Look, Sunshine!

I’m familiar with this area of New Haven from last year’s “15th annual Ride the State: From the Boathouse to the Statehouse” — a 67-mile fully supported bike ride in support of the East Coast Greenway(ECG), and specifically the ECG trails here in Connecticut. I stayed here last year, and the ride started from the boathouse — on the other side of the interstate just a block away.

The great thing about Connecticut on the ECG is that it has the highest percentage of completed route at 54%, which is over 111 miles on separated greenway away from traffic, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s nicely graded (read: flat), as opposed to the short punchy hills — sometimes 10% — that are quad burners so typical in southern CT.

The entire ride today should be on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, all the way to Simsbury, CT. Imagine nearly 40 miles on a greenway, no traffic, plenty of services, and hopefully no rain! That’s what I’m looking forward to today.

I’ll be riding this year’s 16th Annual Ride the State: CT, on June 27 — and if you’re able, not only do you support the ECG in completing the trail in CT, and by extension the entire ECG, but you also ride with 199 other happy bicyclists, get SAG support, lunch provided, and a free commemorative shirt. It’s a good time, and a good cause.

Also with all the downtime this morning I calculated I’ve logged 915.25 miles on this ride. Technically, once I get to Putnam, CT, I will have covered all the miles contiguously from Key West, FL to Calais, ME: over 2,900 miles between last year’s ride and this year’s ride where I started in Georgetown, SC — using a combination of both the ECG and the Atlantic Coast routes.

As you can imagine, during the worst moments over the last two days, I was thinking I’d stop in Putnam, CT and call it a completion — but I set out to ride Maine for the third time (I also did it the last 2 years), and I want to finish what I set out to do. And there’s also a chance I’ll get to ride with some of the Spinners again. I’ll sort all of that out at home (Jamaica Plain / Boston) where I’ll take a couple of days off and reset for the home stretch.

I expect a drier day today. Twenty degrees warmer for a high (72) and very little rain after midday.

I eventually started the ride today at 11 am and … no rain! After 72 hours — no rain!

On the Farmington rail trail, skirting Yale University, on the East Coast Greenway. New Haven, CT.

 It was odd stopping for lunch an hour after starting, but if I started late my stomach didn’t  care. Tonino’s Pizzeria is right on the trail in Hamden, CT. During a long distance bike ride or a thru hike is the only time one can eat with caloric impunity, but it ain’t healthy — it is fuel… it was perfectly dry except the puddles — on I rode.

At 68° it may have been a bit cold for the turtles,  but the blue heron was on the hunt in Cheshire, CT. And later — a Celsius / Nerds break is in order, still eating like a 12 year old in Plainville, CT.

Bike related public art on the trail in Farmington, CT.

Two views of the Farmington River. Farmington, CT. By now it was 72 degrees, completing the 20 degree temperature swing from the last 3 days. Look, sunshine!

I met Steve in Avon, CT. He’s originally from Stoneham, MA, and we traded Boston and Maine stories. He also told me about the mysterious (to me) tower on the mountain over Avon. It was built by Gilbert Heublein — of A1 steak sauce and Smirnoff vodka fame — as a summer home in 1914. His “castle” on Talcott Mountain, “fulfilling a promise to his wife.”

Just after sighting the tower I was in Simsbury, CT — my stop for the night. At the very cool Powder Forest Guest House — easily my new favorite Air BnB location. 

After the endurance test of the last two days o couldn’t be any happier than how today turned out. A just balancing for the cold, wind-driven, rain and 50 degree couple of days. 

Day 25:
Start: New Haven, CT
Finish: Simsbury, CT
Miles: 46.4

Tomorrow a push east to Mansfield, CT. It sets me up for a long (84.6 mile) day home — or a optional 50-60 mile day to one of the commuter lines for a 20-30 mile train ride home. If I did hop the train, I’d come back out on the train Friday and ride the mileage home — if I were to be a “completist.” Although if you remember from above, once I’ve done the first 20 miles and hit the city park in Putnam, CT, I will have technically finished the trail. Do I stay on all the way to Lubec, ME, or call it a complete East Coast tour?

We’ll see…

(I’ll leave you with a Door Dash delivery of Plan B Burger Bar chicken sandwich … something to chew on …)

What I’m Reading:

The 204 miles of the East Coast Greenway in Connecticut showcase the state’s diversity, from coast to inland and city to country. In the eastern part of the state — the most rural and hilly stretch between Boston and Washington, D.C. — the route follows a series of state park trails connecting historic mill towns like Willimantic and winding through forests and farmland.

— East Coast Greenway Alliance website / “Welcome to Connecticut”

Ain’t No Sunshine…

Frankly nothing makes me feel less than going out on a bike than 3 days of 50 degree wind driven rain — it’s hard to leave the comfort and warmth of the indoors, but: NO RAIN, NO PAIN, NO MAINE. And I intend to get to Maine. So out I go…

I witnessed a late morning drama between geese parents, goslings, and a marauding seagull at Edson Park on the outskirts of Stamford, CT. The seagull seemed to be trying to poach one of the goslings, but the parents were successful foiling the gull. Then they saw me taking pictures of the scene, and when one made a beeline for me I was on my way again.

Days, and a series of 3 days as we’re experiencing, are endurance tests — type 2 fun— not truly enjoyable on its own terms, but enriched by what you’re able to wring out of your body and mind. This is what we sign up for when we take on  these long distance biking endeavors — but don’t think I didn’t consider jumping on the CT Transit train at various early points today, and saving myself some misery. But that’s too easy a solution, one needs to remember what they set out to do, bike to Maine. This moment at the Westport train station was the last time I considered skipping some mileage — that’s a slippery slope.

A moment by a private beach in Greens Farms, CT. The water was deceptively clam for such a high wind day. The beach in Fairfield, CT, and a Southport, CT public garden — which afforded a canopy for a short break.

It was a complete washout of a day — wall to wall torrents of rain & wind with temps in the mid-50s — just awful biking weather. Late start = a late lunch at Beverley’s Pizza in Bridgeport, CT. A hot coffee and half a chicken parm sub did the job fueling me to the next stop.

Wheels in Milford, CT was good for a Snickers bar, hot chocolate, and a break from the rain.

Oyster River Beach was deserted, as was every other beach I saw today. Today was also the first day I didn’t see a single bicyclist out on this tour. Seems everybody had better sense than I did and stayed inside today. Later the same dynamic at Veterans Park in West Haven, CT. 

It was heartening to see New Haven materialize beyond the mist. I was soaked, shivering, and leg tired.

The ECG had one more surprise at the Harbor Trail, which abuts a wildlife refuge — an unpaved path with interpretive signs.

And even a food truck festival about a mile from my hotel.

But I’m done and done! 49 miles in the cold wind driven rain — I’m stepping in fully clothed into a hot shower. Warmth, shower and laundry all at once.

Day 24:
Start: Stamford, CT
Finish: New Haven, CT
Miles: 48.6

Tomorrow’s the last day of this rain pattern. It should stop raining by midday … another late start in store? Then a series of sunny days with mild summer temps is forecast.

What I’m Reading:

My heart open like a burst fig my coffee
a pool staring back at me it’s dark & when
I’m not home I wake up with bug bites I’m
never home anymore my body is not home
to me it is a center I am trying to find

— Francesca Kritikos / “Kneeling”

Please Stop the Rain, Please

I rolled out at 5:55am. I watched the forecast last night mention a four hour window of lighter rain early in the morning, and I intended to make use of the opportunity. The rain was light in the early morning, but make no mistake it was wall to wall rain today with temperatures ranging from 50 to 58 degrees — it was trying to say the least.

Early morning on a rainy Saturday is the perfect time to avoid crowds on the Empire State Trail on the west side bikeway. Which features the Intrepid Museum on the USS Intrepid …

…large-scale public art …

… a close up bike ride by the George Washington Bridge …

… featuring some makeshift cairns nearby on the Hudson River.

The trail turns away from the river bike path just above Washington Heights …

… before cutting in towards the Upper Bronx where multiple trails converge.

A turn north into Van Cortland Park through some beautifully maintained trails…

… until my first flat tire. Oy! Changing a flat is never fun — I’ve changed flats a eight to ten times, but never in the rain — and never so difficult a tire. This gravel tire—the “Tracer” is a brutal change. Despite changing the tube successfully, and massaging the tire numerous times to soften it up — these deep well, hooked rims, and tire combination are tedious and extremely difficult to put back on the first time (this is a two month old bike).

I kid you not, I spent nearly 2 hours trying to get the tire back on the rim — I broke two tire levers, and 5 good samaritans that stopped broke two more between them. I was physically spent, had bloody thumbs, raw fingertips and my forearms were toast. The last man that stopped was fresh-armed and a behemoth. He got the tire back on the rim, but so many of us had levered the tire to death, that we punctured the new tube inside — a sort of pinch flat — the tire would not hold air.

And while I had two more spares, I couldn’t envision spending another hour with another tube and tire change, I was spent, and it was now starting to rain harder. Luckily there was some canopy cover.

So with the tire replaced but flat, two hours later, I chose to walk to the nearest accessible pickup point to sort this out at a bike shop. I walked back half a mile to the Yonkers Gateway Motel and found the nearest dedicated bike shop and called for an Uber XL pick up.

I called and verified the bike shop was open on a holiday weekend and used the Google address on the web with the Uber driver, Juan. When we got to the address we found the store location had moved, not knowing I didn’t know, no one at the store told me on the phone. 

Juan graciously ended the ride, and drove me to the new location in Pelham, NY, just a few miles down the road.

Danny’s Cycles has multiple locations, this one in Pelham is manned by good, professional, mechanics and excellent people.

And they are fully stocked with a good selection of bikes and gear — and new Park Tool tire levers to replace the ones I broke (that were not the superior Park Tool brand).

Below with Hector, Jose, and Leyden at Danny’s Cycles after a successful change and a tutorial on dealing with very difficult tire/rim combinations. Jose (middle) with 17 years of tire changing experience admitted that the Tracer is a bear of a tire to change — patience, extra massaging of the tire, and brute strength are key. I’ve only changed about 10 tubes (flats) and hope to never have to replace another in my Tracer tires again … wishful thinking.

Lunch at Rockwell’s next door was crucial as I hadn’t had anything to eat since 5:30am and it was well past noon.

Both the overwhelming number of televisions and the hunger are responsible for my “deer in the headlights” look, but by this time the tire incident was four hours old and I had to figure out a new route to my destination in Stamford, CT. I still had 22 miles to go. The bacon cheeseburger at Rockwells was excellent though. It powered me through the rest of the afternoon.

But the rain didn’t abate, by 1:30, near Rye Beach, just beyond the trees, it became torrential. Here I ducked under a tree during a short break.

Still raining and now back on the East Coast Greenway (the ECG) in Port Chester, NY.

Ducking under some cover for a few moments out of the rain … what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Oy! Port Chester, NY.

The only, and first, indication that I was in Connecticut came from this CT Transit bus stop sign. Welcome to Connecticut! You should have brought your canoe. Near Greenwich, CT.

It was a day made for wading birds — the cormorants were happy! Greenwich, CT.

Cormorants on the edge of rain soaked bliss…

… thank you! Thankfully the day is over. I must be thinking of a hot shower and dry clothes below — just happy to stop and get out of the incessant rain.

Day 23:
Start: New York City, NY
Finish: Stamford, CT
Miles: 39.20

Unfortunately, this rain system will blanket the area through Monday afternoon — 2 more days of this! One day at a time. One pruned, raw finger at a time, one soaking at a time. Sunshine ahead later in the week — AND a few days at home in Boston. Yay!

What I’m Reading:

We slide like fish,
the road dissolving.
And in the fields
the farmlights chant:
You have no land—
You have no land.

— Milton Kessler / “Route 40—Ohio, U.S.A.”

---

uneven endless flickers

Memorable Stuff I Read This Week

America is sick and people do not know their own minds.

— Excerpt from Mariah Garnett’s film Songbook / Whitney Biennial, 2026

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The strongest El Niño weather patterns in recent decades is forecasted later this year, which could bring floods, droughts and high temperatures. But it’s still uncertain whether winds and other weather factors will either ratchet up ocean heat or temper it — and therefore weaken the possibility of a strong El Niño. Forecasters should know more in the coming weeks, once they get past the notorious ‘spring predictability barrier’.

— Flora Graham / “Are we headed for a ‘super’ El Niño?” / Nature Brief

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It is absurd that people who look and pray like me and my cousins and uncles, with hearts that could fit in my chest, will die today from bombs forged and dropped by my tax dollars.

Kaveh Akbar / Dayton Literary Peace Prize speech

---

Night was best, for, as everyone knows but does not tell, the sobbing of the earth is most audible at night. You can hear it clearly then, but the sobbing still harbors a little bit of hope, a little bit of promise that the day does not afford.

— Joy Williams / “Chaunt” / The Pelican Child

---

Even now, when the smell of unleaded
gets trapped in my throat,
I can still hear it—
the cheap buzz of the Chevron lights,
breaking open the dark
in uneven, endless flickers.

— Molly Thapviwat / “Cherry Coke and Chevron Lights”

---

An extra-long snooze after a short night’s sleep appears to offset some of the negative health effects associated with sleep deprivation. Researchers found that people who caught up on sleep the night after a brief slumber — termed ‘sleep rebound’ — were less likely to die in the eight years following the study period than were people who didn’t. They also found that most sleep rebounders didn’t wait until the weekend to sleep in. Instead, they tried to compensate for lost sleep as soon as possible.

— Jacob Smith / “Catching up on Zs could keep you healthy” / Nature Brief

---

In my pursuit of tender lines, 
I’ve become a butcher, 
committing crimes against myself 
for the sake of  beauty.

— Yahya Ashour / “Keep My Poems”

What I’m Listening To:

I flew down to the brewery
All wool dead on my waist
Please stop my teacher
La profesora
I’m saving myself by eating rocks and plants
I pray for the incel

— Aldous Harding / “Worms”

More for the Mind

Today was a planned zero day — more for the mind, and less for the knee. Although taking it easy mileage wise is certainly helpful, being on my feet in a museum for 5 hours isn’t the best treatment for a cranky knee.

I did manage to bike a paltry 7 miles today, but it was to the Whitney Museum of American Art, Target, and REI. And a day for the mind, is a day for the soul. 

In short I spent the morning and early afternoon at the 82nd Whitney Biennial. I hadn’t been here since 2019 right before the pandemic descended, and a planned 2020 visit never happened, and we havent been to New York City since January of 2020 — the lapse just happened. It was a great visit.

I had to get a new micro SD card for the insta360 (I’ll be editing the footage after the ride, sometime in June). I also had to get light resupplies at Target, and visited the second largest REI I’ve been to, after the Seattle flagship, in SoHo. It was large, it was packed, and it was three stories tall. It looked like a straight line wind went through there, the place was hectic.

I took a total of four individual Citibike rides — I purchased a 24 hour pass — and rode one crazy electric bike (a rocket powered cadence sensor affair) and three analog bikes (with variable speed hub drivetrains). All heavy tanks, with crazy loose steering and wonky breaks, but that’s the fun and adventure of it all. It’s great to see so many New Yorkers and tourists on Citibikes and their own bikes tooling all around the city. 

The food delivery bicyclists — that’s another story, and another animal altogether. Keep your distance and your head on a pivot — they come at you from every angle — and fast!

Now, I’ve got to deal with the weather moving in Saturday and Sunday — wall to wall rain in torrents and steady drizzles — with high temperatures in the 50’s. As miserable as that potentially sounds it’s much preferred than 98 degree days that truly enervate your body and soul.

The plan is to go to into Connecticut tomorrow — Stamford; New Haven on Sunday; the Simsbury / Hartford area Monday; Mansfield, CT on Tuesday; and into home turf — Massachusetts on Wednesday. I’d love to be home by Wednesday, and the use it as home base to cover some of the mileage into Southern Maine via bike and return trains for a few days. 

That’s is, say I bike from Jamaica Plain (home) to Exeter, New Hampshire one day — I return by Amtrak Downeaster home, take it the next morning back to Exeter bike to Portland, Maine, then train back home and repeat until I reach the end of the Downeaster line in Brunswick, ME. After which I’d just bike to Lubec / Calais, ME without returning home. That’s what I’m contemplating. Maybe even catching up to some Spinners still out on the trail.

Day 22:
Start: New York City, NY
Finish: New York City, NY
Miles: 0 (7.2 non trail miles around NYC)

We’ll see… technically once I reach Putnam, CT I will have covered all the mileage on the Atlantic Coast Route / East Coast Greenway Trail which I started last year, but the idea of ending in Maine is appealing — a fitting topper!

What I’m Reading:

Birds don’t care that the land is ugly,
decorated with handsome cattle
and advertisements for elk jerky
under an awning.

— Ange Mlinko / “Bolivar”

The Disappearing Trail

So, some of my hopes for this morning were dashed: 1. To take the combination of the East Coast Greenway and the 9-11 Trail into New York City. Which included, 2. A ferry ride from Jersey City, NJ to NYC, at the Battery Park ferry landing, and 3. hopefully a sunny blue-sky day. 

It was a promising start under overcast skies, and early on the ECG and 9-11 Trail were well marked and I traversed a number of residential neighborhoods on the first half of the planned 27 mile ride. 

But somewhere in the outskirts of Newark things began to go wonky. A little bit of rain never hurt anyone, and so it began. Then the slaughterhouse smells — there’s an actual livestock processing plant in this area of Newark — and the smells weren’t the most pleasant.

Then the 9-11 Trail continued through some desolate, trash and glass strewn wasteland beneath a knot of half a dozen major highways intersecting at one of those massive cloverleaf interchanges between the Jersey Turnpike and NYC.

It seemed the type of place bodies might be dumped by nefarious types. And there were some large black garbage bags all about one area. I jest, but it was the sort of area that fills one with dread. And I wasn’t off route, according to both Ride with GPS and cycle.travel I was on the 9-11 Trail.

I think it’s still in need of finishing touches.

So I hightailed it back back to Newark Penn Station and jumped on a New Jersey Transit train the two stops into NYC.

I was quickly greeted by a deluge — New York City in the rain is pretty cool, but the food delivery guys using the bike lanes are absolutely insane drivers — veritable kamikazes launching themselves at traffic wily-nily. Keep your distance if you’re biking thru, give them leeway.

I arrived at the hotel so early that I waited a couple of hours in the lobby to get into my room. 

But I was happy to sit out the torrential downpour. I secured a ticket to the Yankees v Blue Jays at 7:05 tonight, so one of my hopes for today remains alive.

The other is to see an experimental film somewhere like Anthology Archives, but the only screening of a rare experimental film before the game is at MOMA, and so I catch Teo Hernandez’s Maya (1978), before heading out to Yankee Stadium. 

I’m going to the Whitney tomorrow so I’ll get my fix of postmodern art at the Whitney Biennial 2026.

So it was half bike tour / half vacation and all fun today — except the desolate garbage netherlands near the Jersey Turnpike. I could have lived without that. 

Day 21:
Start: Clark, NJ
Finish: New York City, NY
Miles: 20.07

I had a great time at Yankee Stadium and the rain stayed away as forecast.  I happened to come on cap promotional giveaway night. And saw a decent game.

Alas, the Yankees lost 2-0 to the Blue Jays — here’s Paul Goldschmidt making the last out of the game.

I’m trying to sort out some creative way of riding out of NYC on Saturday — which is forecast to be soaker of a day with highs in the 50’s. Oy!

What I’m Reading:

The Museum of Modern Art isn’t hungry
Each wall is perfection
Leger says hello to Picasso
Matisse defines red and green
The paintings are testaments to an achieved order of delight
There are no hot dogs here
No sad sacks

— Jack Galef / “The Museum of Modern Art Isn’t Hungry”

… and the cranky knee

Today ended the way it began — icing down my cranky knee —although, admittedly, it was less cranky this morning before I biked 49.12 miles on it. But the knee abides.

My choice of routing for today was twofold: 1. to stay out of the 92 degree sunny weather as long as possible, and 2. the least taxing ride toward New York City. 

My only scheduling oversight was scheduling the longer of the two rides on the first day back for my cranky knee. Tomorrow’s ride to my lodgings in Manhattan is only 26 miles, that’s the distance I should have gone today and left the longer for tomorrow. But the ice and ibuprofen will get the job done.

Today I routed myself on the East Coast Greenway, specifically over 20 miles on the Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath Trail. What the towpath affords is a cooler microclimate, shade, breezes, and interesting flora and fauna. And I Got all of those in abundance. It was a very pleasant ride from Princeton, NJ to South Bound Brook on the D & R Canal Trail.

Once off the trail the heat, especially the radiated heat coming off the pavement was oppressive. Even though the highest temperature was 94, it felt warmer. And those temps really sap one’s energy through the day, especially the afternoon.

I stopped often for shade breaks, water (I drank over 2 gallons today), pictures, and an hour long lunch and had a bit of energy to spare at the end of the ride — but not much. Just enough to ice my knee down first thing and then get all the dark fine gravel dust off in the shower. The knee looked a bit angry, but I know how to treat it. (The perils of college football, ca. 1983).

As I said tomorrow is a short day and ferry ride to Battery Park Landing from Jersey City, NJ — and I leave New Jersey behind.

I’d like to go to the Whitney Museum or the MOMA, and maybe catch the Yankees at home against the Blue Jays. Then again, a concert or some sort of sit down tour to treat the knee right is a possibility. We’ll see. I’m coming back to NYC in July for a week so I can be very selective about my two days now.

On Saturday I’ll ride the length of the island and cut across the northern half into Connecticut, where I’ll spend five days before riding home into Massachusetts and a few days off with Pattie.

Then the plan is to head up to Lubec and Calais, Maine, dipping into Canada, and turning for home sometime in mid-June.

Day 21:
Start: East Windsor, NJ
Finish: Clark, NJ
Miles: 49.12

Ice, ice, ice — it’s all about the ice and the cranky knee.

What I’m Reading:

I was fifteen when I started filling tanks,
wiping dead moths off the windows,
watching the Chevron across the street
blink its blue fire into the broken sidewalks.

— Molly Thapviwat / “Cherry Coke and Chevron Lights”

a more human knee

My one and only job and objective today was to get my knee to be a more human knee, and a lot less volleyball. As I spent all day and night icing it down I think I succeeded — now it looks like a human knee swallowed a softball , so there is a semblance of a human joint there now.

Seriously, the swelling has subsided significantly so that I’m able to bend the knee, where my range of motion was severely limited yesterday, and the pain is significantly alleviated, too. So in that sense a day off was a success. But only repeated use will provide the proof.

This happened to me last year when I was biking the first half of the Atlantic Coast / East Coast Greenway Trail. After a two day stretch of 130 miles, including a 77 mile day in to Melbourne Beach, my knee blew up like it did yesterday. Some people thought my ride was over after 450 miles. I took two days off with ice and anti-inflammatories and minimal walking, and proceeded to bike 1,000 more miles without a similar incident, and finished half the route.

I knew it might happen again this year because the Spinners have a tight schedule with minimal days off and a couple of instances  of consecutive long days planned. I hoped it wouldn’t recur, but alas, it did. Now I get an opportunity to reset and reconsider the ride — what will become: “my ride.” Here are things for me to consider:

Lack of a deadline: I loved, truly enjoyed, the consensus building of a group of 4-6 people having to come to a general agreement on issues of lodging, meals, timelines, etc., but sometimes the loss of complete autonomy felt constraining—and nowhere more than in the deadline of a June 5th finish. I no longer felt I wanted to miss that museum, or that interpretive historical marker, because we had said ferry to catch at a specific hour or certain mileage to make. This is one thing one must adapt to, and I wasn’t completely successsful at it. I’d never gone 15 days without taking an off day, recall I was biking for a week from Georgetown, SC before I met the group in Jacksonville, NC, making up the gap from where I left the route in the south last year. I (my knee) requires a day off every 7-10 days, so I biketour without a hard schedule, just a loose idea of when I’ll be done. This was a bit challenging for me.

Weather: On occasion I’ll take an extra day off due to severe weather, be it a nor’easter, record rains, or record heat. A set schedule without days off precludes that ability. As someone who had a hospitalization with acute renal failure from dehydration, after summiting Mt. Katahdin during a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail (2001), and then wound up in the emergency room again twice on two other thru hikes (2004, 2010) requiring saline IV’s — despite hydrating well — I take the heat very seriously. And after feeling mildly dehydrated yesterday in the early record heat, 94 degrees, and staying out too long on a 77 mile day, I probably would have erred on the side of safety and taken a very short day 25-35 mile today (early in the morning). So already, even if my knee was perfect, I could see a stagger between me and the main group developing. It was already developing when I couldn’t reconcile some of the off-route lodging options.

Recovery Time & Space: One of the things about riding solo, and having complete autonomy, is being able to recover without justification, and more importantly — without the guilt that I may be slowing down the group or causing consternation. I’ve done numerous group rides and none of them have gone beyond 9 days. As more time passes more differences become apparent in riding styles, personalities and proclivities that may not jibe with your own. That becomes more challenging, not easier for me, as time passes. As an only child I was used to solitude and space — and sharing a room with three others or a house, bathroom, bedroom, et al., with five others is, admittedly, challenging for me. And sometimes I need the space and room to air out my saddle sores, snore without guilt, explode my panniers out, drape drying clothes all about, and charge all my stuff first instead of deferring as I do. I find this challenging too. Sometimes you just gotta ice your knee out multiple times daily in bed in comfort, and sometimes all day while others move on.

I didn’t leave them, they didn’t leave me, this is just when we started to “ride our own rides.”

I spent 7-seasons on the Appalachian Trail (2000, ‘01, ‘02, ‘04, ‘10, ‘12, & 2014) and one thing you heard ad nauseum was true — you have to “hike your own hike.”

Starting today I’ll be back riding my own ride — and missing Scott, Richard, Bobby, Jeff, Lois, and Ashley as convivial riding partners enjoying the good sights and sounds, and commiserating through the 32mph headwinds and sideways rain. That camaraderie is hard to come by — and it’s golden!

But I won’t miss the predetermined schedule, the proximity when you’re craving space, the haggling about who will travel to whom for dinner, or the sharing of bedrooms. 

And this heat, too, shall pass.

Day 19:

Start: East Windsor, NJ
Finish: East Windsor, NJ
Miles: 0

I’ve always been keen to combine the Atlantic Coast Route with the East Coast Greenway — I did it often last year, when I rode a combination of the two over 1,400 miles. I’m going back to it starting today. I’ll be combining the East Coast Greenway and the Atlantic Coast Route starting today. I’m keeping mileages low — including another off-day in New York City… because… New York City!

I’ll make my way up the island to Stamford, New Haven, Simsbury / Hartford, Mansfield, and then a straight shot home for a few days off in Jamaica Plain (Boston), before resuming up to Lubec and probably Calais, Maine — the northern terminus of the East Coast Greenway — and then bike a few miles in Canada… because… Canada!

That’s the plan. The knee will comply… (pretty please?)

What I’m Reading:

over the fixed images of memory, a scaffold weighs
its shadow, in the shape of a pendulum
pendulum                                                 pendulum

— María Auxiliadora Álvarez / “11”

Egg Harbor City Lake, NJ.

Egg Harbor City, NJ.

The Mullica River, from Green Bank, NJ.

Cranberry Bogs, Chatsworth, NJ.

Hot Diggidy Dog, Chatsworth, NJ.

Hot Diggidy Dog, Chatsworth, NJ.

The Brendan Byrne Ranger Station. Shamong, NJ.

El Aguacate ( The Avocado). Browns Mills, NJ.

El Aguacate ( The Avocado). Browns Mills, NJ.

With Bobby on the Union Transportation Trail. Cream Ridge, NJ.

Bobby fixing a flat tire on the Union Transportation Trail. Cream Ridge, NJ.

Bobby repairs a second flat on the side of the road near Highstown, NJ.

My surgically repaired right knee swollen from the 77.20 mile day. East Windsor, NJ.

 The only solution is to take a day off and ice it down, and get off my feet. This has happened in the past, and unfortunately this is the only solution — short of stopping altogether, which I won’t do.

Day 12:
Start: Egg Harbor Township, NJ
Finish: East Windsor, NJ
Miles: 77.20

After a full day of rest, icing down, I should be able to continue northbound on my own with reduced mileages for the first few days back. More on this tomorrow.

What I’m Reading:

Wouldn’t you rather be kettle-cooked than smeared under a 
rain boot? 

— Elizabeth Crawford / “Antelope Valley Times”

The Jersey Devil?

Getting ready to roll with Richard, et al., into the New Jersey pine barrens after a day off — the first, and hopefully not the last. Cape May, NJ.

Bobby pointing out the local flora, in this case, wild asparagus by the side of the Middle-Township Bike Path. Whitesboro, NJ.

Since we were all staying at different sites tonight we knew we’d be splitting up at some point — here near Swainton, NJ it was time for a route check. I eventually peeled off from the maj. group at South Seaville, NJ. Lois and Jeff started out about 45 minutes behind us and went straight for real coffee in town.

An eighth of a mile after I split off from the group I found this “gem” — Gem Grill & Pizzeria, just in time for second breakfast — Celsius and Flaming Peanuts — please don’t follow this diet … or do so at your own peril. South Seaville, NJ.

At the base of Garden State Parkway / Great Egg Harbor Biking & Walking Path over the Tuckahoe River. Beesley’s Point, NJ.

And later, across the river at the Submarine Veterans Memorial at Somers Point, NJ.

Pre-World Cup fever fix: check / travel league soccer match…

Lunch place: check / Mazza’s …

Bike safe: check; 2 gatorades, banana, 1 massive Italian hoagie (2 meals): check! At Mazza’s Market & Coffeehouse, Northfield, NJ.

Check out the other half of the massive hoagie on the rack as take out dinner.

I love being surprised on tour — those unexpected & unforeseen places that knock one out. Despite a hearty lunch a stop, I found Reed’s Farm a welcome air-conditioned stop for a lemon poppyseed cookie and cold nitro coffee. Near Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

The sign that pulled me in … a sucker for caffeine. Reed’s Farms. Near Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

I can report: none about… Near Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

The Atlantic County Bikeway, the last of the three bike paths I spent most of the day riding to Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

Day 11:
Start: Cape May, NJ
Finish: Egg Harbor Township, NJ
Miles: 43.28

Tomorrow we all head to East Windsor, NJ from three different points — as I had the shortest day today, I’ll have the longest day tomorrow at 77.5 miles, and it’s going to be a hot one, forecasted high is 94 for E. Windsor. It’ll be an early start.

What I’m Reading:

In South Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil, also known as the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature, or cryptid, said to inhabit the forests of the New Jersey Pine Barrens in South Jersey.[1] The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations.

— Wikipedia entry