Logging some miles

Stacey and I had a great tandem-riding day last weekend (April 29). We rode from my parents' farm in New Hampshire to Billy and Katie's house in Biddeford, Maine, where Crowder is living for the time being. We faced a fierce headwind on the 40 mile trip there, but the sun was shining and it felt great to be cruising down the road on the long bike. The scenery was mostly rolling woods and fields. We got to B&K's and hitched Crowder to a leash and led him as we rode down to the bike shop where Billy works, 5 miles down the road. Then we rode into Kennebunkport for lunch, back to the bike shop where I got to try out Billy's new tallbike, and then we reversed our course, five miles back to B&K's with Crowder on the leash again, and back home by way of Durham. I was bonking by the time we got to Durham, so we got some cheese and crackers at the grocery store. Although we had good breakfast and lunch, we neglected to pack enough carbs for the road. We had really hoped for an icecream cone, too, but the dairy bar was closed by the time we got there. A quick 3 miles back home brought the day's odometer reading to 96. We contemplated zooming around the block to get an even century, but that thought did not last long in the face of dinner suggestions.

So this weekend, I decided to keep up the momentum and get in some more road miles. Riding from Boston provides some interesting limitations, not the least of which is that there's no room in the apartment for more than 2 bikes apiece. So for a touring bike, I choose between a singlespeed mountain bike (34x19 on wide 26" knobbies) and my fixed-gear commuter (48x18 on 25mm road tires). For riding down to Providence, RI and back I naturally chose the latter. The bike is not equipped with any sort of "rack system", so I stuffed my commuter bag full of a change of clothes, my bike lock, a quart of water and some trail food. Off I rolled on Saturday at 1pm, after a hearty breakfast. I think I covered about 50 miles, maybe a little more, arriving at Mike's house in Providence around 6pm. The roads were mostly flat and smooth and wind-less, so I blame my routefinding on both ends of the trip (getting out of Boston and into Providence) with some delay. And yesterday (Sunday), Mike and his friend Josie escorted me northwards along the Blackstone river bike path, nearly to the Massachusetts border, before heading back and sending me on my way back home. I was on the road for over six hours yesterday, but I think that way was a bit longer, maybe closer to 60 miles. I was careful to stop for food (and icecream) along the way to avoid the bonk.

On another note, in case anyone is still reading this, there's a guy in Cambridge who looks just like Ben. Same hair and beard, orange messenger bag, rolled up pantcuffs, bike shoes - but we figured it must not be him after we saw that his fixed-gear was blue and he didn't stop to say Hi to us outside the grocery store.

That's all for now. I'm going to go home and take a nap.