Hello and greetings from Mt. Pocono, PA! Today we road around 55 miles into town from Port Jervis, NY, with a grueling 6 mile climb to cap things off. Just the same, I got into our host around 1 P.M., much earlier than usual, and had some time to blog.
The Historic Erie Turntable - shockingly devoid of tourists
Our last stop was in Port Jervis, NY, a formerly relevant train and canal hub, now scarcely populated by weirdos, squatters, and elderly folk who like to stand on their porches and glare at passers-by. Here are some of the more unusual things I noticed about the town.
-The town's major attraction is the Historic Erie Turntable (seen right). It is 120 feet of train track on top of a big lazy susan that used to be used to turn trains around. It is one of the largest of its kind still around. When I asked a local about it, she responded, "Oh you went and saw that did you?" The other turntable in town was filled in and now serves as the foundation to a Burger King.
-I went to a bar called "Dad's Change of Pace" where I saw, among other things, a drag queen and a man's genitalia.
-The children in town made goat sounds at several of our female riders.
-A second-hand clothes store through me out because "nothing was for sale."
-The bike mechanic in town did not know how to make repairs to bikes.
Overall Port Jervis felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone and we were sure to lock all our host's doors before calling it a night.
A gratuitous photo of me and the riders at our last build day.
What a good-looking bunch.
It's hard to believe, but it has been just one week since my Bike & Build trip's departure from Portland, Maine. So much has happened, but overall the trip has been a huge success so far. Below is my partial attempt at summarizing each of the riding days that we've had. It's a bit on the longer side, so if you have a short attention span, you can just watch this video of a turtle trying to eat a tomato instead.
Today we hit our fifth state - New York. Pictures with me actually in them to come.
Kittery, Maine – Our first riding day out of Portland was a
“mere” 65 miles into Kittery.We started
the day with an awesome (and free) breakfast at Local Sprouts Café in Portland,
followed by a Bike & Build tradition – the wheel dip ceremony.Besides salting our wheels in the Atlantic,
we enjoyed words of encouragement from Mayor Michael Brennan
and an attempt at inspiration from me.After a hairy ride across the Casco Bay Bridge we winded down bike paths
and beachside roads through Biddeford, Saco, York, and Wells into our
destination.Dinner at the United Church
of Christ was awesome, but highly miscellaneous (lentils, pizza, chicken, mac
and cheese, lasagna, rice, salads, and endless brownies).
Andover, Massachusetts – Leaving Kittery, we awoke to find
that our van had apparently been stolen, as it was missing and broken glass
surrounded where the driver’s-side door had been.Waking to discover a grand theft auto outside
of a church in a resort town like Kittery was rather unexpected, so we were not
especially surprised to find out later that the whole charade was a prank from one of
Bike & Build’s less mature Program Directors, who was supervising Rider
Orientation for another trip across the bay in Portsmouth, NH.Relieved to find our van just around the
corner, we got on the road for a long, hot day. Highs of 107 degrees pushed
several dehydrated riders into the van.I rode sweep that day, which means that another rider and I had to ride
in the back to make sure that no cyclists fell off the map. The nice thing about sweep is that the
sweepers ride in pairs, meaning that they have lots of time to chat and get to
know each other (go Anna!). The drawback of sweep day is that you often get into the destination late, in this case around 7:30 PM, making the riding day about 11 hours long. Getting in late on sweep days come with the terriroty, so I was not frustrated by our late arrival (happy to
do it!).In fact, after our arrival we
went straight over to an awesome BBQ dinner (including beer) hosted by the
Webber Family.Their son Chris Webber
was a Bike & Build Program Director who was killed back a car while walking
in NYC in 2007.Their generosity and
continued involvement in Bike & Build was inspiring, especially since our
route is dedicated to Chris.The next
day we had our second build day in Lawrence, where we worked on renovating a
former convent into ten condos.Mostly I
helped move about five tons of dirt with shovels and wheel barrows (maybe the
next day’s Habitat crew moved it back, hehe).
Fitchburg, Massachusetts – Our third riding day was also my
first day driving the support van.Fortunately this was a problem-free day (loneliness in the van is a good
thing, as it means all the riders are OK).The only snafu of the day was that the electrical cord that connects our
van to our trailer was damaged and needed to be rewired.I drove to a hardware store, bought a new
plug for the cord, and, drawing on memories of Mr. Spagna’s 7th
grade Tech Ed class, wired the thing myself.I felt like a champion.We made
it into the host early and enjoyed another awesome dinner, followed by a tour
of the Unitarian Church of Fitchburg. All yawns aside, the tour was actually
quite interesting and included a visit to the inside of the steeple (which
collapsed during a storm in 1989 and killed a motorist) and through a trap door
into the back of the pipe organ.
Northampton, Massachusetts – Anxious and antsy after two
days off the bike, I decided to really book it the 60 miles into
Northampton.As a result, my riding
group and I averaged over 15 mph despite also climbing nearly 3,000 feet.We took some photos at the World’s Second
Largest Chair in Gardiner, MA and we reached our peak for the day atop Prescott
Hill in Shutesbury, MA then enjoyed 20 miles of descent and flats into
town.We rewarded ourselves for our hard
work with a pitcher of beer before hitting up the host.After that my mother and two family friends
drove up from Connecticut to join me for dinner out.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts – Our ride into the booming
Berkshire metropolis of Pittsfield was a shorter day (45 miles or so), but also
very very hilly.I stopped for a cup of
coffee in the town of Cummington, home to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (who did not
respond to the note I left for her seeking press coverage).Some fun facts about Pittsfield that I
learned along the way: 1. Moby Dick was written here.2. The first intercollegiate game of baseball
was played here, between Williams and Amherst, and somehow the score was
73-54.3. GE used to employ over 8,000
people here but now employs 0.We stopped about a mile from our destination to watch a local little league game and met a bunch of fans and proud grandparents. The following day we took
part in our third build day here and I helped to hang sheetrock for most of a
house. This was a particularly fun stage of building for me because the house
looked a lot more like a house and lot less like a construction site after we
left.Plus, against the odds, all our
lines were plumb.
Poughkeepsie, New York - Today we got a "bonus state" by cutting across the NW corner of Connecticut on our way into New York. We descended overall and. despite riding over 80 miles, made it into the host around 2:30 PM. Next comes one more day in New York, then on to many many days in the hills of Pennsylvania en route to Pittsburgh.
Each Bike & Build trip is led by four highly-qualified, talented, and (most often) attractive young adults. Two days into our "Leader Orientation," I've gotten to know these folks pretty well. Here's the scoop on my three co-leaders.
Kristen: An avid cyclist and native Californian, Kristen is doing Bike & Build in order to get back home without burning any fossil fuels, which in the Bay Area are known as "The Milk of Mother Gaia." She is quite knowledgeable about all things sustainable, vegetarian, and organic, but seems overwhelmed by the foreign East Coast environment she finds herself in, most notably Dunkin' Donuts and people who don't compost. (Photo is top-right)
Morgan: Fresh out of Grinnell College, Morgan is a retired varsity swimmer who is delaying her entrance to the real world by biking. Her passions include human rights, Iowa, and lifting with her legs. Her vision is immaculate and she is anal retentive to the max. She is in charge of organizing all our receipts. (Photo is bottom-left, atop crocodile)
Collin: At just 21 years-old, Collin is the baby of the group, but without question the best at backing up the trailer. Collin chopped his lacrosse flow in preparation for the summer so that Kristen wouldn't mistake him for a Republican. His post-trip plan is to work as a deckhand in San Diego for $5 a day - a significant raise from working as a trip leader. (Photo is bottom-right)
