Day 52- Portsmouth, NH

The final day of the trip– I seriously can’t believe it. Today I rode with Rocket and Greg, so there’s no surprise that right out of the gate, not even a mile from the hotel, we stopped at Panera for about an hour. We had strict instructions to be at an elementary school which was at mile 52 by 12:00, so that we could all ride in to the beach together. After goofing off at Panera, we hit the road, stopping about every 3 miles for a picture. At one point, we looked down at the time, and thought, Oh CRAP, we are going to miss the police escort to the Atlantic Ocean if we don’t pick up the pace! We made it to the SAG stop at mile 30, and there were a lot of people there, so we felt better—I rode in to the elementary school with Rocket, Greg, Gerard, and Christine. Once we got to the school, you could see the excitement on everyone’s faces! Only 4 more miles to go to complete our cross country journey. We took a group photo–and then headed out together for our last miles of the trip. A police car led the group, with Arlene, Herb, and Robert following close behind it. When I saw the water, I felt such a sense of pride…i made it! As we turned into the park, I headed straight for the water…Wayne looks back at me and says “Did you see the sign from your brother?…” I looked puzzled. He said, “yeah, there was a sign that said ‘You Rock Erin– love Big Bro’…he must have had one sent..”  So, I turned around to go find it..as i’m riding back to the street, I see MY MOM standing there with another sign…AHHH!!!!! She totally surprised me! I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there–Apparently Patrick called her and begged her to fly out since he couldn’t be there..It was a great surprise! So, after hugging mom, we both headed out to the Atlantic for the ceremonial wheel dip…back tire in the Pacific on June 3rd, and today, front tire in the Atlantic. We took lots of pictures out by the water, and then headed back towards the cars so I could check out my signs. My mom made a lot of signs from different family members, and she had balloons and flowers, and a shrine of me and Patrick– it was really cute. We stayed at the beach for a little while, meeting family members of other riders, and having some beers. It was a fantastic day!!

Well, the ride is over, but the adventure has just begun. I’ve learned so much about myself over the course of this trip. I’m proud of myself for riding every mile, rain or shine (or snow), but I’m even more proud of myself just for coming. Just for deciding that this was something that I really wanted to do, and doing it. There was a list a mile long of good reasons for me not to come on this trip, and it really took a leap for me to look past all of those good reasons, and do it anyways. And I’m SO GLAD that I did! This was the trip of a lifetime–HUGE THANKS to my husband for encouraging me to take on this adventure. Your support means the world to me.

For all of you who emailed and left comments– you really kept me going, and I truly appreciate it. I apologize that these posts are late, but I can’t describe how tired you are at the end of these days. I hope that you all take a leap and do something that you’ve always wanted to do, and said that you would do it later. Do it now!!

As for me, I’m back to Florida to see my parents and pick up Bentley, and then on to Hawaii– Patrick comes home the first week in August (YAY!) and then we are headed to New Zealand for two weeks for vacation! I’m a lucky girl, I know. I’ve started a new blog just for everyday stuff, so I’ll put some pics from New Zealand on it when we get back. It is www.enpsully.wordpress.com.

 Thanks again to everyone for your support–I couldn’t have done it without you!

Day 51- Manchester, NH

We entered New Hampshire this morning within 3 miles of leaving the hotel. It was cold this morning and the forecast called for rain, so we all had our jackets on.  Today we had 86 miles to bike, and 6100 feet to climb. That is the most climbing we’ve had since the 4th day of the trip in Truckee. We rode through some very pretty back roads today, though there were some very steep hills to get over. I caught up with Rocket, Greg, and Mike at lunch and rode with them for a little bit. This is them below–speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil…

When we arrived at the hotel, we cleaned our bikes, and then got ready for the banquet. Tomorrow is our last day of riding…i can’t believe it!

At the banquet, we had dinner, and then our staff recapped the entire trip for us, all the way from San Francisco up until tonight in New Hampshire. Everyone was given a chance to speak and say some final words about the trip. David Woodsfellow, from Atlanta, said that what he took from this trip that he rarely noticed the tailwinds–he always knew when there was a headwind, but that he often mistook a tailwind for him riding really well that day– he said that we should always be aware of the tailwinds in life, and be thankful for them. Everyone mentioned how much they would miss the fellow riders and the staff- we really have become a family. Herb, our oldest rider at 75, said that this trip was a birthday present to himself, and said “what a wonderful collection of guests showed up to the party.” It was a wonderful evening of reflection on the trip. Tomorrow is our last day-67 miles into Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Day 50- Brattleboro, VT

Today we were back to climbing! We entered Vermont, and we climbed two mountain passes. Vermont is absolutely gorgeous. This was one of my favorite days of the trip. We rode through a few small little towns that were just decked with cafes and coffee shops everywhere. I really didn’t want to climb any mountains today, so I was sure to stop in every little town on the way to waste time and drink coffee. This pic is the view from the top of the 2nd climb– absolutely beautiful.

Below is one of my favorite signs to see along the road–it has a truck on a downwards slant– a warning to them that a big downhill is coming and to slow down. These are almost always at the top of our tough climbs and we know that our downhill reward is coming soon!

Day 49- Troy, NY

Last night at dinner, Rick, one of our fastest riders, came to me and said–”ok, tomorrow is the day– you’ve said that you would try to ride with me one day out of the trip, and tomorrow is it”…Rick is super fast–he keeps a very strong steady pace all day long, everyday, and is always among the  first people to get to the hotel. He gets there hours before everyone else. So, I told him that I would try to keep up with him.. I was able to stay strong and hard with him all day, which was an accomplishment for me. I had to work so hard to keep up with him. I was drafting him for a good bit, which was still really hard just to stay on his back tire. Mike and Tom joined us from the first SAG on, and we got lost, so we decided to stop in at Dunkin Donuts to get some coffee. Rick was ready to leave after about 5 minutes…stopping is not his thing. We found our way back to the correct route, and continued on at a fairly strong pace. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the ride was so much fun. We rode along the Mohawk River, and towards the end of the ride, we had about 20 miles of bike path which was really nice. We stopped at Lock 8 to watch them raise a few boats from one water level to the next. This was very interesting. You can see in the pic, that one side is much lower than the other. So, we saw a few boats come up into the Lock, and then they would fill it up with enough water to raise the boat to the next level, then open the door and let the boat out. It was neat. The pic below is Tom and Rick when we stopped at the lock. We got to the hotel super early which gave me some time to do some homework.

Day 48- Little Falls, NY

Today was a very cold and rainy 84 mile day into Little Falls, NY. I can remember just being miserable–wet spandex rubbing against your bike seat is not pleasant. On the way, we passed through the town of Sullivan which was neat. This is a pic of Little Falls– very cute little town. We did have a great tailwind for the last 20 miles; we barely had to pedal and we were flying. That did make the day a little better. The hotel had a complimentary social hour for our group, so we all went down to dinner a little early and hung out. Fun times!

Day 47- Liverpool, NY

This morning, before we took off, I rode across the street from the hotel to enjoy the lovely lake..it was beautiful. Once we left the lake, it started raining, and continued to rain for the remainder of the day. We only had 69 miles to ride, so it wasn’t terrible, but there is nothing enjoyable about riding in the rain. We rode right through Seneca Falls today, which is famous for the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention held in the U.S. It was a very pretty area, but would have been more enjoyable if it weren’t raining. Because of the rain today, our group had 29 flats in total! Somehow I didn’t get one, but almost everyone did. When we reached Liverpool, which is a suburb of Syracuse, we cleaned our bikes like good cyclists, and got ourselves cleaned up for dinner. Robert bought wine for everyone to celebrate his 74th birthday- here we all are in the lobby of the hotel enjoying the wine—yes, out of styrofoam cups.

 Below is me with Rocket drinking wine out of his rocket sippee cup that I got him from Denny’s–

 

Day 46- Canandaigua, NY

Today was a 96 mile ride into Canandaigua, NY. Our first stop was the Pedalling History Bicycle Museum. It was a little off the route, but who could pass this up?! We saw an amazing collection of old bicycles–and learned of Thomas Stevens, who in 1884 was the first man to circle the globe by bicycle. He completed his US portion of the trip from San Francisco to Boston in a total of 103 days, 20 of which he was not riding due to wet weather. I thought that what we were doing in 52 days was quite an accomplishment, but this guy went all the way across, without any support—no SAG vans, no hotels, no cue sheets—in 103 days, in 1884!! Not only that, but check out the type of bike that he was on– He traveled on a penny farthing, otherwise known as an ordinary bicycle. This guy puts us to shame! They had an ordinary in the museum that you could get on and check out. I can’t imagine balancing on this thing!

They had other cool bikes as well- one that I thought was pretty interesting was the one pictured below– bicycles used for military use in World War I. Cyclists were used as infantry, scouts, messengers, and ambulance carriers. The museum owner also said that it was very common for paratroopers to use bicycles– they had folding bicycles strapped to their backs, so once they jumped out of the plane and landed, they would unfold their bikes, and use them for transportation. Interesting stuff! One last tidbit from the museum– Bicycle Playing Cards– cycling became very popular in the US at about the same time as playing cards were being developed–when the US Playing Card Company asked its employees for an attractive name for their new line of high quality cards, a printer by the name of Gus Berens offered the name “Bicycle”– these are still known as “the world’s favorite playing card. ” These cards were used in World War II as well- the United States Playing Card company produced cards that when submerged in water, peeled apart and had a map on the inside of both halves. When all cards were put together, it made a large map, which were supplied to POWs so that if they escpaped, they would have a map.

The museum was really cool, and I’m glad we stopped. After that, we stopped at Panera, and then started making our trek to Canandaigua. Canandaigua is in the finger lakes region of upstate New York. It was a gorgeous ride today. More tomorrow!

Day 45- Hamburg, NY

Today we entered the Empire State– New York– only two more states to go! I can’t believe it! Well, first off, I will say that one exciting thing about the scenery today is that corn and wheat fields have been replaced with wineries! This is me testing out the quality of the grapes–not bad.

We found a really cool place right on Lake Erie for lunch. We had to ride off the beaten path to find it, but it was worth it. Okay, so I’ve never been near the Great Lakes, but these things are huge! It looks like the ocean! Well, without the waves. Here is Wayne and Geraldo at our great lunch find.

Day 44- Rest Day

Today was an AMAZING day! We had a rest day in Erie, so there were 8 of us that decided to rent two cars and drive to Niagra Falls! I had never been so I was so excited! We arrived midmorning, and it was just an unbelievable site. We decided to drive to the Canadian side because you get a better view from that side. These falls are so beautiful and powerful–it’s a site that everyone needs to see sometime in their life. We took the Journey Beneath the Falls tour, which allows you to walk in tunnels underneath Horseshoe Falls. It was so loud, and so breathtaking to be underneath these mighty falls.

Here is a pic of Horseshoe Falls which is mostly on the Canadian side–taken from the Skylon Tower where we ate lunch–the mist that these falls creates makes it seem like it is lightly raining as you walk around to the various attractions. I actually thought it was raining when we first got there until someone in the car corrected me– who would have thought?!

Below is a pic of the American Falls, also taken from the Skylon Tower–

As you can see– it was just unbelievable– there’s no other way to describe it. Such a great day!

Day 43- Erie, PA

Today was a great day. We rode 99 miles into Erie, Pennsylvania with lots of stops along the way. The best lunch stop yet on the trip was at Tarsitano Winery and Cafe today. This place had the BEST pasta, and lots of great wine. Pictured here is Arlene, Rocket, Wayne, and Greg. Rocket liked the wine so much that he bought two bottles, and put them in his water bottle holders on his bike. Craziness!  

After lunch, we rode about another 5 miles and came upon the White Turkey Drive-In which featured Richardson’s Rootbeer floats…we couldn’t pass that up, so yes, we stopped again for more food and ice cream. Here is one of their root beer floats–

Brian, a guy from England, who had never been to America before this trip ordered just a regular rootbeer— then he saw Wayne’s rootbeer float and asked what it was. Wayne replied that it was a rootbeer float, so Brian turns to the waitress and says “Ma’am, can you please float mine?” It was really funny.

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to David, Allison, and Tracy who have ridden from Indianapolis with us. David is Allison and Tracy’s dad, and it has been a pleasure getting to know them. Wish they were going the whole way with us!