Let's start with the basic facts. First off, I'm home a week earlier than I anticipated. I had planned (in retrospect I realize just how loosely I am using this term) a full two week, balls to the wall, mind and body destroying tour through 3 states and I came back after having only "accomplished" half of it.
The numbers? Time spent in New Hampshire - 3 hours. 665 kilometers in 7 days. Day one - 75. Day two - 110. Day three - 50. Day four - 25. Day 5 - 80. Day 6 - 120. Day 7 - 165 (figures do not add up to 100% because they do not account for in-town to and fro). Number of states visited - 3. Time spent in New York State - 1 1/2 hours. Time spent in Vermont - 4 days.
Nights spent in a tent - 4. Average hours of sleep while in a tent - 5. Night spent in a real bed - 3. Average hours of sleep while in a bed - 8. Coincidentally, all of my 80+ KM days were preceeded by a night in a tent. There's something to be said about getting up with the crack of dawn and being on your bike by 8 a.m. - it certainly avoids the brutal heat of mid-August!
Now that I've dispensed with the boring stuff - I can return to the question at hand. Should I be feel like a hero or a hoser? I can give any number of reasons as to why I decided to turn around and run for home (and run I did!! I averaged 142 KM/day on the return). In the end it all stems from the basic fact that I just couldn't take another week on the road. Sure, there were a bunch of ancilliary reasons used to justify the decision to myself but they all stemmed from that basic fact. Money was running low, I realized that I had left a million important things undone that might bite me in the ass before long, etc etc. Were I having the time of my life I could have easily justified a devil may care attitude and continued flying around the states but alas I was just not up to the "challenge".
I gotta be honest - I kind of got off on the reaction of some people when I told them that I was planning a two week solo bike tour. "Really? Wow!". I always wanted to be a bad-ass who just went and did his own thing and this was to help me play into that role a bit. I can't help but feel that now, every time I tell this story, I'll have to provide a little asterisk ("Yea...I couldn't take it and quit a week early..."). Oh well!
In spite of this perceived "failure" what it all boils down to is that I'm very happy to be home. I'm proud that I went and did as much as I did - it took a lot of self-persuasion to even leave. I'm thrilled that I met the people I did. I love my ridiculous tan lines; the farmers tan was expected but the leg tan and the helmet strap tan on my face were both pleasant surprises. I love that the next time I do this I'm positive that it will be a much more pleasant, not to mention much cheaper, experience.
Some of the highlights of my trip?
Having two F-16 fighter jets fly in low over me while on Highway 2 out of Burlington. I have a giant nerd-on for fighter jets and that totally made my morning.
Topping out at 64.3 km/h on a 10% grade downhill without pedaling - I have never felt more calm and exhilarated at the same time in my life.
The little nods and waves exchanged with the other bike tourers I saw on the road. It really made me feel like I was part of a special little club and always gave my legs a little bit more oomph.
All the various streams and lakes on the way into which I blissfully dove. Whether it was the 1 p.m., desperate, hot, and sweaty rush to dive in or the 6 p.m. "oh god what a day" gentle relaxing dips....they saved me (not to mention kept me from stinking to high heaven).
So anyways, I know I've not written much about the last three days of the tour but once I get the pictures uploaded I'll caption them and provide a little more detail. In general though I headed East from Montpelier and made for New Hampshire, camped illegally by a dam, made a mad dash for the Canadian border and stopped south of Magog, and finally made a desperate bid to make Montreal in one day. Lots of small fun stories in there but they must wait for another entry.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Home.
Alive and well. I chose to make a NE - NW loop from Montpelier and make a mad dash for home. I have a million reasons why and I'll explain tomorrow when my brain works better!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Crossroads
Hi everyone, still alive and kicking.
Had a fairly uneventful two days. I'm feeling pretty under the weather today so while I've been writing extensively offline - I don't think I'll be writing much tonight. My stomach aches, my throat is sore and I just really need to get a decent nights sleep!
Slept in a State Park last night about 55 kilometers out of Burlington. Met a whole bunch of "kids" from Boston / Cape Cod and they got me pretty drunk. I knew I only had a short bike ride today so I went along with it gleefully. Holy crap am I ever glad that I only had 25 KM to do today. Everything was tired - mind, body, soul. Got into Montpelier (population: 8000) around 1:30 and spent about 4 hours sitting on benches, in a cafe, sleeping in a park. I made my way here because there is a bike co-op very similar to Right To Move in Montreal and one of the volunteers offered a place to stay for the night.
From here I have some options - either head Northwest and see "Bread and Puppets" on Sunday - giving me two travel days to see the area or head south and eventually re-cross the mountains heading west back to Lake Champlain and into New York state. I'm leaning towards Northwest personally with the intention of heading into the Eastern Townships and back home a few days early. I'm already really tired and road weary - it's mentally exhausting for me to travel in this way. Always on my own, having to constantly be vigilant on my bike and off. God help me if my bike gets stolen or I get robbed! That said, everyone I have met has been absolutely lovely and accommodating beyond expectation. If this illness comes in anymore my decision will be made for me - start heading for home and bed. If not then maybe I'll get ambitious again!
Had a fairly uneventful two days. I'm feeling pretty under the weather today so while I've been writing extensively offline - I don't think I'll be writing much tonight. My stomach aches, my throat is sore and I just really need to get a decent nights sleep!
Slept in a State Park last night about 55 kilometers out of Burlington. Met a whole bunch of "kids" from Boston / Cape Cod and they got me pretty drunk. I knew I only had a short bike ride today so I went along with it gleefully. Holy crap am I ever glad that I only had 25 KM to do today. Everything was tired - mind, body, soul. Got into Montpelier (population: 8000) around 1:30 and spent about 4 hours sitting on benches, in a cafe, sleeping in a park. I made my way here because there is a bike co-op very similar to Right To Move in Montreal and one of the volunteers offered a place to stay for the night.
From here I have some options - either head Northwest and see "Bread and Puppets" on Sunday - giving me two travel days to see the area or head south and eventually re-cross the mountains heading west back to Lake Champlain and into New York state. I'm leaning towards Northwest personally with the intention of heading into the Eastern Townships and back home a few days early. I'm already really tired and road weary - it's mentally exhausting for me to travel in this way. Always on my own, having to constantly be vigilant on my bike and off. God help me if my bike gets stolen or I get robbed! That said, everyone I have met has been absolutely lovely and accommodating beyond expectation. If this illness comes in anymore my decision will be made for me - start heading for home and bed. If not then maybe I'll get ambitious again!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Cultural Imperialist - Me?
Perhaps as a WHAM, which for those of you not in the know stands for 'White Heterosexual Able-bodied Male' (maybe I should make it Quebec appropriate and add Anglophone in there - WHAAM!) I am a de-factor cultural imperialist but let's leave that little bit of hand wringing aside for now.
I was walking around downtown Burlington today and what did I see? A TD bank! Of course, down here it disguises itself as "TD North" but the fact remains that, I, as a Canadian can feel, in a very small way, like a capitalist and relegate the juggernaut of America to the status of a prole!
Now that I've dispensed with that particular flight of fancy I'll describe Burlington as promised last night. I've never seen so many houses painted bright, gaudy colours. I suppose it's due to the abnormally high hippie population here. There's all manner of local co-ops, green initiatives, placards urging courtesy to pedestrians and cyclists, and evidence of 'social awareness' in general. It's a very refreshing city to relax in for a day. Most of the city is up on a hill bordering the lake with a fairly well developed waterfront area, harbour, and beaches. The downtown area centers on Church Street which is a pedestrian only street which stretches about 4 blocks which is quite lively all day.
On the periphery of this area is found the "cool" local haunts - places like Radio Bean where I got my coffee this morning. Tuned to the local Indie Rock radio station run by the owner, staffed by beautiful women and hip dudes and frequented by what I take to be the Burlington "it" scene. I'll be returning to see some music there later tonight to which I was tipped off by some girls I met down on the beach today as we all fled the rain storm we could see fast approaching across the lake.
Other places of interest today was the 'Old Spokes Home' which is the main bike shop for the Burlington area. Run by an old 'gamester' it hosts an antique bike museum in it's attic - a sight to behold for bike geeks! He tipped me off about some routes heading out east towards Montpelier and to stop off in Richmond and ask about a particular dirt road that I can take to avoid the worst of the traffic snaking it's way up the hills.
On the subject of hills....my dream of making it to the ocean is rapidly fading. I think I'll be scaling back my ambitions slightly - it turns out that Google Maps is very good at giving you driving directions but not so great at showing topography. Who knew that creating a completely theoretical route based on a birds eye view of terrain could possibly be a bad idea? Instead, I will head as far East as possible before I have to scale the Green Mountain range to get into New Hampshire, then south and hop from State Park to State Park. I still only have the next two days planned out at this point so anything is liable to change.
That's it for now - I'm too lazy to upload pictures to accompany this post. Writing is an absolute pleasure (especially whilst I sample Kathleen's extensive Vinyl collection) - USB cables not so much. Oh yea...I have no idea when the next time I'll have Internet access will be.
I was walking around downtown Burlington today and what did I see? A TD bank! Of course, down here it disguises itself as "TD North" but the fact remains that, I, as a Canadian can feel, in a very small way, like a capitalist and relegate the juggernaut of America to the status of a prole!
Now that I've dispensed with that particular flight of fancy I'll describe Burlington as promised last night. I've never seen so many houses painted bright, gaudy colours. I suppose it's due to the abnormally high hippie population here. There's all manner of local co-ops, green initiatives, placards urging courtesy to pedestrians and cyclists, and evidence of 'social awareness' in general. It's a very refreshing city to relax in for a day. Most of the city is up on a hill bordering the lake with a fairly well developed waterfront area, harbour, and beaches. The downtown area centers on Church Street which is a pedestrian only street which stretches about 4 blocks which is quite lively all day.
On the periphery of this area is found the "cool" local haunts - places like Radio Bean where I got my coffee this morning. Tuned to the local Indie Rock radio station run by the owner, staffed by beautiful women and hip dudes and frequented by what I take to be the Burlington "it" scene. I'll be returning to see some music there later tonight to which I was tipped off by some girls I met down on the beach today as we all fled the rain storm we could see fast approaching across the lake.
Other places of interest today was the 'Old Spokes Home' which is the main bike shop for the Burlington area. Run by an old 'gamester' it hosts an antique bike museum in it's attic - a sight to behold for bike geeks! He tipped me off about some routes heading out east towards Montpelier and to stop off in Richmond and ask about a particular dirt road that I can take to avoid the worst of the traffic snaking it's way up the hills.
On the subject of hills....my dream of making it to the ocean is rapidly fading. I think I'll be scaling back my ambitions slightly - it turns out that Google Maps is very good at giving you driving directions but not so great at showing topography. Who knew that creating a completely theoretical route based on a birds eye view of terrain could possibly be a bad idea? Instead, I will head as far East as possible before I have to scale the Green Mountain range to get into New Hampshire, then south and hop from State Park to State Park. I still only have the next two days planned out at this point so anything is liable to change.
That's it for now - I'm too lazy to upload pictures to accompany this post. Writing is an absolute pleasure (especially whilst I sample Kathleen's extensive Vinyl collection) - USB cables not so much. Oh yea...I have no idea when the next time I'll have Internet access will be.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Numbers have real world signifiance.
75 - kilometers traveled my first day.
15 - of those wasted on a wrong turn in Longeuil (I hate Longueil).
110 - kilometers traveled today.
2 - States visited today.
I probably wish that I had biked about 35 kilometers less today and stayed at Great Isle National Park but the prospect of a bed, shower, and amenities at my friend Jake's mother's house proved very attractive. I was also eager to make up for my "poor showing" yesterday - leaving so late in the day combined with a wrong turn, terrible head-wind, and a gimpy knee all combined to make a less than stellar first day (distance and attitude wise). There were definitely points where I thought about turning back and living incognito in Montreal for 2 weeks with no-one the wiser as to my return but I pressed on.
Somewhere south of St-Jean I came across a man fixing his patio and I asked him if I could pitch my tent in his yard. Secretly I wished that he would invite me in to his house and feed and shelter me for the night but he merely grunted permission as he eyed me suspiciously. I pitched my tent in his back yard as far from the house as possible and "cooked" my first meal. The process is as follows - put boiling water in a pouch and wait 13 minutes. Ta-da!
The night passed uncomfortably but uneventful. The promised rain arrived at 8 a.m. leaving me with the unpleasant task of packing a wet tent but otherwise unscathed. I began the day very gingerly for fear of re-aggravating my knee but a few adjustments before leaving seemed to have solved whatever the initial problem was.
I arrived at the US border in good speed and spent 5 minutes chatting with the border guard about medical insurance (so far in 12 hours I've had 2 of these conversations - very topical at the moment!) and getting directions. I spent all of 20 minutes in New York state before hitting a huge bridge and entering Vermont. The terrain was lovely and my route took me through the islands of Lake Champlain. Around 1 I took a break from the oppressive heat, sun, and humidity at a boat launch and swam for half an hour and relaxed. It was absolutely wonderful.
I'll gloss over the rest as I spent much of the next 5 hours climbing hills in a desperate bid to make Burlington. As much as I hated that last leg and as exhausted as I was - it turns out to have been a good decision. Kathleen (Jake's mother) is a gracious hostess and took me down to a local swimming spot where we swam and watched the sunset over the hills.
Burlington is an amazing city but will have to be described another day. My self-imposed 15 minutes of Internet is up. A bientot!
15 - of those wasted on a wrong turn in Longeuil (I hate Longueil).
110 - kilometers traveled today.
2 - States visited today.
I probably wish that I had biked about 35 kilometers less today and stayed at Great Isle National Park but the prospect of a bed, shower, and amenities at my friend Jake's mother's house proved very attractive. I was also eager to make up for my "poor showing" yesterday - leaving so late in the day combined with a wrong turn, terrible head-wind, and a gimpy knee all combined to make a less than stellar first day (distance and attitude wise). There were definitely points where I thought about turning back and living incognito in Montreal for 2 weeks with no-one the wiser as to my return but I pressed on.
Somewhere south of St-Jean I came across a man fixing his patio and I asked him if I could pitch my tent in his yard. Secretly I wished that he would invite me in to his house and feed and shelter me for the night but he merely grunted permission as he eyed me suspiciously. I pitched my tent in his back yard as far from the house as possible and "cooked" my first meal. The process is as follows - put boiling water in a pouch and wait 13 minutes. Ta-da!
The night passed uncomfortably but uneventful. The promised rain arrived at 8 a.m. leaving me with the unpleasant task of packing a wet tent but otherwise unscathed. I began the day very gingerly for fear of re-aggravating my knee but a few adjustments before leaving seemed to have solved whatever the initial problem was.
I arrived at the US border in good speed and spent 5 minutes chatting with the border guard about medical insurance (so far in 12 hours I've had 2 of these conversations - very topical at the moment!) and getting directions. I spent all of 20 minutes in New York state before hitting a huge bridge and entering Vermont. The terrain was lovely and my route took me through the islands of Lake Champlain. Around 1 I took a break from the oppressive heat, sun, and humidity at a boat launch and swam for half an hour and relaxed. It was absolutely wonderful.
I'll gloss over the rest as I spent much of the next 5 hours climbing hills in a desperate bid to make Burlington. As much as I hated that last leg and as exhausted as I was - it turns out to have been a good decision. Kathleen (Jake's mother) is a gracious hostess and took me down to a local swimming spot where we swam and watched the sunset over the hills.
Burlington is an amazing city but will have to be described another day. My self-imposed 15 minutes of Internet is up. A bientot!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I'm off!
Behind schedule but the weather's beautiful and it's time to ride.
A quick pitstop at the bikeshop to swap a few small items and a dash up to my office to print the maps and I'm good to go!
A quick pitstop at the bikeshop to swap a few small items and a dash up to my office to print the maps and I'm good to go!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Some context
First destination: Burlington, Vermont. The path I've found looks like this PATH.
After that? Portland, Maine and then eventually home.
Current anxieties? Leaving in the rain, the fit of my bikeshoes, crossing the border.
Things I'm incredibly happy about? 200$ American for 224$ Canadian,I'm going on fucking vacation!
After that? Portland, Maine and then eventually home.
Current anxieties? Leaving in the rain, the fit of my bikeshoes, crossing the border.
Things I'm incredibly happy about? 200$ American for 224$ Canadian,I'm going on fucking vacation!
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