Day 46 (6/17/22): A Day of Milestones
Start: Bethesda, MD
End: Cockeysville, MD
Mileage: 69 miles
Elevation: 4,280 feet
Where to start…
Hit 3,000 miles today. I don’t mind saying, “Wow!”
Surpassed 150,000 feet of climbing today. I don’t mind saying, “Holy Lactic Acid Batman!”
Notched our 11th state (Maryland) when I pulled out of Matt’s driveway earlier today. 2 to go.
As was the case in Texas and Oklahoma, I was “lucky” enough to pedal through northern Maryland during a day in which heat records were broken. A milestone, I could have done without.
More importantly though, the riding returned to “normal” where normal is country roads, beautiful scenery, and limited cars. Hopefully, this past Monday was an outlier. The first 20 miles were on the Rock Creek Bike Path which meant NO cars—heaven. The rest was quite shaded which made the heat more bearable.
I also had the pleasure of pedaling with Larry Soler for the first 10 miles today. Larry has T1D and is a very active rider in the JDRF community. There were some road/route closures when we first started out, so it was great to have him shepherd me through the workarounds. It’s always great to have companionship to learn more about the area and share stories. I really appreciated him taking time out of his day to join me and hope to see him at a JDRF ride in Death Valley later this year.
I did NOT do a great job relaxing on my 3 off days this week and felt it today. I’m glad we were able to see so much, but perhaps I should have sat and slept more. Another good night’s sleep, much cooler weather, and a slower pace hopefully will help tomorrow because WE ARE…pedaling to Pennsylvania!
3 more days of riding to go. Can’t believe it.
Lastly, if you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to a great article NJ.com published on my ride earlier today: https://www.nj.com/news/2022/06/dads-epic-3300-mile-bike-ride-across-the-us-to-end-at-the-jersey-shore.html. Tish and I spent a bunch of time with Rob Jennings (the reporter) on this over the past several days. He did a great job. I’m hoping it makes the print version of the Star Ledger as well.
What an I Grateful for Today?
Companionship on the ride
Friends along the way
My wife’s face at the end of the ride
Rob Jennings for putting so much care into telling our story
There’s a Wawa across the street from our cheap motel (me)
There’s a Chick-Fil-A in the parking lot of our cheap motel (Tish)
Our cheap motel room doesn’t smell smoky
After tonight, we only have one more night in a cheap motel
I’ve still only had 1 flat in 3,000+ miles. (I don’t believe in jinxes.)
My brother Joel continues to check out/confirm our last day route