Month: November 2012

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 17 & 18: North Myrtle Beach – Myrtle Beach – Georgetown, SC

Day 17: North Myrtle Beach to Myrtle Beach State Park, SC (22 miles)

The night before, I’d cycled into North Myrtle Beach quite late and after a little hunting around, found a reasonably stealthy place to pitch the tent that was probably only 100 metres or so off the main strip. After constant camping for the last few days, ‘the system’ has become a lot quicker. It’s much better, and faster, knowing where everything is in your pannier bags and having it organised so it becomes less of a PITA each time you go set up a place to sleep.

The same goes for packing up camp, so after a few minutes and with some Granola-fuelled energy, a new day on the bike began. As per usual for the last couple of days, I didn’t get very far until stopping. But this time because of the beach. What a corker.

I used to live in Cornwall, and since then the beach and general easy-going coastal lifestyle has been very appealing. For at least a week (since Cape Charles / Norfolk), the route has been just in from the coast slightly, often by only a few miles in more swamp-like surroundings, so seeing the Atlantic for the first time in a while was exhilarating.

Got chatting to these two great folk whilst at the beach: Tom, a chef and Meghan, a waitress who both work at the local grill.

A steak sandwich later (c’mon!), these guys were ultra-welcoming and it was obvious they were very interesting. Tom is into Taoism as a philosophy, and told me about an adventure that he’s always wanted to go on which involves taking a year off work and walking across the country with an incredible twist. Tom, if you’re reading this I hope at some point you make it happen.

After lunch, I filmed an interview with Meghan. See a (very) short career-topic snippet:

(If the video doesn’t work in your email browser click here)

Whilst Meghan’s outlook on career is not something I subscribe to at the moment (perhaps that’ll change with time), her no-nonsense approach to knowing that personally she doesn’t have to be passionate about what she does in a day job, as it’s the time when she’s not at work that counts, was food-for-thought.

These guys were great and after several days of groggy tent-life, positive people with good vibes are uplifting. So it was time to crack on, now being mid-afternoon. Out of North Myrtle Beach, the cycling was on cycle paths away from the road, through the woods in the dropping sun. As good as it gets.

Rocked up to Myrtle Beach State Park around 7.30pm and tried to find somewhere subtle to camp, it didn’t work.

Day 18: Myrtle Beach State Park to just outside Georgetown, SC (23 miles)

Was woken at a horrendous hour by the Park Ranger, and had some explaining to do. He was cool about it though so after a not-as-frantic-as-it-could’ve-been packing up camp, it was time to move on and head towards Georgetown. There was some dark looking rain clouds stirring.

Met Wayne Montgomery shortly thereafter. It was his 70th birthday and he was out for a spin on his bike (Happy Birthday, Wayne!). He started cycling only 6 months ago and is now a total convert after witnessing first-hand the health benefits. He cycles every day now. So awesome, mega-friendly and totally inspiring. It was enjoyable to geek out on bikes for a while and learn some nifty shortcuts from Wayne the iPhone whizz!

Then heavy rain for the first time on the trip. It was obvious it was on the way after waking up this morning. I hadn’t really prepared for it, so had to make a dash for shelter to rummage through panniers for waterproof kit. All kit stood up perfectly to getting blasted by the elements for a while which was a useful test.

Magellan eXplorist 710 GPS in it’s element

All in all, two very light days again. Off the bike, so far I’ve been struck by the overwhelming positivity from South Carolinians. On the bike, it’s a while since a big mileage day, and it’s something I’m very aware of (not least for visa-reasons!), so the miles will be picking up again on the other side of Charleston.

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 15 & 16: Wilmington, NC to Shallotte, NC to North Myrtle Beach, SC.

Day 15: Wilmington to Shallotte, NC. 38 miles.

There are some days that you know aren’t going to be big mileage days, and this was one of them. Started off late with a sore lower body (and weirdly, thumbs) so upped the cadence and went lightly for a couple of hours to warm up. Nothing too bad, just need to remember to stretch properly after each day and take it easy for the first couple of miles in the mornings.

It was all going well, stopped at a service station to get some late lunch and met three nice folk. Linda the policewoman, Joe and Matt, all keen cyclists who were super-friendly. Hello!

Then darkness came (and for the first time so far, a cold chill in the air), and there was a bit of an incident which involved a combination of  the night, dodgy road & idiotic cycling. One of those very-quick-to-learn-from experiences where you tell yourself “you moron!” repeatedly in quick bursts for about a minute (Everyone does this, right?). The Ocean Hwy 17 has parts with really thin shoulders (if any), and if you’re a cyclist I would advise you avoid this road at night. Sometimes, being loose and unattached about this kind of route, IMO, can be a good thing (obviously not if you’re anywhere remote!) – you end up in places off-the-beaten-track and it’s more authentic. But approaching Shallotte on the Ocean Hwy 17 reinforced that this can be a stupid (and potentially downright dangerous) idea. Choose the safe roads because sketchy roads at night aren’t fun or worth it. I’ll certainly be doing a lot more research about the roads going forward after last night. The ACA maps are great for this, they’re tailored for safe cycling.

Anyway, after walking the bike down the grass by the side of the road for about 3 miles, I ended up in Shallotte and found an awesome stealth camp in, once again, a park behind a church (seems to work well!).

Day 16: Shallotte, NC to North Myrtle Beach (Mileage: 23 miles)

Today’s been another really light day but one that marks a new state and progress. Made it into South Carolina – the state lines are great for morale – more mentally significant compared to town-to-town. It’s been another stunning day with chilled out cycling and a long time hanging out at the ‘Welcome to SC Rest Stop’, which was a gem and features wonderful staff. Writing this post from Little River, whilst charging batteries. Sorry about lack of decent imagery in this post, that’s the reason!  Heading to Myrtle Beach in a sec to find a place to stealth camp so will put those details, along with overall mileage, into the next post.

South Carolina seems like a great area and everyone’s incredibly friendly so far. I’m ‘stoked’ to meet a couple of interesting people (that’s a cheesy clue as I’m near SC’s surfing spots at the moment). Hang ten. It may be a few days until the next post but hopefully it’ll be a good one! The next two or three days will be working down towards Charleston, SC. Will attempt to push for some bigger mile days from there.

It’s been a case of ups and downs in the last couple of days but that was always going to happen and is fun, whether that’s in the moment or in retrospect.

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 12, 13 & 14: Greenville – Jacksonville – Wilmington, NC

Day 12: Greenville – Greenville (Odomoter: 10 miles)

Really not much to report about Day 12. I ended up just cycling from the stealth camp at the football pitch a few miles east of Greenville,  into the town, did emails, bought some food in preparation for Thanksgiving, and rode back so thought it best to add to a post with other more productive days.

Day 13: Greenville – Jacksonville (66 miles)

Thanksgiving. Everything was super quiet with people celebrating the holiday and eating turkey. Nothing much was open, and the roads were very clear so a perfect time to enjoy the sun and get pedalling.

Leaving Greenville, Kinston was the next town on the route, and was a prime example of how the recession is affecting huge communities. Whole streets boarded up and empty. There was an awesome thrift store though, selling a jet ski on the patio at the front. Decided it might add too much weight, so continued. The rest of the day was spent riding through mainly farmland. Cows and goats mainly.

Like the day of the mechanical, today was a day of firsts. And one that I hadn’t particularly been looking forward to. Getting chased by dogs. It happened twice in the space of about half an hour. Damn they’re fast. At first it’s terrifying, as you only hear them. That terror quickly became amusement on both occasions, as luckily they were both friendly dogs (a tiny little thing and a labrador). Happy days.

I arrived on the outskirts of Jacksonville at about 7pm, with the thought that on Thanksgiving stealth camping should be easily achieved. There was a park wedged in between a church and a street, hidden from the road so it made a great place to pitch the tent. It was all going so well, until cooking up a couple of tins for dinner. Can’t have been that discreet as about 5 minutes later a car with full beam headlights slowly approached the tent. They’d seen the flame from the stove.

Amazingly though it was the pastor of the nearby church and his son, a Jacksonville police officer. They were totally fine with the camping, and had just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to burn anything down. After explaining the situation, they even offered to bring some left over turkey. The pastor continued to give some valuable advice:

“Here’s good, but you really don’t want to go any further down the park. There’s dogs. Rottweilers. Try not to disturb them.” Noted. Thank you sir.

 

Day 14: Jacksonville – Wilmington (52 miles)

Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, when a large chunk of America go holiday shopping. Shops open at midnight, people fight, and try to get some reduced-price swag.

Today was rare, in that I knew the destination was Wilmington. Having a quick look at the GPS told me that it was 52 miles away. So after a fairly leisurely morning, it was time to hit the road at around 11am.

The Black Friday traffic wasn’t particularly noticeable, not until arriving in Wilmington later on anyway. It was another glorious day, perhaps the hottest so far. The first half of the day was uphill all the way, and was the first sustained up hill I’ve encountered. It wasn’t steep by any means but it seemed to go on and on at a gradual incline, at obviously a much slower pace than on flat. Hard work with a flat battery in your music / audio device. Oh and the roadkill, so much roadkill today. You name it – foxes, deer, birds, cats. Grim and not photo-worthy.

Pulled in to Wilmington relatively early, at around 6.30pm, which made a pleasant change. Looking forward to checking out the coast between here and Charleston over the next couple of days.

Not particularly accurate G-maps:

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 11: Ahoskie, NC to Greenville, NC

58 miles today. Late start leaving Ahoskie. Loaded up on Granola bars and soon got in to a rhythm, heading for the North Carolina 11 S route.

Today was the first day of really long straight roads, where you don’t have to do any navigation for basically most of the day. There was a point when I just had to ride down a single straight road for 38 miles. In many ways it’s quite enjoyable as you can turn on the music and audio books and it becomes very simple and almost meditative. ‘We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships’ was the highlight of todays music selection.

Click the images to open the full panoramic.

That state didn’t last too long. Had to do some obligatory mountain biking when, slightly ahead, one lorry was overtaking another. The overtaker pulled out in to the oncoming lane which was clear of cars, just not cyclists. No way was he going to stop the procedure so I promptly diverted to the grassy verge to avoid them.

Mind games have started to kick in too. Here’s one for you to try: How long can you ride whilst balancing on the white line on the side of the road? Oh the thrill! Another one is cat eye slalom. How long is this trip again?!

The ride was really great, passing through Martin County & Pitt County. Through a lot more cotton fields, and swamp land. Over the amazing Roanoke river, too. Via some awesomely aesthetic abandoned houses.

Stealth camped at a football complex 3 miles east of Greenville, near a place called Bradford Creek. Once again, not the stealthiest of spots but it seemed to work, hiding from road-visibility by bivying behind a platform.

Looking forward to riding to Wilmington, NC, arriving on most likely Saturday now. At the time of writing it’s 4pm and I’ve probably cycled about 3 miles today, so it’s not boding well for a big mileage day! It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, so best get some food as everything closes later on today.

Oh, it was a really clear night whilst stealthing-it last night, here’s the sky:

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 10: Norfolk, VA to Ahoskie, NC

Day 10: Norfolk, VA to Ahoskie, NC (Odometer reads: 79 miles – that’s with faffing and getting lost on the way out of Norfolk. Nail it first time and it’s more like 75 miles.)

Didn’t meet any people today for more than a few minutes at a time so it’s more a purely cycling post today.

Started from the budget motel in Norfolk, VA this morning, and begun the urban navigation with the first goal being to get on to the US. Route 13 highway heading South.

Norfolk is home to Norfolk Naval Base, the largest of it’s kind in the world. So cycling out of the city and over the rivers you get to see a variety of ships being built, dismantled, and repaired including a couple of huge aircraft carriers and some other super-serious looking ships.

As for the cycling in the city, it’s tricky to get to the US-13, as you aren’t allowed to go through some of the tunnels and over some of the bridges. Eventually I found this one and was soon on the way. Riding down the other side of this bridge was incredible – top gear, body low, FAST!

Got on the right route shortly thereafter and was greeted with great roads with wide shoulders. Eventually it went past the edge of The Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge (what a name!), which was great. Swampy, wooded, and autumnal. It does a lot for overall motivation when cycling through inspiring places.

And then it finally happened! At a set of traffic lights on the way through downtown Suffolk, the light turned green, I pedalled about a half-stroke and SNAP! That’ll be the first mechanical issue of the trip – snapped chain.

Fixed it eventually (it’s been a while!) and carried on, sure that it would only last another few minutes before breaking again (thankfully it didn’t). The whole endeavour created some incredibly oily hands.

After cycling out of Suffolk, there was a sign that read ‘NC State Line – 16 miles’. That is motivation in sign form. It’s the little things ‘eh? The landscapes from then on were mainly cotton-fields which were unusual on the eye at first.

Other than the snapped chain, it all seemed to line up today. Flat roads, rested body, and the wind. A perfect North Easterly. I’ve read so much about headwinds being awful (wouldn’t know yet). But what isn’t mentioned as much is how great it is to have the wind on your back. It makes for noticeably faster progress.

Staying in a budget motel tonight in Ahoskie, NC, and I’m currently working down to Wilmington (hopefully in 2 days time) and then on to Charleston, SC (where there’s surfing!) a couple of days later than that.

My GPS is tracking the route to the meter, so on a rest day soon I’ll try to pull the data off it and upload a totally accurate route-so-far. For now though a rough Google maps will do. Today’s route:

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 9: Cape Charles to Norfolk, VA

12.5 miles today. Not a massive post today on the cycling-front as there’s not a whole lot to write about.

I set off from Cape Charles this morning, after a great nights rest and a decent cereal breakfast. Begun cycling and just had no energy.

Anyway kept going for about 9 miles until the Toll Plaza for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to get a shuttle off the Delmarva Peninsula (no cycling allowed). Phoned ahead this morning so they were expecting me, so it was a very hassle-free process of just waiting for a shuttle van for about half an hour.

And then the driver showed up. Meet Jim Davis. An ex-union worker retiree who now works part-time at the Bridge.

It’s great having met such a variety of people already, only being a week-or-so in to the trip. Just yesterday I was with Dora from Cape Charles, who radiated positivity. In contrast to that, Jim is very passionate, and has got strong feelings about working conditions and the state America and Virginia is in at the moment.

Excuse the poor quality – shot on phone on the fly:

Along the bridge we stopped off at the pier at Chesapeake Bay – North America’s largest estuary. It was awesomely windy and there were some pretty hardcore fisherman out there having a blast / getting blasted. Jim mentioned that on really big swell days, fish can get thrown on to the road!

Back to the cycling, after getting dropped off at the other side of Chesapeake Bay, at Norfolk, I continued cycling for 3 and a half miles, and the energy had just gone. So I called it a day. It doesn’t help in the overall game of averages but I was content enough with knowing that another light day was needed before getting back into the big stealth days.

Tomorrow the rain arrives, which I’m quite excited about in a weird way. Should add a new element to the project!

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 6, 7 & 8: Lewes, DE – Snow Hill, MD – Cape Charles, VA

Long post today playing catch up!

Day 6 – Lewes, DE – Snow Hill, MD (54 miles)

After getting the ferry from Cape May, I arrived in Lewes, DE around 90 minutes later. Passing through, it was a similar story to Cape May. I’m sure in season it’s buzzing, but in mid-November, on a weekday, it was really quiet.

To be honest, it wasn’t the most enjoyable start to the day. My legs were pretty achey and the places I was cycling through in Delaware (after Lewes) weren’t welcoming. There were a lot of “Get the hell out of here” looks. No way was I going to be attempting to stay overnight stealth-style as it didn’t feel out of the question to wake up to an angry farmer with a shotgun in my face. It became a race to make fast progress at this point.

And then I crossed the Delaware border into Maryland. Ah, thanks Maryland! It’s amazing how quickly the atmosphere of a place can change in such a short distance.

Pulled into Berlin, MD, around 6.00pm, and was hit by the quaint, homely feel of the town. Met a bunch of cool people on the main street (Hi Terry, Shelly & Billy – that’s a lot of y’s). It’s like a model town. Plus it was dinner time, which is always a joy after spending hours on the saddle. Got a burrito in a local Mexican eatery, and then set off to cycle on. But I probably got about 200 metres down the road, until spotting Rayne’s Reef, an amazing looking diner place, and went in for a coke. What I love about this trip so far is spontaneously meeting people. Bumped in to these cheeky lot in Rayne’s Roof, it was a lot of fun and turned an okay day into a great one.

After a good time in Berlin, I pedalled on through the night, arriving at the historical Snow Hill at around 10.00pm. There wasn’t anywhere obvious to stealth it that I could see. A few people before this trip began mentioned sleeping at churches & fire stations, so upon passing the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Service, I decided to give it a try. But no-one was in. So I went into ‘discreet mode’ i.e. no tent, and settled for the night in between some very well sculptured trees in the Fire Station garden, waking up at first light to keep heading south. Luxury, eh? The morning after the night before:

Day 7 – Snow Hill, MD – Cape Charles, VA (80 miles)

First light. The first time I’ve been up and ready to go at the start of the day. Perfect opportunity to get a full day in. It was cold, so the layers came out to warm up. The day started off with really nice riding. Flat roads through amazing autumnal forest landscapes.

After a couple of hours I wheeled in to Pocomoke City, just above the border into Virginia, or on the outskirts at least. Lethargy on the bike hasn’t been an issue until this point. Pulled into an eatery and just zoned out for about an hour and half. Half sleep, half awake, a bit bizarre. It was good to refill water bottles and charge the bike light. The staff were entertained by my English accent, requesting many times ‘Sorry, could you say that again?’ just for amusement purposes.

Made the border of Virginia shortly after that, and ended up cycling in samey-looking farmland for 2 hours, until reaching Accomack as the light was at its best, where I fell off into a ditch, forgetting to unclip. Classy. Said ditch:

It was a strange day in terms of taking a lot of long-ish breaks, but really stretching the day out starting from early to late.

Pulled into Cape Charles around 11.00pm again (seems to be a recurring theme), after cycling through the dark for a few hours. Friday night and it was totally quiet at the harbour area, but windy so not the best place to sleep. So I looked on the GPS and saw that there was a massive park really close, so cycled over there, and found a really un-subtle place to stay by the side of the river. Decided to try to be as discreet as possible by bivying (no tent) on the grass, and hide the bike down nearer to the edge of the river, setting up alarms that would give off a piercing tone if anyone moved it. (Needn’t have been concerned though as three people in Cape Charles have mentioned that there is no crime here whatsoever).

Quick thoughts on night riding / attempting this project in winter:

Day 8 – Cape Charles, VA (0 miles)

The alarm clock on my phone went off at 6.15am, ready to move on and head for the Chesapeake tunnel bridge before being discovered. Yesterday must have taken it’s toll, as the first thing I did when the alarm clock buzzed was to turn it off, and continue to sleep until 10.

Continued to pack up the sleeping kit and went to put the panniers back on the bike. Had a little moment:

Ah no the bike alarm! Totally forgot about it, I’ve just moved the bike and now it’s going off at roughly a million decibels, it’s not helping add to the discreetness of the situation.

Silenced the alarm after some frantic moments, and went on to explore, going down to the beach (amazing to be blasted by the Atlantic breeze) and bumping into the mayor of Cape Charles, Dora, who is amazing and contagiously positive. A snippet below:

Chilling out now in Cape Charles. After a week on the saddle, today will be the first full day off, time to rest and catch up on sleep before setting out again tomorrow. I was at a lunch place earlier and bumped into a great guy called Ned who manages the very snazzy Hotel Cape Charles. It closes in a couple of weeks once the fishing season finishes. He told some great stories about Cape Charles at one point, around WW2, being the railroad hub of the Northern US and that it buzzed all year round with people, as it does now in the summer, but no longer does in winter. Incredible generosity once again, as he is providing a room for the night. Kind of mind-blowing really. Looking forward to washing clothes, getting clean and starting fresh tomorrow.

In terms of how body and bike are doing after a week – fine to be honest. No punctures or mechanical issues so far, bike is still running smoothly. Body is okay too. Saddle no longer an issue, it’s gone from a pain to more of a comfort – I didn’t believe the reports (who does?) but Brooks saddles really are comfy! The only thing is slightly sore legs after the bigger days, but it’s only a numb soreness and goes away quickly once setting off.

Oh yeah, one last thing, the guy from Hustle now has a new job apparently:

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 5: Carneys Point, NJ to… Cape May, NJ!

Change of plan again yesterday. Couldn’t cross the bridge by bike at Carneys Point, so re-jigged the route a little bit / a lot, and made my way right around the coast, to Cape May, NJ. Ended up being the biggest day so far at 81 miles.

Another cracking day weather wise, cold but incredibly sunny all day. It started off from Carneys Point, going through farmland, until Pennsville. Stopped for apple juice and bumped into Dave, an ex-dairy farmer who has a couple of Elvis’s driving licences. Friendly guy who shared a couple of stories of his brother being stationed in the UK in the war, who loved it there.

And Umesh, who’s been living in Pennsville for 4 years after moving from Nepal, who sent this photo over:

It was pretty flat the whole way, no sustained up hill or down hill. One of those days where you just pedal and don’t really think about the mileage. Still really interested in setting off at first light and seeing what mileage is possible in a day.

Passed by a quirky looking fruit market, so popped in to get some lunch. Quite amusing seeing all the descriptions- “Jersey Apples – sweet and crunchy, goes well with cereal”. Nothing wrong with that, in fact as far as fruit descriptions go it’s quite well thought about. The ‘Apple Pears’ description wasn’t as original.

Going through Gloucester County and Cumberland County was refreshing, the air being seaside-like. A lot of crab shacks, and fishing bait shops that were closed until next year, so it was a bit eerily quiet for a couple of hours. But amazing roads for most of the day.

Click on image to view full panorama.

Pulled into Cape May, an interesting port town. It’s really empty at the moment, a lot of shops closed for the season, a bunch of holiday homes going unused. I arrived quite late, and had missed the last ferry, so went to grab some wifi at a local well-known fast food establishment until closing. It’s warmer inside than out, after all. So at about 11.30pm, it was time to find somewhere to sleep.

It’s probably quite tricky to find a place to camp in ‘the season’, but out of season, it seems like no-one cares that much. So after a few minutes of looking for a place to stay that was hidden, it became obvious that actually it doesn’t need to be that difficult. So I set up camp in the corner of the towns football pitch and had a good nights kip to be up early to board the hour-and-a-half ferry ride to Lewes, Delaware.

Farewell New Jersey (again). Next post from Delaware!

(Sloppy presentation and formatting today but the ferry’s here so must dash!)

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 4: Cherry Hill, NJ to Carneys Point, NJ.

Another light day today. 35 miles. Not intentionally, just the start of the day took ages.

Getting out of Cherry Hill, combined with finding a place that sold batteries, took a fair while. It’s funny really when you have everything you need strapped to your bike, it becomes something that you don’t want to leave if you can’t see it. Even if you lock it up, it’s still a potentially easy target so selecting where you stop is quite important. I.e. somewhere with a big window out front, railings etc.

After the faff of leaving Cherry Hill, and passing on the outskirts of Camden, I had a bad feeling today might be a look-out-for-traffic-urban-day. But it turned out great a couple of hours later.

I ended up on an awesome road called Kings Highway / New Jersey Route 41, through Clarksboro (Gloucester County). Wow. By this point it was magic hour, and the weather as good as it gets – the sun was dropping and the light was brilliant. The autumn colours and low sun turning everything purple was pretty striking. The houses immense and classic – something like you’d see in The Addams Family. The fields vast and sparse. Probably one of the biggest reasons today wasn’t very mile-heavy was the constant stopping to take photos.

Click the image below to open the full panoramic:

It was awesome to watch a group of about 10 deer jump out of some woods and run across an adjacent field.

Today was also the first time the roads have been suitable for listening to music and audiobooks which is something I’ve been looking forward to. Really makes it easier to pedal for longer stints and increases motivation. Album of the day was Passenger – All The Little Lights. Check it out.

Barked at a few times today (by dogs, not people). Made me think of the stories of people on tour being chased / attacked by dogs. If you’ve done anything similar and have any tricks in managing dog attacks, it’d be great to hear in the comments below. Any states coming up that it’d be worth getting spray for? What’s your avoidance strategy?

Got ‘in the zone’ for the first time, maybe it was the amazing scenery and the cals from last nights dinner, or perhaps it was just getting in to the swing of things, but the cycling was totally enjoyable, the pain non-existent, and there was a strong wish for the light to remain. It was ace. A full day of that would be incredible. This distance-cycling thing’s something special, huh?!

As for the bike and gear, it’s all going pretty well really. Bike’s running smoothly. Still no punctures which is surprising considering the amount of glass in the shoulders over the last couple of days. Saddle pain, after yesterdays light day, was much improved, ready for a full day’s push in the morning. Gotta be due a stint of bad weather soon surely? Seems too good to be true for the last few days.

Ended up in Carneys Point, which is the town on the Delaware River which means tomorrow will be a new state – Delaware, and Maryland in a couple of days. Didn’t ever plan on going down that strip of land but it’s had a lot of recommendations so have adjusted the route a little bit. It was always a Vague Direction anyway. Looking forward to finally joining the ACA route in Virginia most likely.

Kept the main camera in the bag today but was snapping away on the iPhone. Here’s a few snaps that mainly involve a lot of sky.

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Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 2 and 3: Linden, NJ – Burlington, NJ – Cherry Hill, NJ

Day 2 – Linden, NJ to Burlington, NJ (63 miles)

So after day one, I woke up feeling quite sore in the leg department. Didn’t start cycling until around midday, even later than the day before, what a fool.

Set off from Linden, and was quickly on some amazing roads. Massively wide shoulders, fairly level for the most part, cool drivers. It was great to be in more scenic, less urban America.

Oh, the saddle. Before setting off (literally a couple of days before) I got hold of a Brooks Flyer saddle. Everyone seems to accept that once broken in they are insanely comfy, but that the breaking in period can be quite tough. They’re right. It’s not unbearable by any means, but on long downhills it’s a great relief to be able to stand up and get off the saddle. Anyway let’s not get into how to care for this kind of pain (Sudacrem).

Where were we? Oh yes the roads. They passed through some lovely quaint suburbia, one of the first areas being North Brunswick, where I found a little cul-de-sac to have a rest for a few minutes. It was a Sunday and the weather was ace (hot!) so people were at home, hanging outside their houses. I bumped into a father & son, Jim and Martin, who were really friendly and we chatted for a good 45 minutes. Jim is actually a photographer so we nerded out for a little bit, and Martin is in-between school at the moment and has big dreams for adventure hiking. We shot a quick little portrait (aren’t red trees ace?):

After this I cycled for a good few more hours, finally hitting Burlington (via Springfield) at around 9.00pm. For the first time I managed to stealth camp in a secluded section of woodland near the college. Pillow solution could be improved. So that was day 2, another 63 miles according to the odometer which was nice after having set off so late and stopping a lot along the way.

Day 3 – Burlington, NJ to Cherry Hill, NJ (12 miles)

What a brilliant day. I rode all of 12 miles, not because of tiredness / recovery, but because today I’d arranged to meet a into-cycling-couple living in Cherry Hill after they’d finished work.

The little cycling that I did do was pretty rad, once again a great area of New Jersey and nice roads.

And then the coolest part. A chap called Isaac emailed a couple of weeks ago, asking if I’d be interested in going for dinner with him and Sarah, his wife if I was passing through. You bet! So I was hanging out with a Coke outside a cafe in Cherry Hill, and at about 4.00pm a big pickup truck pulls up and Isaac shouts hey from inside.

We bundled the bike into the back of the truck and he drove us to his apartment to meet Sarah, stash some stuff and recharge batteries.

Then we grabbed some dinner at The Cheescake Factory and it was great to hear about their love of cycling, families and general lives.

After dinner, we visited Campbells Soup’s global headquarters. Isaac is a head chef there and he invents some of the products that Campbell’s produce. Pretty awesome to see his work up there on the marketing wall. After this we went back to the apartment to pick up the gear and batteries, and shot a bit of video too. A snippet below:

It was a great experience to be in the company of two of the most hospitable people. After an amazing dinner, they surprised me by organising a suite in a local hotel for the night and a bag of Campbell’s goodies. How incredibly kind is that?!

I haven’t spent much time in the cycling community before this trip, but first impressions are that it’s a network of kind-hearted and welcoming people. Thank you Sarah and Isaac, it was an absolute pleasure and I’m excited to stay in touch with you guys.

Shattered now (apologies if the writing isn’t very clear!) but feeling good after a light days riding and the great company this evening. Roll on tomorrow.