Day 3: Baltimore to Chambersberg

[Second time I've had to write this post as its failed to upload so many times!]

I set off from Danielles at around 10 as she and a friend were going out hiking for the day. I popped round the corner to a fancy cafe for some breakfast where I had a turkey panini and orange juice. There, a strange shirtless man called Geoff shouted through the door "nice way to travel man". He must've come back and forth about 5 or 6 times with different things to say and ended up giving me his number and address, making me promise to call him when I reached San Fran. What an odd fellow!
The ride Northwest out of Baltimore went fine and soon I found myself in Deer Park where the hills were steeper but the views were spectacular!

After an hour or so following the smooth rolling hill roads it was back onto the bigger routes to take me across the border into Pennsylvania, where everybody seems to be having a yard sale all at the same time! Just across the border, I met Mater (from Disney's Cars movie)!

The quiet roads led through to Gettysburg (famous for Lincoln's Gettysburg address speech "Four score and seven years ago...."). Plenty of photo spots and the town was very touristy, with almost every other building a museum of some sort. It looked like a very nice place to spend a few days learning all about American history.

From there I carried on towards Chambersburg, where I encountered an enormous 800ft climb! The gradient wasn't too steep, but the road dragged on a long time, only rewarded by the fantastic descent down into Chambersburg. I arrived at the motel just as a small rain shower started, and got checked in. A quick shower of my own and I headed across the road to Pat and Carla's Italian restaurant for some much needed pasta. A bowl of spaghetti with meatballs big enough to feed a family of four, with garlic bread, Caesar side salad and a bucket of sweet tea for $11 (£6.43) went down a treat!

Then it was back to the motel to try to.upload this blog post (the upload speeds are atrocious!), watch some American football on tv and get some rest ready for.the longer ride tomorrow.

Miles today: 81.6
Total miles: 277.3

Day 2: Philadelphia to Baltimore

I started the day at 10am, leaving Viragas before a small trip past Weidner universities campus and joining the Pulaski highway (US 40) which would take me all the way to Baltimore. Today would also run across 3 states; Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

After about 30 miles I pulled into a Walmart to find some lunch, only to discover everything food-wise they sold was frozen or needed cooking at least. Packet of crisps and a gatorade it was then! Snacking on my incredibly healthy lunch outside, a middle aged woman came over to ask if I was a 'carrier'. It took a moment to work out she meant delivery guy, and wasn't asking if I had some kind of disease! "They dress like you", she said, commenting on my entirely lycra costume. I explained I'd come from New York, where I was going to and how I was raising money for Macmillan which she was all very impressed by.

Further along the US 40, I reached the infamous Thomas J Hatem bridge over the Susquehanna river. All the way up to, and all the way the other side on the US 40 is bikeable, with bike lanes in certain sections. On the bridge however, bikes are prohibited and there are no walkways to cross on either. The nearest bikable bridge is 30 miles to the North! I'd read some other peoples blogs who had varying experiences of trying to sneak across, some managing it and one gut who was forced to turn around and cycle into oncoming traffic once the police caught him. Apparently the only way across with a bike is to call a cab! Anyway, I thought I'd gamble and blitz the bridge as quickly as possible. I made it all the way to the other side (just metres from where the bike lane stated again) before a 'woop woop' came from behind me and I had to pull over.

The copper took my ID, checked I had no warrants against my name and told me to watch out for signs on big bridges prohibiting bikes, asking "you're not from around these parts, are you?" somewhere in the spiel. He then have me a bottle of water and warned me not to hang around in the local area too long,  before letting me on my way. I fought the law and .... won a bottle of water!

I reached Baltimore and my next warmshowers host Danielle shortly before 6pm. Danielle is a professional opera singer and the apartment is filled with instruments and sheet music, a real delight! I headed into town in search of a pasta based dinner, but the place I found was quite fancy looking and my shorts and flip flops probably wouldn't cut the mustard! In the end I went for a pizza bar called Home Slyce. I had a houmous and bread starter, followed by a chicken, pesto and olive 'Slyce' (a kind of cross between a pizza and calzone thats folded into a boat shape and cut into 3).

Once back at the apartment I chatted with Danielle and her boyfriend about travels around the world, music and various cultures around the world. She is very well travelled and even knew of St Albans when I mentioned where I was from!

Tomorrow and the day after I venture up into a couple of smaller towns on my way over to Pittsburgh, so I'll be finding motels for the nights, I'll miss having the company of such friendly hosts for a few days!

Miles today: 85.7
Total miles so far: 195.7

Day 1: New York to Philadelphia

An 8am start today. Blake had to get to work so I walked with him to the bike hire station (a similar system to the Borris bikes in London) and followed him up 1st Avenue for a bit until we went separate ways and I went over to Time Square for a few photos.

I then cycled all the way down to Battery park on the Southern tip of Manhattan. There I found out that bikes are not allowed on the liberty  island ferries, so my plans for a few selfies with the big green lady were out of the window. I had to cycle back uptown a bit to catch another ferry that went directly to liberty state park and the start of my planned route. The ferry I caught had a bunch of young school kids on who were going to launch air rockets in the park as part of a science trip.

I got to the state park at exactly 11am, a lot later than planned! After a couple of photos, I was on my way. The day was a 3 state day, New York where I started, the state park which is actually New Jersey, and my finish which is in Pennsylvania. Once I had managed to navigate through Newark, I found a gravel path that was quite rough in places. The path was the only thing that ran between two rivers, and the shade and cool breeze were very welcome,  allowing me to catch up a bit of time where it was smooth enough.

After riding the length of the path, I emerged onto a highway that took me through Trenton and nearby towns. I followed the road pretty much all the way down to Philly, stopping on the outskirts for a 'hoagie' when hunger set in.

Because of the late start, I arrived at my accommodation for the night after the sun had set and had to ride with my lights on for the last few miles. I'll hopefully leave earlier tomorrow to avoid this again, though it is also a shorter ride. Tonight I'm my host is Viraga, an electrical engineering student at Weidner university here in Philadelphia. His student house is just round the corner from the enormous Boeing factory complex, which I cycled past on the way in. We watched some American tv and chatted about various differences between the way America and England do things (and how rugby is American football but for real men!)

Time to rest those two tired legs!

Miles today: 110

New York - I've arrived!

Earlier I landed at JFK and began the long haul of getting my bike across to Manhatten island. I took the (very packed) air train from the airport to Jamaica station. Then took the subway E train to West 14th St, and finally onto the L train down to 1st Avenue. From there I walked a few blocks to Tompkins Sq park where I would assemble my bike and where I would meet my warmshowers host for the night later.

After chatting to some friendly but odd homeless people (one of which thought I was setting up a lemonade stand from my big bike box), I got my bike back together with relative speed and ease. With an hour left to kill, I decided to brave my first time of riding on the wrong side of the road in New York traffic! I headed towards Time square, but stopped at a Verizon shop along the way to get a pre-paid cell phone set up.

At 7pm I met my warmshowers host, Blake, on the corner of Tompkins Sq park. A very friendly chap, we chatted over cycling routes and 3D printing. We met up with his girlfriend and he kindly took us out to dinner at Harley Quinns, a delicious bbq place a short walk away.

Now, with my body clock as confused as ever, its time to pack the panniers properly and get a good nights rest before the ride down to Philadelphia tomorrow morning!

Final preparations

With only a couple of days left before my trip, I've been preparing and packing all my kit for the long road ahead.

I've now replaced the water bottle weights I was using with what I'll actually be taking (you can find the whole list on the "What?" page) and taken it for a little spin... down to Bristol and back! The weight is roughly what I had with the water in there so its been useful training.

After Bristol, I've fitted a new cassette, chain and brake pads to the Pinarello and given her a thorough clean, degrease and regrease before a quick test ride to check everything's still running nicely. This evening I'll be packing her one pannier into a cardboard bike box I got free from the local bike shop, the other pannier will be my carry-on luggage for the flight. I'll do a similar thing on the way back and get another cardboard bike box from a San Francisco bike shop.

My bikes are booked onto all my flights. Aer Lingus wanted £65 to carry mine to New York (via Dublin), yet SAS simply exchanged it for regular hold luggage and didn't charge me a thing (though I do have to come back via Copenhagen!).

New kit!

My custom kit for my ride has arrived! Thanks to Lee at WOWcustom Cycling Wear for making these, they look fantastic!

You can find some of Lees other designs on www.wowcustom.co.uk or on Facebook and twitter under #WOWcustom

17 days to go!

No more excuses!

Today I finished my last ever MEng Mechanical engineering exam in style, wearing a tux into the exam hall!

That means I have no more excuses, I will be cycling at every opportunity and every day, stepping up the miles to get myself used to the distances required every day over the summer.

Summer holiday training starts now, 42 days til I head out to New York!