Retreat or Strategic Withdrawal?

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.