When I pulled into Deception Pass State Park, WA, my smartphone had already told me that the regular campsites were nearly full, but I knew that they had 5 biker sites set aside for travelers on two wheels (and additional hiker sites for those arriving on foot). Here I met a trio of older Canadian women who happened to be cycling the same Vancouver-Victoria-Port Angeles loop as me, though in the opposite direction, and at a more relaxed pace. We compared travel notes for about a half-hour, then poured over my Adventure Cycling maps to help me get better oriented to biking into Vancouver, their home town, as well as Victoria, which isn’t on my map. While both of these cities are exceptionally bike-friendly, it turns out that the place where I’ll be staying on Wednesday night requires some creative thinking to avoid a tunnel that is not open to bicycles. Many thanks to the kindness of Canadian strangers for pointing me in the right direction.

But I have a tendency to mentally overcompensate in cross-cultural communication. You might think, “They’re Canadians, eh? What could go wrong?” No major faux paus, thank goodness, but lots of little ones in my mind. While speaking our conversations were occasionally drowned out by fighter jets taking off and landing at a nearby US naval base, and inside myself I was silently apologizing (Sorry for the intrusive militarism on our otherwise friendly border). When one of the Canadians asked me if I knew how cold it would get that night, I knew the answer but mentally stumbled around while trying to be diplomatic and attempting to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius in my head. (Is it multiply by 5/9 and add 32? or the other way around?)

Another personal favorite about riding into state parks is watching and hearing all of the kids have an absolutely fabulous time riding their bikes around the campsites. They’re just going in circles—first one direction, then the other, maybe followed by a game of chase, then another dozen circles—but that’s the simple joy of bike riding, with virtually no danger of being hit by a car. Considering how many kids grow up today in auto-oriented neighborhoods that may not be safe for biking, it’s wonderful to hear the freedom in their voices as they zip along the camp loops. Reminder to parents: if you want your kids to spend less time on computer screens, then get involved and advocate for safer bike routes in all of our communities.

But one downer that I learned last night in Birch Bay State Park, WA, at precisely 1:32am, was the sound of a raccoon clawing open the food bag on my bike pannier. Clever little rascals. I got lucky and chased the the critter away before it busted out my dried soup (yes, I too am tempted by the smell of masala lentil pilaf late at night), but I realized how this experience differs from car camping, where I usually put the food in the van overnight. Next time, should I move the food into the tent with me (I always heard this was a bad idea, especially if you’re around bears) — or hang it by a rope over a tree limb (which sounds like a great idea, if you happen to have a long rope, an ideal tree, and no squirrels). More lessons to learn on the bike trail.

Update: Thanks to everyone who contributed, I surpassed my goal and raised $680 for the East Coast Greenway!

Dear friends and family,

Here’s your chance to donate to a good cause and put your name on a piece of real estate! Please contribute to my fundraiser for the East Coast Greenway, a non-profit organization that’s creating bike and pedestrian trails from Maine to Florida. For my local friends, check out the ECG route through Hartford the big red line on this map and follow it to New Haven CT and Providence RI, where communities are actively building more off-road bike paths.

I believe in ECG’s admirable track record. Hundreds of volunteers work to coordinate the construction of new trails to promote walking and biking. About 30 percent of their route is already firm-surface and traffic-free, and it’s growing every month. I also support their strategy of building trails into major cities to connect communities with one another. Everyone wins when we have safe places to walk and ride.

During the week of October 5th, 2014, I’ll be joining the Week A Year Tour and riding the Philadelphia-to-Virginia portion of the route with 40 other cyclists to raise awareness and funds for the East Coast Greenway. Please help me to meet my goal of raising $600 by donating via my personal FirstGiving online form. It’s simple, fast, totally secure, and tax-deductible. Plus, if you make a donation of $25 or more, you automatically receive a one-year ECG membership. (Or if you prefer, mail me a check and I’ll send it to ECG for you.)

WAIT — there’s more! For anyone who donates $30 or more, I will rename a city or state on my route in your honor, by digitally altering a photo of a sign or map to personalize and post it on your FaceBook page and/or my blog. Act now to claim valuable territories in your name. Think of the possibilities!

If you want me to rename some real estate for you (or someone you love!), add a comment on my online donation form, or send me an email. Thanks for your support!  

-Jack

Here’s my commute, which was perfectly fine twice-a-week for four weeks, but wouldn’t want to do it every day:

• 4:40am wake up to shower and eat breakfast
• 5:15am 3-minute ride on Brompton bike to Roslindale Village station on the MBTA commuter line
• 5:30am fold up my bike and carry onboard train to South Station
• 5:50am arrive at South Station, place Brompton bike inside Ikea bag, and carry upstairs to bus terminal
• 6:00am place my bagged bike in the storage compartment and board Peter Pan bus to Hartford
• 7:50am arrive at Hartford Union Station, unbag and unfold by bike, and pedal 10 minutes to Trinity
• 8:10am arrive at Trinity College campus, ready to teach

After teaching my two classes, I enjoyed lunch in Hartford and did the same trip in reverse, usually making it home by 4:30pm.

Lessons learned from this experience:

• Life does not fit neatly into the perfect schedule. While I taught two classes back-to-back from 10:00am to 12:45pm, I needed to catch the 6:00am Peter Pan bus (or the 6:20am Greyhound bus) to arrive on time at Trinity, since the 8:00am bus did not arrive until 9:50am, assuming no delays. Good thing I’m a morning person, my brain was awake, and I could effectively prep for class with my laptop on the bus!
• MBTA commuter trains allow folding bikes anytime. But the Peter Pan/Greyhound bus companies prefer that you place your folding bike inside a bag before you store it under the bus. Also, there’s no extra fee for bringing one piece of luggage under 50 pounds, but unbagged bikes might be charged an extra fee. So this was another great use case for the $5 Ikea Dimpa bag to store your Brompton bike, as described in my 2024 Brompton packing post.
• While it would have been easier to simply unfold and push my bike through South Station, making the connection from my train to the bus was tight. In order to save time, I learned to fold up and bag my bike while riding on the train, then threw the bag straps over one shoulder and hoofed it up the escalator to my bus. The first time I rolled my bike into South Station and up the escalator, a security guard warned me that their rules required bikes to be transported on the elevator, which was very slow. So my 30-pound bike lift became part of my morning exercise routine!
• The Peter Pan Bus company lets you sit anywhere. But Greyhound sells you tickets for a specific seat, and the 6:20am Greyhound driver was adamant that you must sit in your assigned seat, even forcing you to sit next to another passenger despite having plenty of empty seats all around you. So I became a big fan of the Peter Pan bus line!
• Most bus drivers and passengers are nice folks, even in the early morning. One time at Boston’s South Station, a passenger mistakenly stood in line for our 6:00am Peter Pan bus to Hartford, but as our driver was checking tickets prior to boarding, suddenly realized that this person was supposed to be on a different bus that had just started to leave. So our driver sprinted across the bus loop to flag down the other driver before he fully departed our station, and guided the mistaken passenger onto the correct bus.

Back in July 2023 I biked from Hartford CT to Burlington VT, to face some mountainous inclines as well as my fears about long-distance biking with limited vision. This time I decided to name this “The Flat Parts” tour of Vermont and Quebec! I rode Amtrak’s Vermonter train line from Hartford to St. Albans VT for about $50 one-way and reserved a spot to bring my bike on board for $5 extra each way. Before boarding, look for a car with a “bike-friendly” sticker to locate a compartment. On this train, you need to remove your front wheel and hang the back wheel on a hook inside a special bike compartment (which also required me to politely ask other passengers to move their luggage out of the compartment marked “Reserved for Bicycles”. I did not make many friends on this portion of my trip!) Rolling the bike on board in Hartford was feasible because the platform there is level with the train car. Inside, the car, maneuvering my wide handlebars around the inside corner was a bit challenging, and my 650B x 1.95-inch wide tire just fit inside the hook. But when departing the train at St. Albans, my bike and I needed to descend several steps from the train car to the platform, in the dark, where it’s really hard for me to see. Fortunately, the conductor outside the car kindly lifted my bike’s front wheel so that I could more easily walk the back end of the bike down the stairs and onto the platform. Thank you!

When planning this trip, I decided to sleep indoors, rather than camp outside, so I begrudgingly paid a premium to reserve a hotel room overnight next to the St. Albans train station due to the lack of alternatives. I chose St. Albans because it’s the end of the Vermonter train line, which put me only 75 miles away from Montreal on my first day of biking. I knew ahead of time that the Vermonter was not scheduled to arrive until 9pm (sometimes later). Due to my non-existent nighttime vision, I could not safely bike to the only campsite near St. Albans I saw on the map, more than five miles away, nor did I find any Warmshowers hosts or affordable AirBnBs ahead of time. Next time, I would look more closely at my next-best alternative: get off the train at Essex Junction, put the bike on the front of the municipal bus to Burlington, to somewhat more affordable overnight accommodations. But that plan depended on the train arriving before the last bus departed around 11pm, and that there was room for my bike on the two-spot bus rack. Also, starting the trip in Burlington would have added 30+ miles on my ride to Montreal, and my 59-year-old body can no longer handle 100-mile days on the bike. So I swallowed my thrifty-spending pride and paid the premium for the St. Albans hotel room….sigh. Day 1: only 5 miles (home to Hartford train station, then St. Albans train station to nearby hotel)

When departing St. Albans on the first day of my tour, I decided to check out the new Vermont rail trail that my friend Nancy had texted me about a week earlier. At the north end of town I jumped onto the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail and rode it about twelve miles to Sheldon Junction VT, where I jumped over to the newly-opened Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, and rode that about ten miles to Swanton VT. The straight route from St. Albans to Swanton would have been shorter, but I had an early start to the day and the weather was gorgeous, so decided to explore a bit off my original path. The trail was a combination of crushed stone dust and occasional single track. Saw several trail runners that Saturday morning but only a couple of bike riders. If you enjoy biking in the woods, try out either trail, which go further than I went. Or if you prefer biking in the city, head to Montreal.

Back in 2010, my spouse Beth and I took our very first multi-day tandem-with-trailer bike tour around the Lake Champlain region, so I was already familiar with the southern portion of this 2024 trip. With my passport in hand, I crossed over at the very small border station at Alburg Springs VT (spelled without an “h”) near Alburgh VT (spelled with an “h”). What’s up with that? Read further to learn more about this orthographical mystery! Anyways, I was the only person in line headed into the tiny village of Clarenceville, Quebec, but there was a very long line of cars with Canadian license plates headed into the US, so was lucky to be heading the right way that Saturday. If you’re riding a bike, it’s a great place to cross, but as the border guard will remind you, they close the gate promptly at 4pm. This rural area has no stores that I could see, but lots of farms.

After pedaling about 25 miles through rural Quebec I arrived at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a beautiful town on Lake Champlain with many cafes and public parks, the northernmost point that Beth and I had visited on our 2010 tandem tour. After lunch and a rest break by the water, I followed signs for Route Verte 1 on the Canadian bike network and was absolutely stunned by the 30-mile separated bike path that goes direct to downtown Montreal and beyond. The most beautiful portion is the Chambly Canal, an 18-mile segment between the cities of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Chambly, which is very popular for biking, walking, and boating. Wow, what an amazing work of Canadian infrastructure that US residents can explore and bring lessons to our communities back home! Day 2: 75 miles.

Rather than biking directly into Montreal on my first day, I stayed overnight in the suburban town of Longueuil, in an AirBnB room very close to the Route Verte 1 bikeway and the municipal Parc de la Cité. Originally, I chose this destination because it was closer to my starting point and seemed more affordable. But next time, I would consider riding the extra 10 miles into Montreal (meaning a 75-mile trip from St. Albans, without the VT rail trail side trip) because it wasn’t too much further and I later saw similar prices for overnight accommodations. Or for a less-intensive bike tour, consider staying overnight at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (25 miles from Alburg Springs VT border), then bike the next 30 miles the next day into Montreal.

After a long day of biking to the Montreal region, I took it easy the next day with a short ride to downtown. The Route Verte 1 bike path is almost entirely separated from car traffic, with a couple of short exceptions in relatively calm residential areas. Be aware that biking into Montreal this way requires crossing two bridges over the Saint Lawrence River, both with separated bike paths, but some elevation gain. Lots of people, old and young, biked across these bridges on the Sunday I visited, and even at one point where signs warned that cars had the right-of-way to cross the bike path between the two bridges, I saw drivers stop in the off-ramp and let cyclists safely pass in front of them. As someone who resides in the car-centric US, I did not expect to see such generous driver behavior. In any case, use caution when crossing traffic and enjoy the view!

Exploring Montreal was great fun on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, though I only covered a small portion of this extensive city. After pedaling halfway up Mount Royal, I remembered naming this “The Flat Parts” of Vermont & Quebec bike tour, so allowed the many more ambitious cyclists to pass me, then turned around and headed for the famous Montreal bagel shops in the Mile-End neighborhood, such as St-Viateur Bagel, which accepts only Canadian cash and be prepared to stand in line a bit. Although Montreal bagels are boiled in a mix of honey-and-water and baked in a wood-fire oven, this process makes them slightly smaller and more dense than New York City bagels, which are still preferable to my taste. But I highly recommend Montreal bakeries such as Guillaume, cafes, and public parks with shade trees and comfy benches. And I loved watching so many people, of different ages and genders, riding on Montreal’s extensive bike lanes and separated bike paths. After snapping the last photo below, another cyclist passed me on a penny-farthing, the old time bicycle with one very large wheel and one small. Seemed like a typical day in bike-friendly Montreal. I’ll need to come back and see what it looks like during the other three seasons. Day 3: 25 miles (from my suburban AirBnB into Montreal, around the city, and back to the same AirBnb for a second night).

Refueling with good food mattered because on Monday I had a long 75-mile ride in warm weather back to the US. Previously, when biking north to the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, I stayed on the east side of Lake Champlain. When biking south away from the city, I stayed on the west side of the Lake (which had a longer stretch of separated bike path, but overall more road traffic due to more small-town businesses). When facing a long day of biking, I prefer not to sit down and eat a lunch that fills my belly. Instead, my perfect bike touring meal consisted of farm-stand blueberries and three pints of chocolate milk. That’s what works for my stomach. Your mileage may vary.

Once again I was the only person in line to cross the border, this time at the tiny Alburgh VT – Noyan QC border station. Apparently the Canadians spell it without the “h”, and so did the Americans after 1891, until Vermonters changed their minds in 2006 to add back the “h”, as far as I understand. Do not confuse this border station with the similar tiny Alburg Springs VT (without the “h”) border station about three miles to the east. My passport was inspected by the US border guard cat (and his human, who tried to explain that he wasn’t really the cat’s human, but the cat knew differently). They let me cross back into the US, but I clearly fooled them, because clearly didn’t realize I’m actually more of a dog person.

On the Vermont side, the Lake Champlain Bikeway is a beautiful ride. But now that I’ve biked on the Route Verte 1 separated path to Montreal, I realize that the Vermont side is simply a loose collection of rural roads, where you need to trust that drivers will see and avoid you. After a long ride I cooled down by submersing my toes in Lake Champlain at the small “beach” that’s a favorite of Beth and mine. Many thanks also to Beth’s high school friend Reina and her spouse Will for allowing me to stay overnight at their home on South Hero VT, even though they were away. Day 4: 75 miles.

Tuesday was a short ride, by design, on the wonderful LocalMotion bike ferry across the short gap in the causeway to Burlington. Facing a stiff southern wind while biking a few miles on the causeway reminded me how little wind I had encountered to and from Montreal. Spent time hanging out on a shaded grassy “beach” on Lake Champlain while the skies were still clear. When afternoon thunderstorms rolled in, I took cover in one of our favorite Burlington restaurants, The Skinny Pancake, where they forced me to eat both savory and sweet crepes. Parked my bike at my Burlington AirBnB room and walked around the downtown area in the evening, with my raincoat, thank you Hector for nudging me to bring it along. Day 4: 25 miles.

On Wednesday morning, my original plan was to wake up and ride to the nearby downtown Burlington transit center to catch the 8:00 AM bus to the Amtrak station about 7 miles away in Essex Junction. I knew the weather forecast predicted morning showers, and also knew that I preferred not to navigate morning traffic on roadways that were not consistently designed for cyclists. But I forgot that there are two kinds of bus drivers: those who generally like their jobs and make riders feel safe and welcome; and those who woke up grumpy that particular day. My intended bus driver was in the latter group. Despite arriving on my bike at precisely 7:59 AM, according to the time on the large monitors, this particular driver took one look at me and my bike and drove off, apparently deciding that he didn’t feel like waiting 30 seconds for me to remove my bags and place my bike on the front rack of his bus. Surprised by his action, I initially gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that perhaps he needed to drive off to avoid blocking other buses also scheduled to depart at 8am that were positioned right behind him. So I quickly pedaled behind him to catch him at the next bus stop. But this particular driver briefly pulled into his stop, then quickly pulled away, with me clearly visible in his rear-view mirror.

At this point, with my energy level rapidly rising, I had a choice. Either I could go back to the transit station to catch the 8:20AM bus and still arrive at Essex Junction with plenty of time before my train arrived. Or I could show that particular bus driver what I thought of him by biking in the light rain and light morning traffic for 7 miles. Naturally, I chose the latter. But there are no photographs to document this portion of my journey because it’s difficult to firmly hold an iPhone in the rain while your middle fingers are protruding outward. Day 5: 7 miles (not by design).

When boarding the Amtrak Vermonter train at Essex Junction to head south to Hartford, the people sitting around me were much friendlier than those on my northbound journey (probably because I didn’t need to politely tell people to move their luggage out of the “Reserved for Bikes” rack!) Some passengers had never seen a bike on board Amtrak, wanted to know how the system works, and asked to take photos. Also, one amazing Amtrak coincidence. Turns out the passenger sitting across from me, a college student working on an historical research project, was heading to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, where my spouse Beth works, and had corresponded with her and another staff person two weeks earlier. What a small world! And a good reminder why you should always be willing to chat a bit with other passengers on a six-hour train ride.

View the full-screen map of my route and click “photos” or explore and download my route on Cycle.Travel.

Day 1: Started biking from my mother’s summer camp in Fair Haven NY and headed south to catch the Erie Canal / Empire State Trail thru Jordan, downtown Syracuse, Canastota, then north to bike-friendly Verona Beach State Park on Oneida Lake. The marked trail was easy to follow except one turn that confused me when entering the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. But bonus points to the Empire State Trail engineers who creatively routed the path through the Fairgrounds onto an existing pedestrian bridge over a highway, and around Onondaga Lake (thank you Clean Water Act), then the Onondaga Creekway into downtown Syracuse. Very impressed with the separated bike path on the median of the Erie Boulevard commercial district.

While pedaling through the rural old Erie Canal route east of Syracuse, I met another cyclist who graduated from Morrisville College (my hometown) in dairy science in 1960. He didn’t recall my mother’s name, but knew the Cherry Valley Inn, the bar where they met around that time. Rolled into Chittenango NY and stopped at the popular North Pole ice cream stand for a chocolate milkshake rest break on a hot day. While sitting on their shaded bench, I noticed my rear tire was flat. With my low vision, I proudly found the hole in the tube by running it next to my lips to feel the small leak, and also removed a tiny glass shard from inside the tire. In nearby Canastota, I stopped to say hello to the crew working at Dougherty Pharmacy, the newest of three stores owned by Colin Ventura, and it’s great that he kept using our family name. Also made good use of their nice bike racks out front, and bought a sub sandwich and root beer for dinner from New York Pizzeria.

Pedaled to my campsite at Verona Beach State Park on Oneida Lake, less than 10 miles from the Empire Trail, and worth it. The ranger said I was the first person to use their new bike-friendly campsites, which do not yet appear on their website or online map. On their paper map, see the five circles for bike-friendly sites, no reservation but fee required, located across from regular sites numbered 35-37. Bring bug spray. Enjoyed a warm shower with no quarters required, and watched a hazy sunset over Oneida Lake. Total 84 miles on Day 1.

Day 2: Early morning start for this hot day on the 4th of July. Pedaled on back roads to hop back onto the Erie Canal / Empire State Trail. Beware Rome! Do not follow my mapped route thru the city, where the bike trail had several messy detours onto busy four-lane roads. (They must be improving the route because it could not get any worse than it already is!) Stopped for a cold water break at Fort Stanwix National Monument, worth a visit, and was just in time for a reading of Declaration of Independence and ceremonial firing of the cannon (because 4th of July). Long hot ride along the canal path, with breaks to watch boats pass thru the locks.

Camped overnight at Lock 15 in Fort Plain, a free primitive campsite with neighboring peacocks, train route, and highway (bring earplugs). Moved my tent closer to the canal for the calming water to drown out the other noises. Most of these lock campsites do not have potable water, but this one did, though I did not find the faucet until I was leaving the next morning. Afternoon snack and dinner provided by Stewart’s (because 4th of July and everything else was closed). Three chocolate milks today fueled me for day 2 total of 75 miles.

Day 3: Started at Fort Plain and pedaled 80 miles on very humid day to Albany. Biked through several canal towns, the city of Schenectady, and the surprisingly steep hills around Niskayuna, and along the Hudson River into downtown Albany. Took fewer pictures because I was dodging thunderstorms and eager to finish this three-day trip and reunite with my sweetie Beth!

Overall, the Empire Trail project has greatly improved the quality of biking along the Erie Canal across New York State. I’m very impressed with creative trail engineering through Syracuse, and new bike-friendly campsites at Verona Beach State Park. But isolated segments of this trail – some rural and some urban – are still underdeveloped or dangerous, in my opinion, as of July 2024. So while long sections of the Erie Canal bike route are very appropriate for newer cyclists and family-friendly groups, I do not yet recommend the entire route for everyone. Looking forward to continued improvements.

Beth and I flew overnight from Hartford to Dublin to spend a day and explore that city on foot and bus. Walking downtown along the river to visit food establishments recommended by friends was lovely. We enjoyed breakfast at the funky Brother Hubbard - North Location, where we sat next to a lobster-themed bachelorette party, followed later in the day by pastries and cake at the Queen of Tarts Bakery. We also visited EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum, with our common interest in public history and how people tell stories of their past and present. Its focus on the multiple paths taken by people leaving Ireland was fascinating (famine, war, colonialism; forced or voluntary resettlement; etc.), followed by an emphasis on successful Irish descendants around the world. Very short video biographies of everyday people from the past telling their stories were very effective, and the museum relies heavily on digitized multimedia rather than historical artifacts. Surprisingly, we saw relatively little mention of the Gaelic language or the role of Catholic institutions, but more stories of Irish women and lesbian & gay communities who left in part due to these culturally conservative powers in their nation.

The next day, Beth and I returned to Dublin airport and departed in different directions: she to meet our daughters in Paris, and me to visit my friend and co-author Ilya in London. Prior to leaving the US, while packing my Brompton bike inside my cardboard-padded double-bag carrier, I inserted Trader Joe’s snacks as requested by Ilya: one large container of chocolate-covered Dunker cookies and two packages of corn puffs (which also served as extra padding to protect my bike). After my luggage and I landed at London Heathrow airport, I unpacked my Brompton and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the snacks survived both airline trips. But I couldn’t easily carry both bags of corn puffs on the bike, so gave one to a Heathrow info booth employee who had been very helpful.

While the Heathrow airport website includes an informative cycling page and map, and several airport employees ride to work and park their bikes on site, the ideal way to pedal out of the airport is still unclear to me. Currently, one cannot bike straight out of the Central Terminal Area (Terminals 2 and 3) due to construction on a roadway tunnel under a runway. My two choices were to pay for a short bus ride from CTA to a stop along the roadway, or to take the free London Underground train to Terminal 4 and ride out from there. I chose the latter, not to save money, but to experience London’s transit system, which I also believe had more room for me and my luggage than a bus. Thank you both Dublin and Heathrow airports for your free luggage carts! But I would have appreciate more bicycle signage when riding out of Heathrow Terminal 4, as I felt utterly confused when facing double roundabouts designed for cars, but no clear cycle path. My maps did not match my reality. I found a Heathrow employee who was riding home on his bike, who kindly pointed me in one direction. But after pedaling where he pointed me, I soon decided this was backwards and started pedaling in the opposite direction, then passed him while he stood at a bus stop, waiting to board with his bike. We waved at one another. Guess I’ll count that as an American-to-English miscommunication, and probably my fault.

Eventually I found my way onto the walk-and-bike route out of Heathrow T4 that matched my 30 km (18 mile) Cycle.Travel route to Ilya’s neighborhood in northwest London. This unseasonably warm and sunshine-filled Saturday was an absolutely delightful time to pedal along the Union Canal path for walkers and cyclists. Fortunately, a day before my trip I suddenly realized that driving on the left side of the road also meant biking on the left side. To drill this foreign concept into my head, I carefully studied twenty minutes of British safe-cycling videos. Once I got past Heathrow airport, I quickly adapted to left turns being easier than right turns, and going left and clockwise at roundabouts, rather than right and counterclockwise. One surprise was that on the narrow Union Canal path, oncoming walkers and cyclists generally (but not consistently) stayed to my right, the opposite of what I’m used to in the U.S. Hug left, I kept telling myself, worried that in a moment of panic I might accidentally revert to staying right, as we do in the States. One downside is that my right-eye vision loss means that cyclists from behind pass me on my blind side, and with my mirror mounted on the (US) left side of my handlebars, I was lucky to catch a glimpse of them before they overtook me. Remain calm and carry on, the British say, and it will all get sorted out.

Ilya and his husband Harry were not just fantastic, but amazing hosts (a word favored by marketing pros, I’m told). They warmly welcomed me into their flat, cooked me several delicious meals, and engaged in delightfully witty and insightful conversation. Also, it’s possible I was an unwitting marketing test subject for a new service called Ilya’s Invigorating Tours of London by Foot and Bike, as we walked 3 hours through neighborhoods and parks on the Saturday afternoon after I arrived by bike, then pedaled 55 km (33 miles) to more distant neighborhoods and parks on Sunday. Ilya is now a doctoral student in geography at University College London, and he and I both share an appreciation for biking around cities—on our matching Brompton folding bikes—to experience the wide variety of places where people live, work, and visit. London’s biking infrastructure is very good, by US standards, and many riders pedaled with us on their blue-painted Cycle Superhighways and extensive network of smaller local bike routes.

On Monday morning, as the warm sunshine turned into a cold rain more typical for mid-April in London, Ilya kindly led me by bike through morning traffic to the St. Pancras International Station to catch my EuroStar train to Rotterdam, Netherlands. As Eurostar requested, I placed my Brompton inside one of my IKEA bags (without cardboard padding), carried it on board, and placed it in the luggage rack at the rear of my coach. My train trip went very smoothly, except for two Americans in front of me who realized that they were in the right seats on the wrong train (and disembarked, fortunately, just before we left London), and also a very-friendly-yet-mildly-annoying window-seat passenger who politely asked me to let him out at least five times during the two-hour leg of my journey through Brussels. I asked if he wanted to trade seats and sit next to the aisle, but he wasn’t interested. More American-European miscommunications, I suppose.

On Monday afternoon, I arrived in Rotterdam, a city full of separated bike paths and crazy architecture. Was so happy to roll my bike out of the train station (after a police officer kindly explained that I needed to scan my EuroStar train ticket to pass through the turnstile) and into the sunshine! Then I pedaled about 2 km to StayOkay Hostel-Rotterdam, where I slept inside one of the Cube House rooms. The building also serves as an architectural museum. Kept the door locked to avoid any unexpected visitors or further American-European miscommunications.

I did not expect the sunshine to last as long as it did on Monday, which was wonderful, but also surprising to experience a totally unexpected thunder hail storm for three minutes while walking around the city center that afternoon. (Foreshadowing events to come, it turns out.) Fortunately, it passed by very quickly. Hoping for clearer skies later this week.

On Tuesday I pedaled from Rotterdam to Den Haag (The Hague), about 25 km (15 miles) mostly on bike paths and rural roads in the light rain. Spent the night in another StayOkay hostel located near the city center. Thanks to their friendly staff for finding my pocketknife with hex keys that slipped out of my water bottle bag as I carried my Brompton to the downstairs luggage room. Explored the city center on foot in both the late afternoon and early evening, and dodged more showers. While dressed in my rain jacket and hood, what surprised me about the Dutch is that many bike or walk straight through the sloppy weather with just a light jacket and no hat. More foreshadowing of events to come.

Wednesday was my longest ride on this trip, from Den Haag to Amsterdam, about 60 km (36 miles). Timed my departure perfectly as the morning rain faded away, so I enjoyed warm sunshine and blue skies on bike paths and rural roads for the first 20 km to Leiden. Then I pedaled through some light rain showers for the next 10 km, so pulled my rain jacket out of the red knapsack strapped on the back of my Brompton, and thought I had avoided the worst of it. But that false hope was rapidly extinguished very dark clouds and drenching rain for the last 30 km, including a powerful thunder hailstorm! At one point I was biking through 1cm (0.4 inches) of ice pellets on the ground. Wanted to take a photo, but my fingers were freezing (despite wearing bike gloves and waterproof gloves) and did not want to remove the plastic rain cover from my smartphone, which runs my navigation app. Although the top half of my body was relatively dry under my rain jacket, my bottom half was colder and wetter than I have felt in a long time. Took a short break as the bike path crossed under a highway overpass near the Schipol Airport, then pushed on to Amsterdam as the rain gradually subsided. Finally met up with Beth and Maya for lunch, and needed two hot chocolates to warm me up.

When meeting up with family in Amsterdam, I realized that my red backpack was missing from the back of my Brompton. Although I had secured the backpack with a cargo net, when I removed my rain jacket during the storm, it probably loosened the tension and it all went overboard, including a second-hand wool sweater and other clothing items. Need to find a replacement bag and a better way to secure it to the Brompton.

My bike tour ended in Amsterdam, but adventures with Beth and Maya continued. We stayed in a spectacular houseboat on the Amstel River, which allowed us to explore the canal section of the city on foot. On Thursday I pedaled around Amsterdam for a few hours, just going wherever its amazing network of bike paths took me, to explore more city parks and neighborhoods. Snapped several photos of Dutch cyclists: one riding with a puppy in the front bike box, another transporting their cat in a hand-held animal carrier, and a third pedaling with high heels. Also, saw the famous Amsterdam city public works barge scooping discarded bikes out of the canal.

Beth, Maya, and I finished our travels in the nearby city of Haarlem. On Saturday we rode the bus to the Keukenhof tulip gardens, then rented bikes to ride into the tulip fields, which were spectacular – see short Instagram video. I love riding in the Netherlands, where the cycling infrastructure and culture make me feel safe on my bike, and look forward to returning in the future, perhaps during months with less rain.

Since my California trip began in one location and ended in another, I searched for inexpensive ways to pack my Brompton for air travel, without using a hard-shell suitcase that could not be carried on the bike. My current solution came from Pam and Gilbert’s wonderful 2Bikes4Adventure Youtube video, which credits many other people who have embraced this popular method. The not-so-secret ingredient is to purchase two $7 IKEA Dimpa bags. Fold up the bike inside one bag, put it inside the second bag, then strategically place cardboard between the two bags as padding. A Dimpa bag measures 25.5 x 8.75 x 25.5 inches (65 x 65 x 22 cm) and does not exceed the standard 62 linear inch requirement for checked bags on most airlines. Also, the weight of a 27-pound Brompton plus some gear does not exceed the standard airline 50-pound baggage weight limit. Upon arrival, the strong-but-lightweight Dimpa bags fold up and fit neatly in the bottom of my large 25L Brompton front bag. At the end of my trip, I find new cardboard and cut it to size to repack the Brompton at the airport. To be clear, this dual-Dimpa-plus-cardboard method involves some risk of damage if your Brompton is dropped or crushed by other checked baggage. But so far, my experience tells me that the Brompton—especially with the optional rear rack installed for extra strength—is a tough little bike that likes to travel. Here’s more info about my current packing method:

Before packing the Brompton, I remove both folding clamps and both pedals. The Brompton’s folding clamps easily unscrew all the way. To simplify pedal removal, before my trip I took off the original Brompton pedals (the left-side folding pedal did not impress me) and replaced them with a $65 pair of black MKS quick-release (QR) touring pedals. The QR activates by rotating and releasing a spring-loaded connector about one-quarter turn. These pedals are fabulous, and once you get the feel for the QR, it’s smooth and simple, but practice a bit before your first trip. Both the pedals and the folding clamps fit neatly into a small bag that came with the pedals.

Next I remove the Brompton seat clamp, using a medium-length 5mm hex key I bring on my travels. While I could use the 5mm bit inside Brompton’s clever internal tool kit, I feel more confident that my longer hex key will offer more leverage if needed. All of these loose items, plus my TiGr bike lock, get stowed in a packing cube with my clothing, to cushion them when I pack them into the bike bag.

Now I place the folded Brompton into the first Dimpa bag. Since the seat post sticks up a few inches, I cover it with a jacket placed inside an upside-down bag. Then I place my packing cubes of clothing (with bike parts inside) to serve as padding on top. If you look closely at the photo you’ll also notice that I rubber-band a towel around the left crank arm in its vertical upwards position, to fill the gap between the crank arm and the bike. Not sure if this step is necessary, but I need to pack my camping towel somewhere so this seems like a good place. On the other side of the bike, the right crank arm is pointed down and seems more protected by the fold, so no coverage is necessary there.

Next I place the first Dimpa bag inside the second Dimpa bag, and strategically pack cardboard between them. The goal is to place lengthy 8-inch wide strips around the perimeter, plus two 24x24-inch cardboard squares on each side. Watch Pam and Gilbert’s 2Bikes4Adventure Youtube video with its animated graphics. Of course, you’ll need to acquire cardboard before you pack up your bike. The night before my return trip, my son gave me a medium-sized 12x16-inch box, which I folded down and bungee-corded onto the Brompton rear rack for my bike ride and transit trip to the airport. Also, when arriving at the airport, I had built in extra time before my flight (being a Dad, after all) so searched around for more cardboard. To my delight, I found an empty heavy-duty box that previously carried Hawaiian papaya fruit, which someone left outside near baggage claim. Always look for cardboard in places where other people are likely to have left it behind. Also, I bring a small jack knife on my bike travels, and it’s an essential tool to trim, score, and fold cardboard to add more protection to corners between the two bags.

Two final tips: First, after finishing the cardboard trimming, remember to pack your jack knife inside your checked bag, since you cannot carry it through airport security. Second, the dual-bagged package—including the 27-pound Brompton plus any clothing or gear you pack inside—weighs around 35-40 pounds, and it’s awkward to carry by the Dimpa straps, so snag a spare airport cart to wheel it over to the baggage check-in counter.

To be clear, this packing method is not foolproof. My folded Brompton seems fairly well-protected inside two IKEA bags with a thick cardboard liner, but sometimes stuff happens to checked baggage. After my first flight, I noticed the rear fender was slightly bent against the tire, so I loosened the rear rack assembly, straightened it by hand, and tightened up the rear rack. Fortunately I had the experience of personally installing the rear rack a few weeks before my trip, so that quick repair was familiar and simple for me. But your mileage may vary. For my second packing, I’ve added thicker cardboard.

Overall, I bought the Brompton for multimodal trips (bike + bus/train/plane), most of which begin in one location and end in another. Packing the bike inside a heavy specialized hardshell suitcase is not an option because those cannot easily be attached to the bike. Since the two Dimpa bags neatly fold down inside my large Brompton front bag, and I can find new cardboard whenever I repack, the ease of this method outweighs the risks and works well for me. Check out your options and decide what works best for you.

When our family decided to spend a few days together in February on the West Coast, I brought along my new Brompton folding bike for a three-day 110-mile tour on the sunny Pacific Coast, and reconnected with old friends along the way. For reasons I cannot fathom, all of them moved away from New Jersey to sunny Southern California. View the full-screen map of my route (but don’t follow my westbound path out of Long Beach – see below) and click photos to view them in context.

Day 1: Dana Point to Long Beach, 55 miles

After Beth and our family spent time together in San Diego and Dana Point, I pedaled off on my Brompton for its first big ride. Sunshine replaced raindrops, and the https://cycle.travel guided me through a great network of bike paths around the Laguna Hills region. Felt spoiled while riding in 65° F weather in February. Note to self: Replace the Brompton factory-installed 50-tooth chainring with a more reasonable 40-tooth chainring to lower the gear-inch range from its default road bike mode of 33-100 inches to a touring-friendly 26-80 inches. While I never needed to walk my bike up a California hill, lowering the gearing would make it a more enjoyable ride for me. Check out this handy Brompton Gear Calculator site.

The night before my trip, I realized that my route would take me through Irvine CA, an excellent opportunity to reconnect with my old friend Keith Corpus. We taught together in Newark NJ from 1989 to 1992. Long ago I promised Keith that I’d visit him someday on a bike tour, but neglected to tell him which year or decade. A quick web search led me to the name and address of the school where he’s a principal, only a couple of miles from my route. But in keeping with the spirit of the early 1990s, when we did not have email or mobile phones, I decided to simply pop in and surprise him. Using my school schedule spider sense, my arrival just before lunch meant that Keith was standing in the school’s front lobby near the sign-in desk, exactly where my calculations predicted he would be. Keith greeted me with a big hug and kindly made time in his busy schedule to show me around the school, introduce me to several colleagues, and catch up with each other. So much fun to reconnect with an old friend and pick up again from our last phone conversation a decade ago.

After departing Keith’s school, my route led me around the UC-Irvine campus and up and down some hills to the coastline. Pedaling along the Pacific Ocean put a big goofy smile on my face, and I held onto it all the way into Long Beach. Stayed at the small independent (and inexpensive) Hotel Royal built during the Art Deco era, right across the street from the city’s top-rated Thai restaurant for my dinnertime refueling, and two blocks away from the city’s top-rated bakery for the next day’s breakfast. A good day on a bike tour!

Day 2: Long Beach to Santa Monica, 38 miles

This was supposed to be an easy ride, I had thought. And it started wonderfully, with impressive separated bike paths and bakeries in downtown Long Beach. But the previous day’s path along the Pacific lulled me into thinking the next day would be similar, so foolishly did not double-check the route out of Long Beach offered by my trust https://cycle.travel tool. And rather than blaming the map tool, let’s blame whoever decided to mark this truck-infested industrial zone of the Pacific Coast Highway/CA Route 1 as the official “Bike Route.” While I’m fairly comfortable biking with traffic, I draw the line when there’s two lanes of trucks doing 45+ mph over a bridge, with zero shoulder due to concrete construction barriers. Even when it’s a sunny day. Do not follow my route heading west out of Long Beach. Instead, find yourself a better route, double-check it before you go, and email me your advice for my next trip through here. (PS: I also had Adventure Cycling Pacific Coast map 5 with me, but had already biked too far north by this point. Instead, I used Google Maps to noodle my way around some residential neighborhoods and storefront roads in Wilmington and Avalon Village to get back on track in Carson.)

Fortunately, getting back to the Pacific Ocean put me in a great mood again. Took a lunch break at the Redondo Beach pier. This was the first time I’ve strolled on a circular pier that loops over the water (and as Beth knows, I really like loops). Pedaling further north along the coast eventually brought me to the most gorgeous Trader Joe’s (next to a marina, with really wide shopping aisles!). At funky Venice Beach, lots of folks enjoyed the bike path, and an artically-minded person created a sand sculpture featuring Barbie-like dolls and Tonka-like trucks, but did not leave an interpretive statement. Eventually reached the Santa Monica pier, a landmark where my family and I played together several years ago.

Sharla and John, our friends and former neighbors from 1988-91, kindly hosted me overnight in Santa Monica (and unlike my surprise visit to Keith’s school, I emailed three weeks in advance). Decades ago we had a tradition called “Soup Club” where one of us would take turns preparing a simple soup meal during wintery Wednesday evenings. Sharla kept up that tradition and cooked up an enormous pot of chili to make up for the past three decades. The best part was picking up on conversations as if no time had passed by, or perhaps recognizing the need to reconnect because time had passed by. The saying You can’t make “new” old friends came to mind several times on this trip. Sitting down with friends who have known you for a long time gives you an opportunity to reflect together, how each of you have changed and in some ways remained the same as you’ve always been. Also, thanks to Sharla for asking me if I was planning to write a post about this trip, which nudged me to write this one on the train.

Day 3: Santa Monica to Union Station, Los Angeles, 17 miles

Back home in Connecticut, a trip to the train station is a 15-minute bus ride straight down the road for about two miles into Hartford, or a bit longer and a few more twists by bike. But here in Los Angeles, planning a trip to the train station requires a bit more effort. From Santa Monica, hailing a car would be a 30-minute trip plus big bucks, jumping on mass transit would be a 75-minute trip, while riding a bike took only 100 minutes, with bonus points for being fun, plus a great way to experience more of the city. Once again, my trusty https://cycle.travel tool steered me in a good direction, mostly along separated bike lanes or bike paths, plus some quieter residential streets. Learning my lesson from yesterday, I studied the recommended Cycle.travel route with Google Maps Street View to examine the road infrastructure. I was happy to see separated bike lanes in key sections of downtown LA, probably built within the past several years, guessing from the Street View image dates. Interestingly, although Google Street View showed these images, Google Maps did not recommend the same route as Cycle.travel, perhaps because the latter relies on routing using the crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap. Caught my train with plenty of time to spare, and drank the probiotic beverage that Sharla insisted I take with me before it expired in a couple of days! Rolled my Brompton through the station, folded it up and handed it to the Amtrak employee at the baggage car, where it counts as one of my two free bags. Boarded the top car of Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train for a $56 scenic ride for 12 hours up the Pacific Coast, where I’ll disembark at Oakland to spend the weekend with my son Eli.

Bike tourists riding on the East Coast Greenway often contact us through Warmshowers to request to stay overnight at our home in West Hartford, located less than a mile from the route in Hartford. We enjoy hosting cyclists and sharing stories about travel on two wheels. But the current official ECG trail heading north from New Haven to Hartford sends riders on a long 54-mile route through Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, and Bloomfield, with a 1,915 foot total elevation gain. The most unpleasant portion of ECG section is Simsbury Road (aka Route 185), a busy road during rush hour with a narrow shoulder up a long hill, about a 350 foot gain over 1 mile. It’s not the best way to make cycling tourists feel welcome! Although there are future plans to re-route this portion of the ECG onto a bike trail, it’s still years away from completion.

Instead, I recommend this 37-mile alternate bike route from north from New Haven thru New Britain to West Hartford on RideWithGPS, with a similar-but-not-identical version on Google Maps. This route follows about half of the official ECG route, then diverts through New Britain CT and the multi-use path toward West Hartford, for a much more pleasant and shorter ride, with total elevation gain of 1,400 feet, much less than the 54-mile route above. If you’re traveling in the opposite direction, see the same route headed south from West Hartford thru New Britain to New Haven on RideWithGPS

Here’s a brief summary 37-mile alternative route, heading north from New Haven to the Hartford area, with suggested stops along the way:

• From New Haven, follow the East Coast Greenway / Farmington Canal Trail north for about 23 miles. Look for food trucks on the left outside New Haven, and very nice outdoor bathrooms and water fountains in Cheshire and Southington.
• When the current ECG / Farmington Canal Bike Trail ends in Southington, follow the on-road directions (from ECG or Google Maps) for about 2.5 miles: right on Curtiss St, left on Main St (Route 10), right on Flanders St, left on Flanders Rd. (Was the person who lived at this intersection named Flanders?)
• Instead of following ECG directions to continue straight on Flanders Rd, turn right onto Mine Hollow Road. This is one steep uphill climb (about 200 feet over 0.7 miles), but it’s a quiet farm road, and better than the Simsbury Road - Route 185 option on the official ECG route above. At the top of the hill, turn left onto Long Bottom Road and check out the Rogers Orchards apple farmstand and bakery on the left, a nice rest stop when it’s open. If you need a restroom, ask them to point you to it, up the stairs and in a building next door.
• Take a right on Reservoir Road / North Shuttle Road for a beautiful ride around the reservoir, then Walnut Hill Park and the New Britain Museum of American Art, before arriving in downtown New Britain.
• In downtown New Britain, turn right into the CT fastrak bus station and follow the protected Multi-Use Trail that generally runs alongside the dedicated bus route. Note that when you cross East Street - Route 175, the protected trail looks like a sidewalk for a half mile, then turn right into the next CT Fastrak bus station to pick up the Trail again. Excluding this half-mile interruption, the protected Multi-Use Trail runs for almost 8 miles from New Britain to Newington.
• When the Multi-Use Trail ends near the Newington Junction Station, take a right onto West Hill Road, then a quick left onto Willard Road, which continues and becomes Newington Road, heading to West Hartford. While this road is busy during rush hour, it has a wide shoulder and is flat.
• When Newington Road ends, one option is to go straight through the intersection onto the sidewalk entrance into the Elmwood Community Center, where in the back parking lot you can access the Trout Brook Trail. Another option is to turn left onto New Britain Ave for 100 feet, then make a quick right onto Quaker Lane.

For those interested in maps and mileage, here’s my route segments on RideWithGPS:

• Day 1: Hartford CT to Amherst MA
• Day 2: Amherst MA to Jamaica VT
• Day 3: Jamaica VT to Hubbardton VT
• Day 4: Hubbardton VT to North Ferrisburgh VT
• Days 5 & 6 (two half-days): North Ferrisburgh VT to Burlington VT to Grand Isle State Park VT

Overall, I pedaled about 300 miles with an elevation gain of 15,000 feet over 5 days. The last chunk was split into two half-days, because Beth and I decided to meet up in Burlington, where she drove me and my bike to our campsite at Grand Isle State Park, and together we biked back to the ferry and causeway to Burlington the last half-day.

What motivated my ride? This was my first big bike tour since my right eye stopped working due to an optic nerve stroke in January 2022. A similar but smaller stroke resulted in a large blind spot in my left eye about twenty-five years earlier. As a result, while most people have a horizontal field of vision around 120 degrees (plus more with peripheral vision), mine is a narrower scope around 90 degrees. Also, normal two-eyed binocular vision creates depth perception, which one-eyed people lack, so it’s harder for me to navigate unfamiliar stairs or to distinguish between shadows versus rocks in the road. Since less light comes into my eyes now, it often feels like I’m wearing sunglasses, even when I’m not, especially on rainy days or at dusk.

So I needed to get out of my head and out of the house. During summer 2022 I spent a lot of time sorting out what I still can do (pedal my bike) versus what my eye doctor and the CT DMV agreed I cannot do (drive a car). Fortunately I love to ride my bike, and happily use my bus card to get to work on really crappy rainy or wintery days. It took a few months for me to regain confidence navigating intersections on my bike. One adaptation I learned is to swing my head from side-to-side at intersections, which creates a sense of depth perception that allows me to better judge the relative speed of oncoming cars. Kind of like “look both ways” twice, or three or four times. After feeling more comfortable with my regular bike routes, I branched out to unfamiliar routes to build my confidence. In early summer 2023 I worked to regain my body strength through longer rides of 50+ miles and climbing steep hills. All I needed now was a goal.

I decided that “Biking to Burlington” would be a right-sized adventure, similar in scale to my one-week bike tours before my eye stroke. Just a little bit crazy, but not too crazy, because I needed a challenge with a reasonable chance of success, not defeat. For the past year my brain has been having an argument with my 58-year-old body about what it should be capable of doing. And my brain likes to win arguments.

So I did my homework by “chunking” the long route into one-day segments that seemed reasonable for me, meaning around 60 miles and ideally less than 4,000 feet of elevation gain. Originally I planned to follow the Western New England Greenway, but decided to visit an old friend in Amherst MA, so had to devise a different route through the Vermont’s Green Mountains region. My favorite route-planning bike map tool is Cycle.Travel. On my laptop browser I entered my start and end points, chose the types of road surface (in my case, both paved and gravel), and it recommends a bike-friendly route with possible overnight locations, which I supplement with the AllStays campgrounds map and Warmshowers map. Next I customize the route by entering specific points along the way, typically around my 60-mile daily mileage. After saving the route in my free account, I also can view it using their free iOS app, which offers turn-by-turn spoken directions and the option to download background maps for use outside of cellphone service areas. Of course, always carefully check your routes with multiple sources, but Cycle.Travel has been a very reliable companion.

The other key ingredient to winning this personal challenge was pure luck, and I’m very fortunate that several factors went my way. Before my trip, my friends invited me to stay overnight in Amherst MA (Day 1), and two Warmshowers hosts kindly allowed me to stay overnight in their homes in Jamaica VT (Day 2) and North Ferrisburgh VT (Day 4). That made it easy for me to decide to pay a very reasonable AirBnB room fee to stay overnight in Hubbardton VT (Day 3) and leave my tent, sleeping gear, and camp stove at home. Another lucky stroke was the timing of my trip with respect to extreme weather due to climate change. If my trip had been scheduled one or two weeks earlier, I would have had to cancel due to the smoke from Quebec’s forest fires or devastating floods. Even during my five-day bike trip, I somehow managed to dodge several strong thunderstorms and rain showers around me, sometimes by spotting them on my smartphone weather radar and waiting 15-45 minutes in a safe space for them to pass. The only rain I experienced was pedaling through gentle showers during the last two miles of Day 3, which felt refreshing. I never put on my rain gear until an hour after I arrived in Burlington, when it started pouring during a neighborhood festival.

Another stroke of luck was meeting my new friend Dave, who was pedaling through Jamaica VT at precisely the same time as I was starting my day to bike up the biggest hills on my trip. Dave is a stronger rider than me, as he’s a physical education teacher and triathlon competitor, and he also knew that we would need to take a 5-mile detour due to a road construction closure on VT Route 30, which I did not realize. But I managed to keep up with Dave most of the way up those hills because he had woken up at 4AM (due to a lousy night’s sleep at a loud campsite) and had already been biking for 3 hours by the time I met him! Meeting a new bike friend and sharing stories makes the climb so much easier.

My final stroke of luck was meeting my life-partner Beth many years ago. She spent the week visiting her elderly parents while I took this bike trip, and she agreed ahead of time to drive our minivan camper up to one of our favorite Vermont campgrounds, Grand Isle State Park, to meet me at the end of my adventure. We’ll spend a couple of days biking together around the Hero Islands, just north of Burlington, before she drives us back home. Next week Beth and I celebrate our 35th anniversary of living together. Thank you and love you, sweetie!