenrod for waffles, my favorite!

I'm now sitting in the hotel watching it sprinkle rain. I do have my bike with me after dealing with several issues to get it up here and then a snapped rear derailleur hanger. It's all good now, as Kevin use to say, because I have a new rear derailleur hanger and I'm rearing to go on my test ride...now if the weather would only cooperate!! I've done my "sun" dance already this morning, where's the sun?

Last night I enjoyed a great dinner at a local Brew Pub along with Jan Lewis and Doug Squires from the XC2010 ride. Now we're waiting on the rest of the "crew from XC to join us and to meet the other riders, should be 25 in all for this years ride down the Coast.

Weather reports are calling for rain on Thursday, not the best way to begin, but it's not like I haven't ridden in wet weather before, besides I have my water wings with me! Wish us luck!

Well best run and get ready for my test ride. It will be great to get back on my bike, stretch my legs and see some of the sights Portland has to offer!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

T minus......

I've finished my "practice" packing of my two gym size bags and am happy to report this year I will be at the 15 pound weight limit on both. No boxes needed for me to ship stuff home! That was so embarrassing last year! I have learned to be an efficient packer.

I have also be busy recording the Injured Marine Semper Fi Funds that are still coming in by check and through my donation site: http://www.active.com/donate/SFFCOMMATHL2011/challbikerchick

To date, I have raised over $17,000 for my 2011 Eastern Seaboard trip. Combine that with the funds I raised on my 2010 cross country trip; which were over $28,000, I have been blessed and fortunate to have raised over $45,000 for The Fund. Thank you so much to my family and all my friends who have supported me through their kind words and donations.

So as I dream of reuniting with my bike, which I hope gets fixed before I pick it up...yes can you say Murphy's Law, when my bike was unpacked they found a broken derailleur hanger. Shades of last year and I didn't even fall on wet railroad tracks!! I'm so ready to get out there and begin my next adventure cycling along the Eastern Seaboard, I've heard it's all down hill from Portland to Daytona Beach!

I hope everyone has an outstanding day and remember to be safe out there.

Tick, Tick, Tick...

The clock is ticking down and I find myself in a calm state of mind.  I don't have the same butterflies in my stomach as I did before last years cross country ride.  My bike has been shipped and should have arrived at it's destintation today, as I practice my packing skills and get a few more miles in on my windtrainer.

I've actually enjoyed riding inside because I can listen to my IPod, which is a definite "NO, NO" when cycling outside. But for something different, listening to the late 70's and early 80's disco music helps me keep a fast pace!

I've attached a map showing the route that we'll be taking.  Hope this gives you some perspective of where we'll be cycling. Before I know it I'll be peddling my way from point A to point B and have the pictures to prove it!

Hope you have an excellent week, I know I will!