We grabbed some pizza from Il Travietta (next door on 68th Street) from Jose, the owner.

Chris Pile was landing at LaGuardia at 6:30 p.m., so we were to pick him up in Norwalk, Connecticut - just off the Merrit Parkway. The phone rang as we were driving along Henry Hudson; it was Chris he was on I-95 - we were quite a ways apart. The next call was when we were right behind him on the Merrit. In any case, we arrived at his house seconds after he did. Great timing! He packed quickly and we were off.

Putting 3 bikes (2 Litespeed and a Serrotta) on top of my Mitsubishi Eclipse was interesting. This was a first time to have 3 bikes on top.

We were off - arriving in front of Gerry's house at 11 p.m. I goofed. The driving directions should have left us at the Motel 6. Being a small town - Gerry noticed us pulling up and backing out of his street. He came out to greet us and offered to escort us to the motel. Gladly, we accepted the offer.

Three and a half hours of sleep is all we got. The start was 5 a.m. Pancakes were at the start - but little did we know, we had to cook them ourselves! I'm no cook, so I didn't get one. At 5 a.m., the group was waiting for us. Pat Carter was found at the skillet starting up her pancakes. So, she rolled them up and put them in her pocket!

At Medfield, we picked up more riders (20 miles into the ride). Amongt the group were other New Yorkers, a couple from Syossett, Long Island on a tandem, 3 New York Athletic Club guys and us.

We rode south into Rhode Island, across the top of Connecticut, north through Massachusetts and into Vermont. About 15 miles from Brattleboro, it started to rain, then downpour. We kept riding. No thunder or lightning; we stopped so Chris could cancel a motel reservation. We were freezing when we got back onto our bikes.

The last of part of the ride was along a river - so the terrain was rolling hills. The turn into Northfield, MA was missed - while riding a steep descent, I realized we passed the turn - too late, we were in a state forest - no way out but back up the hill OR to find an alternate route. We stopped a pick-up truck. The driver offered us a "shortcut" - we took it, fearing the climb. It worked out.

We arrived at Motel 6 at 6:45 p.m. and ate dinner in a steak house (poor service). There was a guest from Tennessee who had his "working dog" named Dinnah - energetic girl!

The last guy in arrived at midnight. He really wasn't prepared for the long ride. His 2 friends came in around 9-9:30 p.m. They were more prepared physically. Everyone on the trip gave a lot of credit to these guys - having only done 1 ride of 100 miles in length before.

Clothing, training and type of bicycle are all important when riding long distance. Knowing how to eat, dress and pace yourself comes with experience - learning from others mainly.

Our ride started at 7 a.m., we rode to a town on a lake where the Fire Department was having an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for $5.00. It was misty that day and later became thunder and lightning. At breakfast, I had scrambled eggs and toast. Today was suppose to be the hilliest of the three. It turned into 133+ miles.

The route took us across the state of New Hampshire - nothing to be desired. The first rest stop was a coffee shop (of course, it was at the top of a terrible climb). It was raining when we arrived. Shortly after breakfast, I got a flat - so, I pulled out my new Vredestein from Conrad's here and Chris put 2 new tires on. I was good to go. We caught Susan Plonsky and Russ Loomis making a near miss of a turn somewhere along the route. We rode together a little.

Seagulls announced our arrival near Dover. We arrived in Dover, NH at 6:45 p.m. - ate at the Firehouse (steak house). Unfortunately for the NYAC guys, they arrived a little too late for the Firehouse. Dover, NH is a cute town. We slept at the Days Inn - good place in the center of town.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Pat's appetite got the best of her - she sat for 15 minutes eating munchies (cookies, soda, potatoe chips) at the SAG vehicle. I was in my room cleaning my bike with the door open. A blonde Pug walked into the room - he was leashed - so cute, from Maine.

Today was suppose to be FLAT. Finally! The only flat part was along the South Shore of New Hampshire. Before arriving at the shore, we needed to climb out of Dover - of course!

Riding along the shore was okay - misty mostly. Large houses, ocean, clean salty air, historical markers, bridges, amusement park, beach houses, whale watching boats, beaches, etc... marked our route. I was happy to ride through Hampton Beach. Before we arrived at Hampton Beach, we entered Maine.

Early in the ride, we found ourselves lost. Because I was exhausted from the other 2 days, my slowness made us lose the group. Portsmouth, I think, is where we were lost first- so we started asking directions - the first of many times for the day. It was wet out - yuck!

Eventually we met up with the group in Hampton Beach - first we saw 2 tandems taking beach photos. Gerry was parked along the route to insure us making a certain turn. Lunch was at an Italian restaurant where we had to walk through the kitchen to get to the restroom. We ate Turkey sandwhiches. Here is where I made a mistake - leaving my rain jacket in the SAG vehicle - later it poured.

We had to cut through one parade and actually rode 5 seconds in the parade but needed to dodge Tootsie Rolls being thrown from a vehicle. It reminded me of New Orleans - Mardi Gras.

When lightning came, we knocked on a door of a house. The man was nice enough to allow us to wait out the storm on his porch - he even offered drinks - 3 Coca Colas!

In Walpole, MA, we ate junk food (6 p.m.) - saw a Black fox.

We arrived in the dark - 9 p.m. On route, another rider, already in his vehicle, saw us on the road and phoned Gerry ahead. Gerry met us near Braintree and we followed his car. This was great because we would have been out there one more hour searching for his home.

SUMMARY

We ended up with 412+ miles. This was a unique ride - 5 states in 3 days. The socializing on the ride was dependent on your riding pace. Because I was slower, we didn't get to meet many new people. One rider was a racer in CRCA (Carl). A couple from Columbus, Ohio were very friendly. Karen, a tri-athlete, was the friendliest - you can tell she works out, hard as a rock!

Gerry had pizza for us at the end. Susan Plonsky and Russ Loomis and another rider, John, were all hanging out at Gerry's home. We were able to use the shower. We left Gerry's at 11 p.m. - dropped Chris off in Norwalk, then drove Pat to Far Rockaway. Finally, I drove back to Manhattan and went to sleep at 4:45 a.m. I was at work on Tuesday by 8:30 a.m. What a trip!