Day 7- the finale, Bethlehem PA to Lawrenceville NJ

On the 7th Day (Saturday), the Anchor House riders did not rest, but they were able to take it a little easier. Only 65 miles today, and 10 of those were the traditional parade-like processional through Hopewell and Lawrenceville to get to our finish at Quakerbridge Mall. We still had over 4000 feet of climbing, but we had cloud cover and cooler temps in the morning and we were done with the hard riding by 1 pm. Here we are assembled for some group shots at the start of the ride.

We climbed our way out of Bethlehem and soon were cycling through lovely country roads with names like Peppermint Road, Winding Rd and Creamery Rd. These were primo cycling roads and conditions as we headed steadily southwards. What a change from yesterday!

We quickly made our way to northern Bucks county, one of my favorite places to bike and home of many covered (and some uncovered) bridges.

Our first Sag stop was the picaresque Lake Noxamixon.

Soon after, Jerry "ice cream!" Foster spotted what he wanted and soon we were enjoying ice cream at Owow Cow in Ottsville at a new record early time of day, 10:10 AM! As Jerry said, 1010 wins (a ref for all you NY area folks).

Our dilly- dallying caused us to put pedal to the metal as were supposed to be at the traditional Anchor House picnic by 1 pm. We crossed the Delaware for the last time at New Hope- Lambertville and climbed our way through Hunterdon County to arrive in Hopewell NJ just in time.

 

The picnic is traditonally held at the home of the Dutko's, a very generous family that opens up their home for a picnic of yummy food, ice cream, and swimming! We assemble for a group photo, and awards were given out for outstanding participants and support staff. This year my dear friend Kathy Sonnenfeld- Squires received the award for outstanding veteran support staff. Very well deserved- all the volunteers work so hard during the week!

We then assembled for the traditonal 10 mile processional to the mall, with roads closed to cars and a police escort. We are quite the scene cycling two abreast with people cheering us on through local streets.

 

We arrived at the mall where we assembled for the big finale, where we learned that we had raised over $560,000 to date for the kids at Anchor House.

My friend Jack said a young woman came up to him and thanked him for what he and the riders just accomplished. She said she came to Anchor House when she was 13 years old when her Mom couldn't take care of her anymore. She is now in her 20's, married with a young child and doing well. A very powerful statement as to why we do this ride.

I am home now, relaxing with Barbara on a lovely (and cool!) Sunday morning. Thanks everyone for following along, and thanks to my many sponsors. Stay tuned to this blog in a few weeks as I'll be riding in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise money for another worthy cause- cancer research. Across Massachusetts from the NY state border to the tip of Cape Cod in three days. Looking forward to it! Enjoy this cooler weather all!

 

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Day 6- Matamoras to Bethlehem PA

The motto of the day was, get 'er done!! With temps approaching 100, especially in the afternoon, it was put your head down, dig deep, and get 'er done. It didn't help that it was the longest mileage day, 82, the most climbing, and the highest elevation day (5056 feet). And we traversed through three states.

The morning started super early, wheels on the ground at 6:15. The start was foggy and super humid. The views of the Delaware River crossing back into Port Jervis were eerily beautiful.

The early morning was relatively comfortable as we rolled through scenic northern New Jersey, passing lakes and horse farms.

It starting to become uncomfortably hot by 10 am, as the temps were already in the 90's. One of the more appropros views came from this horsefarm, owned by none other than "The Swets". Say no more!! We also saw a sign that said "Sheep, $100", which led to numerous sheep puns ("at that price they won't be fleecing you", "careful they be pulling the wool over your eyes", "ewe'll be sorry!, and many many more). My constant punning partner and riding companion is my buddy DJ, who I was lucky to have pedaled almost every mile of the ride with.

 

Today DJ and I rode the entire day with two of the aformentioned awesome Plumb-cycles, Gregg Plumb and his girlfriend Inna. They kicked butt today over what was a grueling day, for new riders and experienced riders. We started the day together and finished strong together, joined by our friend Lindsey. We finished the ride with high fives, naming ourselves "Team Bad Ass" for finishing so strong. Below are DJ, Gregg and Inna pedaling away.

By the time we crossed back over to PA from Belvidere NJ, the heat was blazing- clearly the hottest day of the week. It was an oven, and the hills in PA kept coming and coming. These were some of the steepest climbs of the week, and there was little to no shade for most of these climbs. This part of the ride became mind over matter, or mind over melting.

Many, many riders were sagged in by vans. Here is the last sag stop of the day, at the Northampton farm bureau, the sight of many of those sag rides. But the majority completed the day. As I said, we put our heads down, dug deep and powered through, finishing up the day after 82 miles. Tomorrow it's only 65 miles, but it will be very hot and then topped off with severe thunderstorms. Hope we get in before the rain!

 

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Day 5- Kingston NY to Matamoras PA

We're in Pennsylvania! Hard to believe that we're almost home. As my friend Jerry explained to me while we were cycling a few days ago, being on this ride is like totally immersing yourself in summer for a week, with all of its attendant colors, rhthyms, wildflowers, sun, and of course heat ("drowning here in summer's cauldron" as XTC once sang about). Today we had a nice summer immersion day. It was as hot as yesterday, hitting 93 F, but luckily there was a steady light breeze blowing all day, mostly a headwind which was actually helpful. You really felt the full brunt of the heat when you stopped pedaling.

We cycled through the lovely town of Rosendale. We were making fast time so I missed a lot of great early morning photos (we left at 6:30 am again). We headed steadily south, and soon the breathtaking Shawangunk mountains came into plain view. For those of you who know Mohunk mountain, it's one of the "Gunks". The cycling was along rolling terrain and we made fast time, with plenty of lovely views.

 

The temperature was 87 F at 9 am! Thank goodness for the sag stops where the creative volunteers make us treats like peanut butter on top of everything, and fruit smoothies, and we eat food that we would normally never touch during ride week (e.g. Doritos and cheetos) since we crave salt and figure we're riding so fast that they won't be able to clog our arteries. And of course there are always ice cream stops!!

 

Shout out to Brooklyn! Whose colors are worn here proudly by our buddy Daryl. 70 miles logged for the day and we arrived in Port Jervis after a long steady climb and a hair-raising descent of 900 feet before crossing into Matamoras PA to our hotels. Tonight was banquet night, where we celebrated all the fantastic volunteers, riders, and ataff of Anchor House and learned that we had raised $485,000 to date. Keep those contributions coming as we try to surpass $500,000. Tomorrow we travel through three states on our way to Bethlehem PA, with temps predicted to be in the high 90's. tomorrow we are hitting the road at 6 am. Yikes!

 

 

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Day 4 Latham to Kingston NY

Hot, hot hot! We got 'er done today, and there was much beauty, but the heat is definitely becoming a factor. Temps in the low 90's with much more humidity today. Being in the shade was awesome, but biking out in the direct sun, especially after 10am, was very toasty. We started out at 6:30 am but it got hot quick. Thank goodness when you bike you generate your own little breeze. There were a few cases of heat exhaustion, including a friend in our group who, at the last sag, was in no condition to bike any further and caught a ride in a support van back.

Once we got out of suburban Albany, the scenery got beautiful. My second favorite day of the ride so far for scenery. We had our biggest climb of the week today, a long multi-mile climb hitting grades of 15%, and then of course a screaming downhill where I hit 42 mph.

We biked along with the Catskills to our west. The area is gorgeous, as we biked through the villages of Catskill and Saugerties. Very impressed by the Hudson Valley for sure.

We grabbed lunch in Cairo NY, where I took this photo of my good friend Jack Hayon who was born in Cairo. Egypt that is! Funny enough he is a huge baseball fan, and this photo was taken at the town ballfield.

Tomorrow we bike to Matamoras PA, in what will be even hotter conditions. Another 6:30 start for sure.

 

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Day 3: Glens Falls to Latham NY

Day 3, generally called hump day on the Anchor House ride cause once you're passed day three, the pedaling gets easier as your body settles into cycling for a living. Odd that there was no camel sighting today! Actually today was an easy day three- much less hilly than yesterday. And the legs feel great! The main issue was the heat. The picture below was taken at 11 am! Luckily it wasn't very humid and we had shade for a good part of the day. The worst time was being stuck at a railroad crossing with no shade at all when a very long freight train rolled by. We laughed, we cried, we fried...

Today was supposed to be 66 miles, but yours truly misread the cue sheet at one point causing our group to bike an extra 6 miles. Ah, but better to do this on a 66 mile rather than an 80 mile day! The scenery was fine today, but nothing could hold a candle to yesterday's majesty.

Today was a today spent with the "Plumb-cycles". Our dear friend Joan Plumb and her awesome kids Jaye and Gregg, who are biking in their first Anchor House along with Gregg's equally awesome girlfriend Inna. There are many parent-children combo's on the ride, as the Anchor House torch is passed on to the younger generation. My son Adam is itchin' to do the ride. Gotta get him a bike and some miles on those legs!

Joanie and Jaye! And below Gregg and Inna.

Wore my Red Sox jersey today to of course mixed reviews. I just told people that the memo was to wear the jersey of the team with the best record in the AL. Note the Yankee fan who didn't get the memo!

A much needed break from the heat came close to the end of the ride just after we crossed the Mohawk river and jumped on the Mohawk Hudson Bike trail, a lovely mostly shady bike trail that we took almost all the way to Latham, with gorgeous views of the Mohawk River and adjacent canal.

 

 

Joan got a flat five miles from the end of the ride, that Gregg expertly fixed, and soon after we finished up in Latham.

Here's my very enjoyable traveling companions today. Great day today with some pretty awesome people. Heat, what heat? Tomorrow it's on to Kingston. Again mid 90's, but who's counting?

 

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