Just Another Beautiful Ride, But I Hope Trouble Does Not Come In Three's

After a delightful breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (do not eat the oatmeal at Dunkin Donuts, it's not oatmeal), I rolled out of Rockport at about 0930. The bike was rolling nice. It's a wonder what a brake adjustment will do to reduce rolling resistance. The ride out of Bucksport to Belfast was mostly coastal with some nice ocean views. The bike was rolling so nice, I thought I had a tailwind, but then I noticed the flags were being blown right back at me. Sweet! When I got to Belfast, my route map took me off of the highway and it appeared I was going to be needing a ferry to cross the bay. What a pleasant surprise to discover I was being routed over a footbridge.

After Belfast, my route took me inland and I did some climbing in the hills of Maine. These were some of the rollers that Jim McGurk was looking forward to ... NOT! The farms were beautiful. I chuckled when I saw a large hand painted sign that said 'LOUD PIPES, RIDE SAFER - IMPEACH OBAMA'. I did not expect to see that in Maine. Maybe the Carolina's or Georgia, but not Maine. After about 20 miles of hilly rollers, I came back out on the coast at Camden. I was trying to stay in Camden, but I could not get a room for less than $159 and that is way above my budget for this trip. After I saw Camden, I understood why the accommodations would have been pricy. It is one of the more upscale, charming  tourist attractions.

After cruising Camden for a while, I headed down to Rockport, towards my sub $100 a night accommodations, which turned out to be pretty much a dump. Dennie would have made me drive on, if she was on this trip. But I digress. A couple of miles south of Camden, it sounded like my bike was missing a shift, and then I was free wheeling. I looked back and my chain was lying in the middle of the road. I hate it when that happens. Actually, this is the first time this has ever happened to me, so I got to figure it out by myself. Where is Jim McGurk when I need him. I had a chain tool, so I was able to remove the bad links. But then getting the pin back I the links took me an incredibly long time.  It was late afternoon and I was wondering if I would get it fixed before the sun went down. But finally, I got it solved. And THEN (I probably shouldn't confess this part) once I got the two ends joined finally and the chain back together, I noticed I had it routed OUTSIDE the front derailleur. Crap! So I had to break the chain again, route it through the front derailleur, and join the two ends again. The second time went much faster than the first time, now that I had some practice.

Then I was on my way again. My motel was just a mile and a half down the road. I checked in and could tell it was sketchy, but I had reservations (and now I was having different reservations) and they had my money. So I took my room and asked, "Where is the closest place to eat because I will be walking?" "Oh sir, the closest restaurant is two to three miles away because we are outside of the town limits." Yet another note to self: When making reservations in advance, always find out how far a place to eat is.

     

Day One on the New England Adventure

I rolled out of the Moseley Cottage Inn in Bar Harbor at a comfortable 0930 this morning. I had hoped to roll out earlier, but the Moseley is a B&B, and everyone at breakfast wanted to talk about my ride, and get my contact information and follow me on my ride. And it was fun; I enjoyed the attention. I got lot's of, "If you're ever in 'blah-blah', look us up and you have a place to stay." I enjoy B&B's for that reason, Loy's of shared experiences. Alas, that is probably my last B&B for the trip. And after I rolled out of the Moseley, rather than head out of 'Bah Hahbuh', I rode down to the pier so I could get the traditional picture of my bike with the rear wheel in the ocean at the start of the trip. "Excuse me ma'am, are you in a hurry?" "Yes, kind of. Why?" "Never mind. I can get someone else. I just wanted someone to take my picture." "Oh, I can do that." After she took my picture and found out why I wanted the picture, she was telling complete strangers, "He's riding his bike to Philadelphia! He's riding his bike to Philadelphia!" They were less impressed  than she was. But she and I were impressed.

Then I started my trip for real. My Garmin 810 has two ways to guide me down the road. One way is to just follow a track the I plotted out before hand based on the downloaded gpx files from Adventure Cycling Association. And the other way is to not plot the tracks out, but use the gpx files as a route and then my GPS indicates when I need to turn ... but between turns it does not indicate if you are on or off course. I never used the routing capability before, so I tried it out leaving Bar Harbor ... and quickly got lost, or at least off track. The heck with routing, and back to my plotted tracks.

The weather was fantastic today, and more tailwinds than headwinds. However, six miles out of Bar Harbor, I had already climbed about 600 feet. I was going to be riding about 50 miles and if that rate of climbing kept constant, I was in for 5000 feet of climbing. That would not be too bad on myroad bike, but I don't think I was up for it on Surly with loaded panniers. I slowed down and climbed everything in granny low to conserve power. My fears were not realized. The climb for the day was just about 2500 feet, which was still more than I expected. Dennie told me on my phone home, "Yes, Marvin. I remember the hills in Maine. Don't you remember? And you have a lot more in front of you." I am struggling to find that to be encouraging, but at least I am forewarned.

At about mile 20, my front fork started making a funny noise when I would turn sharply to avoid road debris or catch my balance.Yesterday, when I was assembling my bike, a bearing fell out of my headset. I was kind of teasing when I wrote my blog wondering if I got the crown race in right side up or upside down. Now I was wondering, "Maybe I did assemble it incorrectly. Well, I am not going to take it apart on the road. It is not going to fail while I am riding. This is when I need Jim. Maybe I can google 'assembling headsets' in my motel tonight." The climbing was getting more tiresome. But I also was not coasting down hill as fast as I thought I should. And then on a moderate grade I found myself pedaling a lot harder than I thought I should be pedaling, even if I was at mile 42. So I stopped the bike, turned it over and gently spun the front wheel. Rather than spinning, it came to a stop before it even made a full revolution. Crap! I didn't have a headset problem, I had a brake problem. Sure enough, my brake calipers must have got misaligned during shipping. They had been rubbing, maybe for 42 miles. Yeah, I know what you all are thinking. Don't say it. Note to self: Test ride the bike after you assemble it. Don't wait until you actually start your ride. And another note to self: When a hill seems tougher than it should be, don't always assume it is just your tired imagination. Anyway, after a bit of roadside maintenance, I was rolling free and easy again. It is too bad I missed a comment on yesterday's blog from a Malaysian friend of mine, New Bill. Yesterday he commented, "Great pics already! Hope you got the brakes properly aligned!" How did he know, half a world away.

I plan on about 40 miles tomorrow. 48 was a bit more than I was up for today.

T minus1! Launch Tomorrow!

So today was my first day in Bar Harbor, Maine, one of the most charming tourist traps I have ever been to. Tourist trap might be a little inaccurate. None of them seemed to be trapped, but there sure are a LOT of them; all ambling down the sidewalks at about 1 mph ... unless they are dead stopped in front of a shop, in deep discussion whether they want to check out the same stuffed lobster they saw in the last ten shops or just move on. I have sometimes described Old Town in Albuquerque as the ten shops selling the same painted, howling coyote. Bar Harbor is more than ten shops selling the same stuffed lobster; major lobster theme in Bar Harbor. Dennie and I visited this area eight years ago for our twenty fifth wedding anniversary. But we stayed in Northeast Harbor, which is about 10 miles further out on the island. That was a good move eight years ago, but would not have worked for me on this adventure.

Apparently it is between tourist seasons right now in Bah Hahbuh, end of summer and just before fall colors. I landed at the airport at 7:45pm last night and I thought the shuttle into town ran until 8:15pm, per the schedule I had. Nope, that is the 'before Labor Day' schedule. The last shuttle to the airport was at 7:15pm. So instead of a $5 shuttle, I had the personal pleasure of my very own $35 cab. Darn! Just started and I am already over budget. I hope this is not a trend. I had booked the cheapest room in the Moseley Cottage Inn. With this room, I had to share a common bathroom and shower. Well, not exactly share. There was a lock on the door, so I could have the use of the facility by myself. And my own room was quaint and small. I think if I stood up in it and stretched my arms out, I could touch both walls at the same time. And last night it was cold. Too bad I found the little space heater this morning, next to the bed. I wish I would have found it before I went to bed. At least I had a warm room to return to after I finished my "shared" shower.

I spent most of the morning on the Moseley Cottage Inn front porch, assembling my bike. "Hmmm, I don't remember that bearing. Lets see, it sure looks like it goes to the headset on the front fork. Yeah, probably right there ... or should I turn it over?" Anyway, the bike is assembled, and I am pretty sure it is done correctly. I could have used my buddy Jim a few times. Lunch was spent mingling with tourists, finding a lobster roll, and shopping for a few little things I forgot, like a toothbrush and some ibuprofen. 

Then the afternoon was spent organizing, packing, and shipping some stuff to my brother in Philadelphia. I think I am ready to roll. T minus one day and counting!

Bye bye, ABQ. See you in a month.

The trip has started. I am in 14E on an American Airlines flight heading to Bar Harbor, Maine. I hope I have everything I need, and at the same time, I hope I am not carrying more than I need. I packed the bike more than a week ago and included most my riding gear in the bike box. But of course I did not actually write down and inventory the contents. I knew I would remember what was in that box and bring the rest of my necessary items in my carry on luggage when I flew out. Note to self: next trip make sure I have a written inventory of any box I am about to tape up, before I ship it, for future reference. 

At the moment, I am flying to Dallas and there I will catch a flight to Boston, and then a hop to Bar Harbor airport, which is about 45 minutes away from Bar Harbor. I am not sure how to close that 45 minute gap right now. I am hoping the shuttle is running, otherwise I get to pay for a taxi. Yesterday was Andrew's birthday, so we celebrated that event. "Andrew, Happy Birthday! Oh Dad, are you leaving tomorrow? Guess we'll see you later. Be safe." 'Be safe' always causes me to think, "I have my helmet, my flashing lights, bright and visible clothing", but I remain mostly at the mercy of that driver that might be texting, finishing getting ready for work while driving, paying attention to a misbehaving child in the back seat and not paying attention to the cyclist right off their front right fender; thump, thump! Fortunately, my experience has been, that driver is very rare. Just about everyone I encounter usually slows to pass and pulls out and gives me wide berth, when they can. I try to give them an appreciative 'thumbs up' in their rear view mirror, hoping they are not mistaking it for one finger salute.

Travel update: I am now sitting in Logan Airport in Boston, waiting for my flight to Bar Harbor, my last stop today. I just finished a terrible meal in the food court, yech. It was below average airport food. Oh well, here's hoping for a marvelous breakfast in Bar Harbor tomorrow morning. TSA in Boston wanted to know what the SPD clips in my shoes were for. "These are riding shoes ma'am, and those clips attach to my pedals." "Oh." I hope we land in Bar Harbor Airport before the shuttle stops running. And I hope my bike is waiting for me at the lodge. More tomorrow.

No Turning Back! GONOGO is a GO!!

My fitness level is not exactly where I would like it to be, but I am confident it is good enough for this ride. I saw my doctor for my last 'pre-flight' check-up, and she gave me a green light. My blood screen looks good again and I am no longer anemic. Without a riding buddy, now the lodging will be twice as expensive, so I will take a shorter trip and terminate at my brother's place in Philadelphia. That should be affordable. Key West will have to be a future trip. My brother also agreed to go and pick me up and rescue me if something unforeseen should stop me during the ride, so I have a contingency plan in place. I cannot see any stop signs. So yesterday, Friday, September 6, was my final opportunity to make a GONOGO decision and GO it is. I spent the prior day packing and boxing my bike and some of my gear. And yesterday I hauled by boxed bike over to Fedex and shipped it to Bar Harbor, Maine. So, there is no turning back now. My bike is out in front of me and I have to go catch up with it in "Bah Hahbuh". Next Monday, September 16, I fly to Bar Harbor. The following day, I unbox my bike, assemble it, and hope nothing was bent or broken during shipping. And then on Wednesday, September 18, I start pedaling south.

Boxing and packing a bike for shipping can be interesting. I have done it a couple of times when I took my bike with me to Malaysia when I used to work at Intel. I go to my favorite bike shop and get them to give me one of their shipping boxes. Then I take the pedals, bars and wheels off and let the air out of the tires. Then wrap the frame in pipe insulation, protect the derailleur, and slide everything into the box, and fill all the open spaces with riding gear and tools. Tape everything up and haul the box to FedEx. If you are curious, it cost $88.00 to ship 60 pounds of bike, box and gear to Bar Harbor from Albuquerque with 4-5 business day delivery. So my bike should be waiting for me at the Moseley Inn in Bar Harbor when I arrive, if all goes well.

WHY NOT? PLAN B!!

Last time I blogged an update, I was on a serious yellow card as far as our east coast bike trip. My energy level was low, and the big surprise, I found out I was anemic: low white blood cell count and low hemoglobin. This was a big surprise given all my historic blood work has been excellent. My doctor suspected a low level bleed somewhere internally and that was preventing my system from keeping up with white blood cell generation. She told me to take iron and B-12 and quickly set up some testing. To make a long story short, all tests failed to detect any internal bleeding. So, I asked my doctor to give me another blood screen. Her response, "No more blood tests. Just take your ride and have a good time." Somehow I did not find that reassuring. So, I went out to a lab and paid for my own blood tests. And I have kept on training and putting the miles in on the Surly. Meanwhile my riding buddy wanted to know how my health and riding was going. I told him the training and riding was tough, and I was still looking for answers concerning my health. I was considering Friday, September 6 to be my GONOGO decision day. One thing I have failed to mention is that I have taken on a consulting job that has required me to work in the mornings and train in the afternoons, usually when the temperatures are above 90 degrees. So my riding buddy and I had not been training together. He decided that perhaps the two of us should put some miles in together and if he determined my fitness was not at a sufficient level, he would red card me.

     So, after work one day, we set up a ride, with our touring bikes loaded with our gear. With some level of trepidation on my part, we set out on our ride. Temperatures were in the 80's, and our pace felt really good. He had told me he had been doing a lot of climbing so I was a bit worried when we started riding the rollers. But he dropped the speed down to a very reasonable velocity and the climbing was just fine. In fact after our ride, my confidence level had increased. It appears that I had been over training (not unusual for me) and my anemia was probably sports anemia. Sports anemia can often be experienced by endurance athletes that overtrain and their system is not able to recover, and they become anemic. My blood tests that I scheduled came back and my white blood cell count was back up to normal and my hemoglobin was back above the lower control limit. So, now after my ride with my buddy, my energy level was higher than after my usual training rides, my blood analysis looked good, I was feeling good. Two days later my buddy texted me, 'Marvin, we need to talk tonight'. Huh? That did not sound real good. What might be going on?

    So, he and I got together for a beer and he let me know what was going on. He used to be a racer, he has always been a strong rider, stronger than me, and he is six years older than I am. But he had been fatigued this summer, and dropping weight. He had been riding a heavier than normal bike, but he had not been riding his touring bike fully loaded. Apparently after our ride, he could not get off the couch that night nor the next day. So instead of assessing my yellow card condition, he ended up red carding himself. Wow, I did not see that coming. But although I was disappointed, I fully supported his decision. This was a ride where your fitness cannot be in question.

    But now the ride was off. I was a bit cratered. That night I told Dennie, "Honey, if I was 35 years old, I would do this ride by myself. But I am 65 and that might not be so smart." "Marvin, I am glad you are finally making an intelligent decision." "Honey, don't get a discussion I am having with myself confused with a decision."

     So, what were my options. My buddy and discussed pushing it out a year, but it turns out he had come to terms with his age and capabilities and he said next year would not be an option either. So, find another riding partner, forget about the ride altogether, or do the ride by myself. None of these options looked like possibilities to me except to forget about the ride, and that was not going down well. Maybe I could do the ride by myself? No, that was insane. There is safety in numbers. We can look out for each other and support each other when necessary.  So, if was to do this ride by myself, I needed to lower some risks and I needed some level of local emergency support. So, my brother lives in Philadelphia. I could make the ride shorter, terminate in Philly and not ride as far as we had originally planned each day. All I needed was emergency local support and I could make this ride happen. At least I could ride New England and eat lobster. So, I called my brother, "Hey David, if I take this ride and somehow physically break down, will you come pick me up?" "Sure, but try not to break down in Maine. That's a long drive. Try to make it as far as Boston." 

    So, the ride seems to be ON.

WHAT!? A YELLOW CARD?

    I am attending to last minute details, one of them being getting a physical exam and getting my doctor's confirmation that I am healthy, fit and ready to ride the east coast; a 2600 mile journey on a bicycle. Prior to my doctor examining my blood work, the nurses aide checked my vitals, blood pressure, pulse, and medications. The aide exclaimed, "My! Physically you are 39!" Although I have been pushing it and I have been a bit tired, that sounded good. Bring it on! Then my doctor came in and we discussed cycling for a while and she remembered that after my three months trip to Guatemala, she remembered my family said I could never be gone that long again. She wanted to know how I got a two month 'hall pass' for this trip. "Uh, because they know it is important to me?? I dunno?" 

   Then she started looking at my blood work, and muttering, "Mmmm, well, hmmmm, this does not look good. Maybe you are leaking blood somewhere?"  What is she talking about? So she asked, "Have you been sick recently, or had any infections?" "No", I responded. "Well your white blood cell count has dropped significantly, and your hemoglobin is low. You are anemic." Oh no! I am five weeks away from our east coast ride and I am anemic!? YELLOW CARD! She wondered if my iron or B-12 was low, so she sent me to the lab immediately to test for iron and B-12. She also told me to start taking 325 units of iron a day and 1000 mg of B-12 daily. And she set me up for a test for H Pylori, to see if I had a relapse for the bacteria that knocked me down from my last Guatemala trip. Low white blood cells and low hemoglobin can be caused by bleeding, often intestinal bleeding, so now I am scheduled for a colonoscopy. Low white blood cell count and low hemoglobin can also be caused by other things that you can Google to determine, none of them leave me with a settled feeling.

   The iron, B-12 and H Pylori test results came in and all is normal. On one hand, that is good, but we still have not determined cause. At this time I am playing with a yellow card and I am still in the game. Some have suggested maybe I should rest and determine what is going on. But I think I need to keep pushing, and if I break, and get red carded, I would rather get red carded before we get on the plane for Bar Harbor instead of physically breaking down a few hundred miles down the road.

   So, I am still riding hard, but I am a bit concerned. I will keep you all posted.