At about 4 AM this morning I woke up to what I initially thought was my
roomie snoring...wrong: it was pouring rain and pelting the windows of our hotel room. This, of course was a precursor of what our day was going to be like. The entire group had been checking the weather channels (one can easily become obsessed with weather underground on one of these tours) so we all knew that rain was in the forecast for this first day of riding. As we made our way down to breakfast and started the process of bringing bikes and luggage down to the lobby our group was a kind of fashion parade of cool rain gear. The emphasis is on bright fluorescent rain jackets, plastic baggies to hold cameras, cellphones, and wallets, and a variety of hats to keep the drops off of the face so that you can see the road. Since it was our first ride day we had to have the obligatory group photo, of course, but this was only a momentary postponement of the inevitable. At about 7:20 we hopped on the bikes and headed out into what was a drenching rain. The only real good news was that a), there was no lightning and, b) it was relatively warm. The big issue really becomes riding safety as we try to avoid the really big puddles (they hide potholes) and somehow keep an eye on the cars, trucks and mobile homes (this is still tourist season). We had a great route, hugging the ocean for probably three quarters of the day winding in and out of the Maine coastal towns going south to New Hampshire. Among other sites of the day we passed through Walkers Point, the summer home of the Bush family. It was the only place we really stopped and the group photo with all the rain jackets is on the beach just to the side of the Bush estate. There were actually photo opportunities at a number of other spots as well but with the driving rain none of were too inclined to stop. So we rode into Portsmouth, found a place for a warm lunch and then headed on toward our hotel. After cleaning the bike, washing the sand out of the shorts and socks a hot shower never felt so good.
So for the first day: 70 miles, 4:40 riding time at 14.9 mph avg and 4300 calories - good excuse for a big dinner....Tomorrow we have 93 miles to Worcester Mass - and only a 60% chance of rain. Oh joy....
At about 4 AM this morning I woke up to what I initially thought was my roomie snoring...wrong: it was pouring rain and pelting the windows of our hotel room. This, of course was a precursor of what our day was going to be like. The entire group had been checking the weather channels (one can easily become obsessed with weather underground on one of these tours) so we all knew that rain was in the forecast for this first day of riding. As we made our way down to breakfast and started the process of bringing bikes and luggage down to the lobby our group was a kind of fashion parade of cool rain gear. The emphasis is on bright fluorescent rain jackets, plastic baggies to hold cameras, cellphones, and wallets, and a variety of hats to keep the drops off of the face so that you can see the road. Since it was our first ride day we had to have the obligatory group photo, of course, but this was only a momentary postponement of the inevitable. At about 7:20 we hopped on the bikes and headed out into what was a drenching rain. The only real good news was that a), there was no lightning and, b) it was relatively warm. The big issue really becomes riding safety as we try to avoid the really big puddles (they hide potholes) and somehow keep an eye on the cars, trucks and mobile homes (this is still tourist season). We had a great route, hugging the ocean for probably three quarters of the day winding in and out of the Maine coastal towns going south to New Hampshire. Among other sites of the day we passed through Walkers Point, the summer home of the Bush family. It was the only place we really stopped and the group photo with all the rain jackets is on the beach just to the side of the Bush estate. There were actually photo opportunities at a number of other spots as well but with the driving rain none of were too inclined to stop. So we rode into Portsmouth, found a place for a warm lunch and then headed on toward our hotel. After cleaning the bike, washing the sand out of the shorts and socks a hot shower never felt so good.
So for the first day: 70 miles, 4:40 riding time at 14.9 mph avg and 4300 calories - good excuse for a big dinner....Tomorrow we have 93 miles to Worcester Mass - and only a 60% chance of rain. Oh joy....
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