Post 3 - NYC to Williamsburg, VA
Before we get started with the new blog, we'd like to add something we missed mentioning in the previous blog. While riding along in Mattapoisett, MA, we saw a local bike rider at an intersection who greeted us as we rode by. We pulled over and met Jeff who shared his interesting cross country bike trip with us. He and his friends fixed up a junker car and went to Key West where they began their trip up through Florida and across the southern United States finishing in California. On our trip, we have met a number of people who have ridden their bike across the country. What an accomplishment. Unfortunately we forgot to snap a picture while we were talking with Jeff.
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We rode 5 miles down the west side of Manhattan along the Hudson River where we boarded the Paulus Hook Passenger Ferry with the bike at Brookfield Center and the took the short 8 minute trip across the Hudson to New Jersey.
From there, we rode a short distance to Liberty State Park. On Liberty State Park there is a train terminal adjacent to the dock where immigrants arrived from Ellis Island. The immigrants came into the train station and 2/3 of them boarded one of the 300 trains that left that station on 20 different tracks every day going to to many of the places in the Northeast and some further away like St Louis, Missouri.
We enjoyed the old train terminal and found the track that connected to towns close to our home towns. John found the track that connected to Sunbury or Williamsport, PA which is 30 or 40 mi, respectively, away from his hometown. Very likely his Greek grandparents rode that train before they settled in Danville, PA.
The station is long abandoned, but it was great for John to see where his grandparents might have traveled from Ellis Island to Pennsylvania once they arrived in the US.
We crossed back into New York State on the Bayonne Bridge, stopping to read the fascinating signs about its history located on the bike/pedestrian lane. Then almost immediately we rode back into New Jersey on the Goethels Bridge. Along our route that day we started in New York, rode to New Jersey, then New York, and then back into New Jersey.
We had a slice at Mike's Pizza in Bayonne, NJ for lunch. The guy making the pizza offered to let us bring our bike inside. What a friendly guy that runs this place. The slices were good too!
We saw lots of deer on our way into our destination of Somerset, NJ that evening which was a little odd because we saw them in a very urban area.
Thursday was another beautiful weather day. We spent about 42 miles of our 53 mile ride on the Delaware and Raritan Canal Trail in New Jersey, changing to the Delaware and Lehigh Canal Towpath after we crossed the Lower Trenton Bridge into Pennsylvania.
We love the trails that run along the old canals and the fascinating placards with historical information along the trails. The surface was crushed stone and packed dirt with just a few muddy patches. The turtles were everywhere in the canal soaking up the sun.
During our stop at Wawa, a little girl who had just gotten out of the car told John she liked our bike and she liked to ride. John told her we liked to ride too. We had ridden a few days in the rain before arriving in NYC and John told her that he was glad that the sun was out. The little girl's mother told John that her Pop Pop used to say "When the sun's out, leave it out!", and we couldn't have agreed more.
Friday was a glorious day, with lots of paved trail. We enjoyed some great chili dogs from the truck, PhiladelphiaChili.com, that was parked along the street in front of the Giant Food Store.
We met a cargo bike rider, Rudy, while riding down one of the streets in Philadelphia. Rudy said hi as he passed by our slow tandem as he went on ahead. We picked up the pace and tried to catch him by the next red light but we were too late. He must have turned at the light and was out of sight. We rode probably another 20 minutes. Then, while waiting for a red light, much to our surprise, when we looked up we saw Rudy waiting at the same red light coming the opposite direction. We waved to catch his attention. When the light turned green he pulled over next to us to have a chat.
If we remember correctly, Rudy worked for a company that transported food and other items in his cargo bike. It was nice meeting and talking to Rudy.
His cargo bike was very interesting. It had a mid drive electric assist motor and variable speed transmission built into the rear hub with a belt drive connecting the two. The cargo bin up front was large and could haul lots of stuff.
We had a few busy roads leaving Philadelphia, but the drivers were mostly courteous. One woman was so nice. Shortly after turning onto route 291 (a road that the ECG Map designates as a high stress road - and that's putting it midly 🙂) she put her emergency flashers on and followed safely behind us shielding us from traffic for many miles until we turned onto a quieter road. Bike touring has been a wonderful reminder that people often go out of their way to help others.
Delaware was the first state we crossed into that had a sign welcoming you to the state.
How did we take this picture of ourselves on the sidewalk? We used a cone. This is the second time there was a cone right where we needed one to attach the phone tripod. We did the same thing to take a picture in Calais, ME at the start of our ride and there was a cone there too.
We saw lots of deer going into Wilmington DE, and enjoyed a stop to look at the old Bancroft Mills historical marker. The mill, located along Brandywine Creek, has been converted to luxury condos.
Once in Wilmington, we got a great steak dinner takeout from a few blocks away and enjoyed it at our hotel room.
Saturday's ride was in Hurricane Ophelia's company. We left beautiful Wilmington in the pouring rain, riding the DuPont sponsored trail with it's marshes and boardwalks.
About 10 miles in we had a flat. Of course, it was the rear tire. Quickly, John found an amber piece of glass in the tire that we picked up from the road berm. Riding on a wider berm is a double-edged sword. You get to ride further away from cars which is safer, but the further you get from the travel lane the more debris there is on the berm and the higher your chances are for flat tires. It was a quick change and we were back on our way.
We continued riding towards the Thomas Hatem Bridge that crosses the Susquehanna River. Once over the bridge, you enter Havre de Grace, MD. Interestingly, the Susquehanna River flows through Bloomsburg, PA, the town where John was born and grew up, and empties into the upper Chesapeake Bay shortly after passing under the Thomas Hatem Bridge.
The bridge crossing is an interesting setup: 1) you can only cross the bridge by bike on Saturday or Sunday from dawn to dusk, 2) prior to crossing the bridge you stop at the designated sign and press the button for bike crossing which activates the warning lights on the adjacent sign sign approaching the bridge alerting motorists that there is a bike on the bridge, 3) you then have 15 minutes to cross the bridge, which is 1.25 miles long.
One car approached us quickly from behind in our lane acting like he didn't see us and then changed lanes right before passing us and yelled out his window. A couple of cars just honked their horns at us as they passed. About 1/3 of the way over the bridge a good Samaritan turned on her emergency flashers and patiently rode behind our bike, shielding us from traffic. We caught up to her at the first red light after the bridge and got to thank her. What a wonderful person!
There is a crossing further north which adds another 15 miles that crosses a dam. Unfortunately, it is not any safer than the Thomas Hatem Bridge.
After the bridge, we turned into the Havre de Grace historic district, and got another flat. Let's see a show of hands that thinks it was the rear tire again. Yep - rear tire! This flat was caused by an old screw. Because this was the second flat, John removed the tube, prepped it, and patched it. With the tube and tire mounted to the wheel, John proceeded to pump the tube up. For some reason, the tube was not holding air. So, John removed that tube and with all of the strong wind from the hurricane, could not hear or feel where the air was leaking out so he put in a tube that had been previously patched but not yet tested. Fortunately this tube worked fine and got us back on the road again. Back in the hotel, John discovered that the screw that punctured through the tire and tube also crossed through the tube and punctured the opposite wall of the tube. In the many tens of thousands of miles written, this was another first on this trip where this type of puncture occurred. While riding a few revolutions of the tire before we detected it was flat, the screw had time to puncture two holes in the tube (one on either side of the tube). This trip has been a record breaker for flats by nearly an order of magnitude.
On the way in to Aberdeen for the night, we stopped and got a late lunch at Panera. Then we rode to the wrong hotel. Sue had Fairfield Inn in her mind, but we were 2 blocks away at the Holiday Inn Express. Luckily, it wasn't raining hard when we went to the hotel. Refer to the cue sheet is the lesson Sue learned here.
John's left pedal was very notchy when turned by hand so he rebuilt the pedal. All the pedals, prior to the trip, were cleaned and regreased so the pedal should not have needed to be cleaned and regreased at this point in the trip. Unfortunately, the tool needed for dissassembly of the pedal was shipped to Williamsburg, VA, where we would stop at the halfway point in the trip and do the preventative maintenance on the day off. So, we walked over in the rain to the Home Depot and bought a nut driver to rebuild the pedal. Upon disassembling the pedal and removing the seal from the bearing, John discovered that there was still plenty of grease but a piece of dirt somehow made its way into the bearing. After a thorough flush, re-grease, and reassemble, the pedal was smooth again.
Sunday's weather started out very rainy. Our hotel was 4 miles off the route because nothing was available closer due to a festival in Havre de Grace. It was at least warmer and we got most of our climbing in before lunch. During lunch it started to look brighter, and the rain got much lighter.
About 14 miles before the end of our day we rode into Gunpowder Falls State Park and onto the packed gravel trail for 7 miles. It was a beautiful trail with deer and historical markers along the river. We even got a little sun!
Near the end of the trail we met a family. The little girl, Poppy, was riding her bike and was so happy to be going through the puddles. She was about 6 years old. Her backside was covered in wet mud, and she was having a great time. We were too - covered in mud and having a great time.
After arriving at our hotel, we cleaned up and found a great Greek restaurant within walking distance. John rebuilt his other pedal and Sue finally got the laundry done after waiting for a washer in the hotel laundry room.
Monday started off cloudy and cool. We rode through Baltimore, MD, mostly on trail, and enjoyed the parks and paths. We stopped to see the Horseshoe Falls, which was on our list to see. The path has fallen away and you have to take pictures from above with a drone or risk a fall on the wet rocks. Luckily, John had the drone with us and got some great shots.
We enjoyed our ride on the Baltimore and Annapolis trail and marveled at the large pile of bikes out behind the bike shop.
We rode on by the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and then to the Mission Barbecue in Glen Burnie for a late lunch near the rail trail path. While we were eating it started to rain, and it rained on us the remaining 3 hours of our ride. Luckily, it was in the 60's.
We didn't take pictures in Annapolis because of the rain, but it was nice to see the historic sites. Sue commented that everything in Annapolis had a date on it, and she's sure glad they didn't make her comply by making her wear her birthdate to ride through town.
After we checked into the hotel and got cleaned up, the rain stopped. We walked over and had a nice dinner at Uncle Julio's near the hotel. We've been missing their food since they closed the Uncle Julio's near our house.
Tuesday morning it was cloudy when we rode out of Annapolis. We enjoyed the country roads in Maryland until we had a flat again. Luckily, John fixed the tube and changed the tire again in less than 30 minutes and we were on our way. We are really having trouble with the Gatorskins for the first time ever. John thinks that the problem has multiple causes and thinks he knows the solution, but time will tell.
We had a nice lunch at a Panera Bread along the way but during lunch it began to rain again.
We had a pretty steady shower until shortly before we arrived in DC. In Hyattsville, we encountered a whole new type of trail bathroom called The Throne which was pretty swanky! The Throne is a small solar powered standalone enclosure that has a QR code printed on the wall adjacent to the door. You scan the QR code which populates a location code in a text message which you then send. After sending the text message, the door automatically opens and you can enter. All controls inside are hand-waving touchless, from flushing the toilet to washing your hands to opening the door to exit. Inside, John noticed that there was a sending/receiving light curtain sensor that spanned two opposite walls just above the floor to detect the presence of someone inside to prevent others from entering. Once you exited the Throne, you received a text message survey to rate the cleanliness of the Throne. One of the choices was "Needs urgent attention" so they know when to send someone to clean it prior to the next scheduled cleaning.
Luckily, the rain cleared before we arrived at The Capital and The National Mall where we had a great visit that late afternoon/early evening. We rode past the Capital, down the National Mall to the Washington Monument, and also stopped at the Jefferson Memorial before crossing the Potomac River on our way out of Washington, DC headed to Alexandria, VA.
On the path leading to Alexandria, VA, we passed by the departure end of Reagan National Airport where you can see the departing jets very close to the ground.
Wednesday we finally had a day without rain and it was very welcome. We traveled from Alexandria, VA along the coast with beautiful scenery on the path. We were enjoying the ride when a runner on the path didn't hear John's warning of passing on the left because he was wearing headphones. John gave two warnings prior to approaching and another one when the guy ran all the way over and into us. The path dropped off to our left so we were unable to unclip and step down on our left like we customarily do. John steered to lean the bike to the right but we did not unclip in time and fell over on our right side. Luckily we were not traveling very fast at this point and only received bruises and abrasions. The runner was very startled and apologetic. We got up and the bike checked out OK so we proceeded on. He was very pleased to hear that we were OK when we caught up to him again down the trail.
The path led to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. We didn't tour Mount Vernon, but we did look around the grounds a bit before heading down the path.
Part of our route was on Route 1, which was okay until the kids got out of school and then we hit rush hour traffic. The ECG took us on quiet roads and then back to Rt. 1 for short segments where it was unavoidable, which worked out great. We stopped at the CVS for hand sanitizer and talked with a young man on a motorcycle who bicycles and was thinking about doing the Great Allegheny Passage. Lots of people we've talked to have expressed interest in bicycle touring. We're so lucky to be retired and able to do it.
We arrived in Quantico before 6:00p to our hotel, showered and had a great Mexican dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel.
Thursday was a longer day, and had more climbing, but we made excellent time on mostly country roads. Great weather helped. We got only a few sprinkles with temps in the lower 70's. We passed farms with chickens, goats, cattle and horses on our way to Ashland VA.
We rode by one house where a two year old boy was fascinated by our bike. We waved and said hi well riding by. We heard the little boy say bike over and over. John turned around and we talked to him and his dad a bit. The little boy was very animated when he came out in his stroller while we talked to him and his dad.
Passing through Ashland, VA, a man pulled up alongside of us and while we were stopped to verify our route on the GPS. He asked if we were on our way to Florida. When we said yes, he was interested to hear about our trip and said he was a cyclist too. So many nice folks along the way!
We had a nice dinner and even stopped at Starbucks for a pastry and a hot drink this evening.
Friday we rode 74 miles, one of our longest days on the trip so far, to Williamsburg from Ashland VA. The first part of our ride was on country roads marked as bike routes. Then we traveled through the Richmond suburbs to downtown and the beautiful Canal Street area.
From there we were on trail the remaining 50 miles into Williamsburg.
Before Richmond, VA, we met two riders and two guides from a tour company. They were riding from Manhattan to Raleigh on the ECG Spine route. One of the riders was a 79 year old woman who had done Calais, ME to Manhattan last year. She was getting it done at 79 years old on a non-motorized bike.
Lunch was awesome at Ronnie's Original Barbecue in Henrico, VA. The barbecue restaurant was right across the street from the Virginia Capital Trail. It was great to meet and talk with Ronnie and his family. They make great brisket and pulled pork sandwiches.
After 1,687 miles of riding we rode into Williamsburg, VA which is the halfway point of our ride.
We were so excited to see our friends, Linda and Wayne. They're such wonderful friends! They even loaned us Wayne's car while we were in town. What a luxury! We had a good dinner with them and then checked into our hotel for two rest days.
On the rest days in Williamsburg, John did bike maintenance, Sue did laundry and other admin with, and we enjoyed our visit with Linda and Wayne.
John and Sue
With the hurricanes hitting the coast right along your route, we were concerned about your well-being. Great to hear that all is well, in spite of the weather and the flats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barbara!
DeleteWow seems like quite an interesting leg of your journey.
ReplyDeleteI hope there are no more flats for many many miles.
My thoughts and we’ll wishes are with you.
Jeff from Mattapoisett
Thanks, Jeff
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