The Maine Moment!

 

Made It To Maine! By Bicycle!

We awoke Thursday at 4am to the sound of rain outside our hotel window. Not good! We were due to start up The Kancamagus Highway after breakfast and a cold rain was not in the plans! It was in the 40's and raining pretty steadily and Michael and I proceeded to discuss options for the day. The original plan was to climb up and over the Kanc, come down into Conway, grab some coffee and head south on Maine Route 16 to wind up in Lebanon, Maine the home of Richard,Brianna,Algen and Alanna. It was looking to be a 95 mile day according to Garmin GPS and that was not sounding to appealling in cold rain to any of us! All along I'd been telling everybody we were "Riding to Maine", no specific destination other than the state of Maine since I had not known where Richard lived. I felt that if I made it to Maine that would complete my goal and it wasn't necessary to ride the additional 50 miles down to Lebanon. A quick session w/both map and GPS revealed that we could still do the Kancamagus Highway, start to finish and push on another 10 miles eastbound and be in Maine for under 50 miles. This was stating to look promising and everybody seemed happy. Plus it would put me in Fryeburg, Maine; the home of my veterinary classmate Scott Johnson! How cool would that be to ride up to his front door, having pedalled all the way there from our home in Pennsylvania? We circled the wagons at breakfast, planned out a 45-50 mile ride in the cold rain and most of the group quickly adjourned to the hot tub after breakfast to preheat their buns, so to speak! After a good warm soak in the hottub, a sit by the fire in the lobby and more debate about appropriate attire in the cold rain, we were all promptly ready to leave by 10am! Our latest start so far but everybody felt confident in the plan, their abilities and their gear. Plus we had Brianna and Jason following along in our Toyota FJ Support Vehicle just in case! Some of the group went for full rain gear, while others of us felt that one way or another, you weren't coming out of this day warm and dry, so why try!! The normal mountain vistas and viewpoints were obscured by rain, fog and clouds so we didn't linger long at the overlooks and it still took well over 3 hours to climb to the pass at a distance of 12 miles and total elevation nearly 3,000 foot. Everyone made it to the top though and we started to call Richard "The Phoenix" having risen from his knee problem and we just called Alanna "The Animal" cause she just kept coming back for more! The descent down the other side promised really cold and really wet, especially since there was still snow on the ground at the top of the pass! We started down and I quickly realized the folly of wearing eye protection as my clear glasses were misted over in the first 100 yards with a good 20 mile descent. I really felt bad( just kidding!) for Michael who insists on riding in cotton clothing and no gloves!?! Can you spell hypothermia? Sure enough on the 35-40mph descent Michael got soaked, cold and then a flat tire!!! Can you spell BONK!!! I stopped to help Michael change his tire but he insisted "it will be warmer to walk!" which he did for almost an hour before the support vehicle came along. Michael has ridden to Maine many times previously so was not hung up on riding the whole way there like others of us were. I rode ahead and got passed by a group of 4 cyclists on the descent riding a paceline at nearly 22-24mph and though I caught a wheel for a very short time, I WAS WRECKED and got promptly dropped. where did they come from anyhow? Just kept my head down, finished the Kanc, hit 302 East in Conway and saw very little of the trip into Maine. Was so tired I called my buddy a mile down the road and told him I was turning around and heading for home, too tired to got another mile!

Made it to The Kancamagus Highway!

We made it to the Kanc! The Kancamagus Highway that is, which runs up and over the mountains from Lincoln,New Hampshire to Conway, New Hampshire. There will be an early start tomorrow with sore legs from today and no time to warm up! We're staying at the Comfort Inn directly at the base of the highway which runs >36.5 miles and ascends up and over the Kancamagus Pass. Most people pronounce it Kank-a-mang-us but the actual pronunciation according to Wikipedia is Kank-a-maw-gus. We rode today from Lebanon, NH through Enfield, Canaan, Wentworth past Mount Cardigan and past Mount Moosilauke. We had an incredible climb, long and hard up the shoulder of "The Moose" and pre-cooked our legs for tomorrow. Fortunately we were met by our support vehicle partwaay through the day. Sort of teasing you there as we have been unsupported essentially since leaving Milford on Day 2 and been pulling everything we need in our BOB trailers. However, since this is a one-way ride up to Maine, we were met today by our SAG crew about noon ouside of Cheever/Wentworth area. Richards' wife Brianna(pronounced Bry-anna) drove my Toyota FJ Cruiser up from Pennsylvania with the bike rack on the back for Michael and I to drive home. We were very happy to see the SAG crew as we think SAG stands for Support And Gear. Wepromptly each shed our BOB trailers,loaded them in the back of the FJ and felt like real strongmen pedalling up the remaining hills w/o the added weight. Bry-anna brought along their 8yp son Jason who thought the FJ was a pretty cool truck for SAG, especiaaly since it has 4 DVD screens installed that he was able to watch DVD's and cartoons on! He wanted to know if I bought it at "some hippy place?" Wonder why? Also along was Richard and Bryanna's sister-in-law Alanna with her mountain bike and she joined us for the last 35-40 miles today, which included some very intense climbing that went on literally for miles. At dinner tonite Alanna was trying to decide whether to join us for the 1st or 2nd part of the day tomorrow. The 1st part is about 35 miles up and over thr Kanc while the 2nd part is about 45 miles from Conway down to Richard and Bry-anna house in Lebanon, Maine. No doubt the first part will be way cooler, much more difficult but very cool. Catch you up tomorrow night!

Michael Just Loves Posing for Photos!!!

 

Maine the Hard Way, Day 6

Started the day in Brattleboro, Vermont at the local Holiday Inn Express. The night manager last night was awesome and very accomodating. We booked a 2 queen suite with a pullout sofa and he took most of the other room furniture out to make room for the bikes and trailers. He also brought old sheets to put down and protect the carpet and also clean rags in case we wanted to clean our filthy bicycles( we did not!). I ate dinner last night at Wendys' with a single and the other 2 guys ate elsewhere. Up early at 5am and though the breakfast bar did not officially open until 630am, they left us in early at 6am so we could be on the road early. Most of todays'ride was of little real appeal, too much traffic, poor road surface and good bit of rain w/cool temps but it was still time on the bikes getting us closer to the Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire. Richard is doing awesome with his sore knees! Lots of preventive maintenance such as HEET, ice, elevating it as able, spinning a low gear at high RPM's and every time you look or stop he's doing stretching exercises and is consequently doing very well! The Garminconnect link shows a map of our route and we ended up in Lebanon,New Hampshire Coming up Route 120 North from Claremont to Meriden was a rough bit of choppy road surface, but just like Day 1 we felt like we were riding directly into spring with all the plants in bloom, etc, etc. My Picassa web albums from today and Day 1 both should show good pictures of what it feels like to ride into Spring with all the plants in bloom! Rode the Road through a private,co-ed, boarding school late in the day near Meriden, NH in the seeming middle of nowhere and when I Googled it I discovered that tuition, room and board for this private Boarding school was nearly $45,000 per year! Ouch! Spending the night at The Fireside Inn and one of the guys in housekeeping seems convinced I'm Lance Armstrong and he even wanted his picture taken with me to tell his buddies he met Lance! Not likely that Lance would have taken 11 hours to ride 65 miles, even pulling a BOB trailer. We head for Lincoln,NH tomorrow and plan to ride the Kancamangus Thursday!I'll keep you posted!

Crazy Fast Descents Pulling Trailers!

 

Windmill Farm on Ridgeline!

 

Maine Bike Ride Day 5

Slept like a baby last night! That would be a baby with recurring leg and foot cramps through the night despite my heavy use of supplements, vitamins and minerals to keep the body in optimal shape. Started Day 5 at the Holiday Inn in North Adams, Mass and had Huevos Rancheros with home fries for breakfast! Burning lots of calories each day and trying to find foods that will stick with me thru the day. Richard is still suffering from knee pain/discomfort and he decided to wait until after CVS Pharmacy opened at 9am so he could get more products for his knee pain. Michael stayed back with him and I took off solo about 730-8am or so. Headed North on Route 8 headed for the Vermont border crossing near Stamford, Mass. Again lots of climbing, check out the Garminconnect links and click on the elevation profiles to follow along. Passed several Moose Crossing signs but saw no moose. Did see and hear pileated woodpeckers frequently, one of my all-time fave birds. Stayed on 8 North which ran with 100North for a ways up and up and up to the ridgeline near Searsburg, Vt where the Green Mountain Power Company has a pod of windmills grouped on the ridge to generate sustainable power. Waited there for a while for Michael and Richard but too windy and chilled, imagine that? Rode down off the ridge solo to the Route 9 intersection and just laid down along the roadway waiting for the other guys. Michael and I are both pulling BOB bicycle trailers and the owners manual clearly states no speed in excess of about 20mph! We clocked in around 40-42 mph today on certain sections of roadway and the trailers actually pull very nicely and seem rock solid and stable. Went into Wimington, Vermont for photos for my daughter Amber(who most of you know lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. Had originally planned to take 100North from Wilmington towards Jamaica, Londonberry and then to Ludlow by way of the killer climb up Okemo firetower road but we opted for a more moderate crossing of Route 9 east bound through Marlboro then on to Brattleboro. We actually stopped very early at Holiday Inn Express and soaked in the hot tub and had the pool to ourselves. Wendys Chili and a single for dinner and did everybodys laundry as we all had some ripe cycling stuff! On an interesting sidenote; while doing one of the big climbs this morning another cyclist passed me going downhill the other direction. A couple minutes later a voice over my left shoulder announced that the cyclist had turned around and was joining me for some of the climb. Turned out to be an 85 year old strongman training for the Senior Games this August in Palo Alto, California. Name of Leon and he races in the 5km and 10km time trials and he also does the 20km and 40km road races. He was riding an older KHS road bike because it was supposed to rain and he didn't want to get his new Trek Madone 5.2 dirty!! He's the age group record holder throughout New England and when I looked over his bike I noticed that he was in the big chainring up front while I was spiining away in my lowest, granny gear. A true cycling strongman at 85 years old. Wish I had the foresight to have taken his picture!

Very Tough Climb/Worth It!!!!

 

Road Closure?? Hope Not!!

 

Maine Ride Day 4 Rest Day but Climbed Mt Greylock!

Day 4/Sunday was planned all along as an easier day both because it was Sunday and also the 4th of many more days. I don't know if I mentioned before but both my cycling companions Michael and Richard are both Jehovahs Witness' and very active in their respective congregations. As such Richard wanted to attend services this morning at the Kingdom Hall aka Church Building in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Services started at 930am and the guys planned to ride to the Kingdom Hall but wiser voices(my own) prevailed and I suggested we dress well, take a taxi there and back and just get a later start since planned a shorter day. We were back at the room in Comfort Inn by 11am and on the road by 1130am. We only had 25 miles planned to North Adams, Mass and as we headed across town looking for Route 8 we ran into a father/daughter team cycling across town headed to a beautiful rails-to-trails pathway. These rail-trails are always perfectly graded and mostly flat for obvious reasons. We saw a beaver relatively close up and ran into a guy and his family out for a bike ride. The guy was on a gorgeous Felt cyclocross race bike that his buddy loaned him during the off-season while he is road-racing apparently. Nice friend,eh? We actuallly passed an Adventure Sports store that had bicycles, kayaks, canoes, backpacking gear,etc. Michael reminded me that I wanted to get the drivetrain on my bike tweaked/tuned/cleaned/etc. We stopped by and the guys at the shop put the bike right on the stand and went busy on it, tuned it, adjusted the cables, cleaned and lubed the drivetrain, etc, etc. They had the nerve to charge me $10 bucks!!!!!! Try that in the Poconos stopping by unannounced and seeing how much service on a Sunday costs? We arrived in North Adams,Mass about 3pm and checked right into our room at the Holiday Inn. I might add that we take all 3 bikes and both trailers into our rooms each night and it gets mighty crowded, especially with a fold-out cot and 2 beds!! After we checked in at the hotel, Michael and I left our fully loaded trailers behind and headed directly for Mount Greylock nearby. Mount Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts and it also has a paved road surface all the way to the top! Unlike Mount Washington Auto Road which is a privately owned, toll road, Mount Greylock is a publicly maintained state road.HOWEVER!!!! We had been hearing since we started that the road had been closed the last 2-3 years for resurfacing and repaving and would not be open to the public until May 22 or so??? We road our bikes there anyhow and the new road surface was awesome! Even though it was Sunday we snuck around the unmanned gates blocking the road and started up about 330pm. The road was in great shape but certain sections are monstrously steep and rival Mt washington though not as high. The road itself was about 6-7 miles one way up and climbed to 3,491 feet. It took us over 3 hours to make the climb with rest stops and photo ops factored in. There is a neat obelisk up top and we had the whole place to ourselves. Very windy and cold. Took over 3 hours up and it was now 7pm and we were on top. Michael worries a lot about getting caught out after dark while I'm a well prepared Boy Scout type with lighting front and back, reflective clothing and such. We headed down the road and the same road that took us >>3 hours to climb took about 21 minutes to descend despite the cold. We reached speeds approaching 40 mph and had a blast!
Richards' knees are still sore and he stayed behind at the hotel. After such a monster climb today I won't be surprised at all if my knees complain in the morning. We shall see!

So True!

 

Maine the Hard Way, Day 3

Started Day 3 at 3am! Couldn't sleep well so I put my headlight on and tried to read a book underneath the blankets in bed but even that bothered Michael. Ate a cold slice of leftover pizza and half my leftover chocolate mousse dessert from last night! Keeping fueled up is key, even if the fuel is sub-standard. At about 315am I grabbed my laptop and walked from the Cobblestone Motel to "downtown" in an attempt to find a Wi-Fi hotspot? At the library they had a sign in the window advertising Internet Access but they didn't open for 10 more hours at 1 pm. I walked across the street, grabbed a chair and setup on the sidewalk outside the library! I'm sure I would have drawn stares and comments but there was nobody around. Managed to access the Internet and post my previous ride to GarminConnect, post photos to Picassa and check e-mail, ALL BEFORE 4AM! We actually started pedalling the bikes at 715am after morning coffee and AMP at the local Valero gas station. Immediately started up a long, arduous climb that took over 2 hours to go less than 10 miles, climbing over the pass to Hunter Mountain Ski Area and Tannersville,NY from the backside. Stopped for breakfast about 10am at a little bistro in town and the 3 of us dropped over $60 on breakfast!!! I got Eggs Benedict w/home fries and fresh fruit with lots of coffee and mocha hot chocolate!! Next door was a throwback bike shop/snowboard store and the guy was big into vintage bikes: a Fat Chance Slim Chance, a Schwinn StingRay with PeaPicker front suspension and a stick shift in Grape Color and an older SantaCruz mountain bike! Cool Stuff! We headed out from Tannersville,NY and then down a screaming fast 4 mile downhill with sweepers and rollers heading down into Catskill headed for our crossing of the Hudson River on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Then we picked up Route 23 around the town of Hudson. Stopped yet again at a Stewarts for more coffee and AMP and saw a limited edition Mustang commemorating the car from the Steve McQueen move Bullit! Very cool car! Richards knees were acting up again and we stopped at an old style diner so he could ice down his knee but it wasn't working! We were 50 miles into the ride at 5 hours and it was about 5pm. According to my Garmin 705 Edge GPS we still has 40 miles to go. Decisions were made for Richard to bail and try to hitch a truck to take he and his bike to Pittsfield, Mass so he could rest up!!!! I actually took off alone and planned to do my best to ride it in! Lots of serious hard core hills on Route 23 and especially 22North and by dark at 8p I was still 20 miles from Pittsfield! Got my lighting system set-up, headlights and taillights, heavy gloves, insulated coat, reflective clothing and settled in for the duration with lots more climb. Got to the Comfort Inn at exactly 90 miles at 1045pm and was really cold but stoked! Took a couple hours to unwind and post my ride and pictures.

Maine the Hard Way, Day 2

 

Day 2 Matamoras,Pa to Phoenicia,NY aka Catskills

We started our 2nd day in Matamoras,Pa at the Best Western indulging in the free breakfast buffet included with the room. Ate quite a bit and a variety of foods to fuel for the day. Had a fresh cooked waffle, swiss cheese omelette,home fries and lots of coffee. On the bikes by 815am and 1st stop less than 15 minutes down the road at Turkey Hill to get my obligatory 24oz Amp Energy drinks for in my water bottles! Headed up Route 209North and crossed the Delaware River at Port Jervis, NY. Kept heading north on Route 209 and headed into the hills and beginning of the Catskill Mountains, which are beautiful anytime, especially on bicycle. Took our food break past Huegenot,NY at a Stewarts store and had THE 2ND WORST CHILI I'VE EVER HAD! 1st worst was on a cross-country motorcycle trip 30 years ago! That's how memorable both these bowls of bad chili were. AMPED up and continued North and it wasn't too long until our 1st mechanical, hopefully our 1 and only flat on Richard's bike. I was absolutely no help other than taking pictures to record the moment for posterity. Passed Richards' Restaurant and Lounge then rode into Ellenville(no, Ellen Degeneres does not live here!)Stopped at the local Chevrolet dealer to check out the 1st of the new Camaros and photos will follow, Hot Car and lists under $30,000! Went up the road a bit further to one of our favorite fueling stops, DUNKIN DONUTS, more for the coffee and an egg white sandwich with cheese. Still riding North into spring with lots of flowers and trees in bloom with good colorful photos. In fact we rode past a gorgeous plant nursery, The Catskill Native Nursery of indigenous plants. The road through Tabasco! Spent a good deal of time climbing roads named Hill Road, Summittville, High Point Mountain Road, and the weather finally broke into a blue sky day as we approached the Ashokan Reservoir at Phoenicia. The causeway across the reservoir has been closed to car traffic since 9/11 but is open for pedestrians and bicycles. Gorgeous ride across the reservoir with lots of photo ops before we hit Route 28 then to Phoenicia in the heart of Catskills. We were supposed to meet Richards friend from Saugerties, Jason, at 630pm but we never even got into town until after 7pm. Got acquainted and headed to Brio's Pizza Parlor for garlic twists, hot wings, spaghetti with meatballs and 2 pizzas; 1 6 cheese w/goat,gouda,ricotta,mozzarella, and more and the other pie was Canadian Bacon w/onion. Truth be told the whole reason for riding like this is to afford us the opportunity to eat like PIGS! Even got dessert to go which I ate at about 3am the following morning by headlight. We stayed at the Cobblestone Motel, which had abolutely NO WI-FI SERVICE so was unable to download the ride to Garmin, post photos to Picassa or post ride on Blogspot. In bed by 11pm and supposed to start Day 3 at daybreak tomorrow.

Maine the Hard Way,Day 1

 

Riding North Day 1

We made it! We actually got started on our bicycle trip to Maine at 937am East Stroudsburg time. Michael and Richard actually got started about an hour earlier as they left Tannersville via bike to ride down Route 611 to our house.Finished getting packed to go last night as we all met at the Olive Garden for carbo loading and actually met Richard for the 1st time. Richard and his wife Brianna are friends of Michael and Jessica's from Maine. He had his bike shipped via UPS to Michaels' house and then he and Brianna took Amtrak down from Maine since he'll be riding North with us and his wife will probably ride home w/Michaels sister who is visiting also from NH as well. Our route the first day went from our home on Braesida Avenue,to Marshall's Creek,then across to DWG/Delaware Water Gap where we rode across the pedestrian lane of the I-80 bridge then immediately headed north through Worthington State Forest on the Old Mine Road.This is always awesome riding due to the rolling hills as well as the scenery. Signs of springtime/May in the woods were everywhere! We saw flocks of turkey, flowering dogwood in bloom, skunk cabbage and Mayapple plants covering all the low-lying swampy areas, forsythia blooming though nearly past its' peak and lots of dente-de-lion, the typical dandelion. Also saw and heard multiple pileated woodpeckers(one of my all-time favorite birds), kingfishers, small warblers and the usual suspects aka deer,ducks,geese and lots of Homo Sapiens in the water trout fishing. We rode up the Old Mine and we climbed up and over near the Delaware View House General Store which is only open on weekends this early in the season.Richard was encountering some significant knee discomfort/pain which may have been related to his also breaking Cardinal Rule #1, Do Not Change Anything Right Before a ride. Just before starting out he switched out from sneakers to a Cabela catalog cycling shoe which was bigger and bulkier, thus changing his foot position on the pedals and aggravating an underlying knee issue. We stopped at about the 30 mile point in Laytons' Corners at their General Store for a late lunch where we met the wives and the FJ which they had used to portage our Bob Trailers from home to there. We ate lunch and hitched up the wagons for the last 15-20 miles to High Point New Jersey and then Matamoras, PA, our final destination for the first day. With Richards sore knees and the overloaded trailers we opted to stop at The Inn at Hunts' Landing, A Best Western hotel along the Delaware, which was where everyone decided to stop for the day. However, upon rest and inability to relax, I dropped my BOB trailer in the room and took off for High Point alone due to Richards sore knee needing the rest.
Totals for my day can be found via my link to GarminConnect.com and pictures galore on Picassa photo albums. Sorry for the rambling report but it's 1030pm and I finished riding at 830pm with the return from High Point. Michael and Richard went to bed earlier about 9pm while I wanted to post.

Major Trips:Cardinal Rule Number One!

Just spent the majority of tonight bashing the Number One Cardinal Rule of Major Trips, which is #1 DO NOT MAKE ANY MAJOR CHANGES TO YOUR EQUIPMENT JUST BEFORE EMBARKING ON A MAJOR TRIP!!!! The idea is not to get any rude awakenings from new gear while on the trip itself but rather to always use the same gear on the trip that you've used repeatedly in training and KNOW to be infallible!!! That way those new socks aren't found to induce multiple blistered toes or the new biking shorts aren't found to be woefully inadequate in the padded crotch department! However in my case I spent the nightat RadioShack purchasing a new laptop with a cellular AT&T mobile broadband card installed to take along, put a new seat pack on Donnie's bike,installed new lighting systems front and back with a NiteRider dual beam halogen headlight in case get caught by impending darkness and installed a cadence sensor for the Garmin GPS Edge 705 I'll be using to track the trip and post on the web. Though I well know the potential consequences of new gear failure, it is one of the many ways I continue to procrastinate and put off the truly important detail of "Getting Packed"! We did quite a bit of surgery today at the office and I deal with stress differently than my wife, Sammie, does. When she gets stressed she actually buckles down and gets organized and productive. When
I'm stressed I eat, I surf the Internet, I post to a blog(!), I go to the Pistol Club and practice, I take my motorcycles and kayak to the storage unit under the pretense of getting them out of Sammie's way but actually continuing to procrastinate,I drink coffee and multiple cans of AMP energy drink, yet still accomplish very little real preparation. The real preparation will take place at the last minute for me as it ALWAYS does! More tomorrow. I actually need to have my gear packed and my trailer loaded to go and ready by the time our little group meets at Olive Garden at 7pm for some truly good,old fashioned carbo loading(?).
On a final note, a reporter from the local newspaper did a brief telephone interview with me this morning after my weekly massage with Roberta(more procrastination!) She was actually doing a story on the benefits of personal training and she had interviewed my personaltrainer Don Messing from No Limits Personal Training in East Stroudsburg(ok, a shameless but honest plug for a great guy!) Donnie had her interview a couple of his clients, me included. She said she definitely got good material for the story and wanted to get together next week with a staff photographer to get photos of us, but I had to defer and let her know I would not be available for photos because I'LL BE ON A BICYCLE TRIP TO MAINE!!! for the next 10 days or so!!!!1
More to follow!

The Taper!!!

Didn't really expect to taper for this trip but it has happened by chance anyway due to circumstances. Making my lists and checking it twice. As usual I'm procrastinating before getting organized,laying out gear and getting packed. Have more or less wasted the last 2 days of pack time at Radio Shack trying to get an operational wireless broadband card to work with my laptop so I can take it along to Maine and post to this blog, Garminconnect.com and also post photos on Picassa. Did manage to get a couple hours on the water in my new kayak yesterday with my personal trainer Donnie and his wife Carrie. We did a short, flatwater trip on the Delaware River to get the feel of the new boat and practice some paddle strokes. Lived in the Poconos nearly 20 years and my 1st time on the Delaware, what a shame! Gorgeous day. I'm using Donnies Trek 5200 road bike for the trip which has a touring crank up front,aka triple chain ring with a granny gear for the climb.Borrowed the bike a basic, boring black and gray. Had to add a dash of yellow so put on yellow bar tape, yellow tires, yellow bottle cages, etc to make it more liveable for MellowYellow. Photos to follow. Also put my NightRider Dual Beam headlight on the bike in case get caught out early am or late pm. Added a stem mount for my Garmin Edge 405 GPS and still waiting on a cadence sensor from Amazon.com. The bike is well trimmed out at this point and I did ride it last weekend >100 miles on Saturday pulling my BOB Yak bicycle trailer which connects directly to the rear wheel skewer/quick release system. The trailer itself only weight about 12-15 pounds but according to literature is capable of pulling 70 lbs fully loaded. I'm hoping NOT to fully load it! Wanted to get a bit more info posted tonight and watch for updat tomorrow. MellowYellow1800

Gotta Start Somewhere, Why Not From Home!!??

Laura Van Gilder just tonight suggested blogging(?) to keep anyone interested in my progress on my upcoming bike(bicycle that is) trip from home in East Stroudsburg to Maine with my buddy Michael aka The Big Mig(as in Miguel Indurain,previous Tour de France winner many times over)and his friend from Maine, Richard aka Mandinka Warrior(don't ask me,I don't know where it came from!?). You probably know me as many different terms of stages of endearment but for the purpose of this trip I'll remain MellowYellow1800 aka Clair, Dr Clair, E-Clair, Clair Bear or just "That bastard from work!" We'll start turning pedals next Thursday at 7-8am and head north, winding up in Maine the following Saturday afternoon to catch a ride w/Mig's wife Jessica aka Momma in the Making(1st child due in about 4-6 weeks!) back to the Poconos. Yeah, it is cheating to only ride out and not back but "winners never cheat and cheaters never win" and thus far I haven't won one yet that I can remember. It's coming up on midnight and I really just wanted to start this blog and take it for a trial spin before bed. Many of you know how my previous trial spins have turned into 2 motorcyles and 6 bicycles in the garage so far! More to follow.