Touring - Steve's Journey

Well Im outta here!
thanks to NJbikemap.com hopefully I can make it to the Delaware watergap today and get into PA tomorrow. on to the middle of the state, then up PA bike route G up to NY, out to Ithaca and then on to the lake ontario coast. up to montreal and then down to Coventry Vermont.

posted a pic of my trusty steed. 65lbs fully loaded! in a few days Ill have it pared down a bit and be making good time. And a pic of the comfy grip wrap job I gave her. Dino bag? Compass bell? gotta have em!

bye all thanks for the months of tips and planning info!

~Steve

Beautiful steed. Must be a delight to ride. Good luck on your trip.

Hey All, just here to give you an update..

so Day one started off with a flat tire. Hadn't even left my home town yet!! a little piece of metal from a tire balancing weight caught up in my fender and gashed through my tread... Bad omen?? Two hours later after some pretty gnarly hilly roads, I got into some longer smoother roads and I notice an upholstry tack in my front tire! The tire was holding air so I waited and got to a gas station with free air. Anyway.. at about my third hour of riding (I left at 3pm that day) I found a cool bar grill and had two pints and a burger and a pile of raw veggies.. It was getting dark soon after that so I found a decent camp spot (decent for the pretty densely packed town of Newton that I was in) and set up in the dark.. 3h25min of riding covered 44 miles.
Day 2 I set out and 20 minutes into this my chain breaks! I got some paper towels from a nice lady in a house nearby and proceeded to fix her up. Well, it would only hold for a bout half a mile so I tried to make it better once again and from then on I stayed in 5mph limp mode so the chain would stay on. Eventually I came to a town and got some breakfast and coffee. Fueled up and a bit more optimistic, I sat down and carefully removed the mangled offending link. Now shes good to go. The chain's been fine ever since. I made it to the delaware watergap that day and started the pennsylvania leg of my journey. Rt611 north (Hairy road) to Stroudsburg. Right before completing dreadful 611, I had flat #3. Rear tire again, in the same spot as last time! this time, It just dumped on me, I could hear and feel the air hissing on my leg as the tire spun. This was a bad one that actually made three punctures, almost going through my previous days patch! Time for a new tube. The cuts were substantial enough to where the tube was actually poking out of the tire! So I keep the pressure low and the speed down. After a huuge granny hill, I find myself needing a beer. Lo and behold, at the very top of this hill I see a sign "bar" and I see neon. Its a Thai place. so I get my becks and some good food and coast down the other side into Stroudsburg. I limped on to the center of town (stroudsburg) where I used their huge public library to make a good map of the rest of my PA trip. I took a piece of cardstock with me to make a patch for my tire and at the next gas station I duct taped and cardboarded my tire from the inside so she could hold a bit more air. On to rt 209 west. a long straight road that cuts through numerous farm towns. I was making pretty good time now until the road turned into a highway. frustrated and weary I stopped at a gasstation to eat cold stuff and look over my maps. Just as I finished my FrozFruit a guy pulls up in a pickup and asks me about where Im going, where im from..etc. it turns out that he works in my hometown in Jersey!!!! He helps me out with my maps and lets me know that 209 is only a highway for less than a mile, when it then returns to being a two lane country road. awesome. Thanks man! and I carry on. another hour or so of riding and I find an awesome place to camp for the night. It was around 8:10 and still light out so I snacked on some stuff I picked up earlier and read my book for an hour before falling asleep. 5h riding 62 miles.
Day 3 No bike problems today. Just smooth sailing. rt 209 to 54. had a good breakfast and was on my way. Picked up a masterlink at a bike shop in Jim Thorpe PA, and had some really good pizza in a small old coal town. Had a Rootbeer float which was the best thing ever at that point. (high noon 90+ degrees) Went through alot of bleak looking rundown towns this day. Dreaming of Lemonade the whole time. Carried on to some some smaller roads so I could skirt some mountains. I was on this road (SR3004) for a while, passed a huuge Rottweiler chained to a tree that was barking like crazy straining and jerking at his chain. Im sure he would have eaten me if the chain broke. That was scary. 3004 was a great road, all i saw was a harley going 30. . we talked as he passed, and a winnebago going 50. no lines, no cars, no hills, it was pretty nice. After 3004 was 225 and then 3006. 3006 was nothing like 3004. windy and all hills it killed me. . I had been riding for hours, and was very hungry. i had no water left. I was laughing at it all talking to the plants, you know. . . I was close to my destination and Id be damned if I was going to camp out another night when I was this close to my destination. So while singing about eating raw corn and walking my bike up a steep brutal hill, I remembered the trail mix I had in my bags! Score! as I devoured that, I finally came to a house and got some ice cold water and half an hour later I was eating a grilled cheese with a glass of milk at an ice cream place. half an hour after that I was crossing the Susquehannah river and in Selinsgrove, my destination. I made it here and took a shower and went walking into town in search for Gatorade. Ordered a pizza and day 3 was done. 7h24min riding, 95 miles. whew!

taking a day off now.. its on to NY and the finger lakes. Ithaca here I come!

roll on,
Steve

Thanks Baz.. it is nice to ride. maybe a bit slinky-like at times, but its not a "real" tourer so I was kinda expecting that with all the weight. The setup is a+ so far except for the tires which have been picking up alot of metal.. I guess thats not the tires fault. . ? who knows, I take the problems as they arise..
later
Steve