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.