Kellen Smetana
It took two and a half days, but I finally had that thoroughly happy feeling of being back cycling again. We had finally left the Boston sprawl, truck routes, and commercial byways and were cruising along some rolling rural hills: barns and pastures on the left, small lake on the right, fresh air tickling the nostrils. I remembered why we keep doing it. This is fun.
It took two and a half days, but I finally had that thoroughly happy feeling of being back cycling again. We had finally left the Boston sprawl, truck routes, and commercial byways and were cruising along some rolling rural hills: barns and pastures on the left, small lake on the right, fresh air tickling the nostrils. I remembered why we keep doing it. This is fun.
This is fun.
Long before that moment, we had hefty to-do lists. Both Carrie and I had serious tune-ups to take the tour-beaten Long Haul Truckers from metal heaps and return them to homeostasis. Gromit (my bike) needed a new fork, cassette, chain, and bike computer, among other things. For those who followed during the Eurasian adventure, you may remember Cory’s bike was destroyed by the Kazakh desert “roads”; he ended up getting a sweet Safari from REI that looks like it will stand the test of time. Brandon, by contrast, agreed to join the trip the day before we left and consequently completely prepared – borrowing a bike, rebuilding it, buying up gear – in 8 hours on Sunday. Amazing work, and exactly the spirit we love. Plus, he’s been using this last minute kit to smoke us all on the climbs.
Calibrating the bike computer in the hallway
On Monday, June 2, 2014, we officially started our tour from Boston. We rode down to Boston harbor to touch our feet into the water so we could bring a few molecules of that all the way to the Pacific three months hence. This time we actually had a party of friends join to send us off with champagne! And, to top that, most of them rented Hubway bikes to ride the first five miles back to HBS campus with us. It was an awesome way to start! After the obligatory photos, it was time for the four amigos to set off on our own.
Touching our feet into the Atlantic
The Send-Off Party!
Biking back to campus
So far in the first five days we’ve had the cops called on us 2.5 times. The first encounter with the law was for trying to camp behind a Jehovah’s Witness Center on the first night. The second was from a teacher and his science class the next morning when they stumbled upon our tents in the high school baseball field (since we already had police approval, I’m only counting half a call…). The third was later that same day when I laid my bike in a woman’s front yard to chase down Cory because we both had flat tires and I had the only pump. The policeman arrived and promptly thanked me for keeping the bike off the road. We certainly had run-ins with the police on our last adventure, but at this pace the boys in blue will know our favorite ice cream flavor and high school crush in two weeks. I suppose one way to look at it is the negative side of a positive American tenet: private property rights. In Asia people couldn’t care less where we camped; here, ownership reigns supreme. And on the whole that is a good thing. We’ll just have to be cautious campers.
Reenactment of our police encounters
Our nightly accommodations have proven some of our most interesting encounters thus far. The second night Chuck, a local Vermont businessman offered shelter from the storm in his veterinary clinic. We gladly shared the roof with the overnight pups. Churches have also been very accommodating; our first night in New York we stayed in the First Baptist Church of Fair Haven. The trick is to send Carrie in looking tired; people so far have been very accommodating and helpful to our traveling cycling team.
Overnight at Chuck's veterinary clinic
Chatting with our evening suitemates
The riding itself shifted from busy and cluttered to hilly, pleasant, and remote. The ultimate goal was to leave Boston on bike paths and state highways until we met up with the Adventure Cycling Association Northern Tier Route in New York (we accomplished this on the fourth day). The Green and Adirondack Mountain have proved formidable foes to our fresh, untested legs – hills are hard! And we’ve had lots of them in Vermont and New York.
Attacking the hills
En route we get to play tourist from time to time as well. Just across Lake Champlain we spent some time at Fort Ticonderoga, brushing up on early American history from the French and Indian Wars to Benedict Arnold. We even met up with the parents of one of our fellow classmates from Chile on a similar bike tour – guess the cycling world isn’t all that large!
Brushing up on our history at Ft. Ticonderoga
Coming across our classmate's parents at the fort
We are currently cruising across Adirondack country in northern New York, taking in beautiful lakes and crossing paths with hilarious locals. This afternoon I was asking an older gentleman about the route to our evening destination and got this response: “You know, there didn’t used to be roads there...” I responded, “Oh really?” And just as serious as the original statement, he said: “Yeah… before 1929.” As I held back the urge to burst, I made sure to let him know that I was glad they finally got around to paving one. Needless to say, the 85 year old road got us there fine.
It certainly is good to be back in the saddle again, and, fortunately, we have three more months of it! Stay tuned for updates from the other riders, plenty more photos, and stats from the ride.
It certainly is good to be back in the saddle again, and, fortunately, we have three more months of it! Stay tuned for updates from the other riders, plenty more photos, and stats from the ride.
It's great to be back on these
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