It's over! We have made it to Portsmouth New Hampshire! I have bicycled 3,970.1 miles which is 123 miles over the advertised number. This was due to detours, route changes and wrong turns.
The day started out absolutely perfect and then got better. It was about 70 degrees and sunny when we left the hotel. Of course I could not start the day without a flat, number 10. I don't know what caused this one, only that my rear tire was flat when I left the room. Meiri, Dave, who came back to ride the final day, Brian, Howie, friend of Dave, and myself left as soon as my tire was fixed. We started riding through the streets of Manchester and had gone about five miles when I got another flat, number 11. This one was caused by a small copper tack which went through the tire and into the tube. Brian, Meiri and I rode to the first Sag where we quickly filled our water bottles, got a little to drink and eat and then left to get to the meeting point for our ride to the beach.
We all met a school about 3 miles from the beach and had a police car escort to the beach complete with sirens and flashing lights. Very Cool!!! It was exciting! It felt like we were in a parade with people cheering us on from both sides of the road. When we got to the beach, we all took our bikes to dip our front wheels into the Atlantic ocean. It was a very emotional experience to have completed something that most people think is impossible to do. A lot of the riders had their families and friends there to meet them so it was particularly emotional for them. Everybody on the beach wanted to know what we had done and asked questions about our trip.
Meiri and I decided to add Maine to our list of states so we crossed over the bridge into Maine on our way to the hotel.
I took my bike to the bike shop to have it shipped home and then Jack, Tom, Sean, Leigh, Meiri, Zero and I went back to Maine to get a lobster dinner to celebrate our achievement! It was the perfect ending to a wonderfull adventure which I will never forget.
I want to thank everybody for following along and I hope you all enjoyed reading about my trip. Maybe I will do another one someday. Maybe you will come along!!!
2 comments:
I am so proud of you!!! I can't believe you are finished. I can't wait to see the entire collection of pictures and more stories. Great job - that is quite an accomplishment.
Way to go, unbelievable, this is totaly awesome. Congratulations. Bring lots of pictures with you, when you come next month. Can't wait to hear about it. Betty
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