2020, Day 21: Proclaimers Day

September 28, 2020

(In the style of the Proclaimers)

AND-AH I WOULD BIKE 500 MILES

AND-AH I WOULD BIKE 500 MORE

JUST TO BE THE MAN WHO BIKED 1000 MILES

TO REACH THE EASTERN SHORE

He did it, folks! After today, dad has now biked 1000 miles (1046.3) since the start of this leg of the trip! UNBELIEVABLE! What a feat! Salutations to dad, and his energy, and his quads of steel, and also RIP to his tailbone.

Quite a line to have crossed in a single year, spanning five states. He's still got north of 600 miles to ride, though, before he makes it to the northern tip of Maine.

Prior to his accomplishment today, mom and dad had a lovely weekend exploring some historical church sites and broadcasting from the Sacred Grove for dad's Sunday Priesthood meeting. All that prep paid off with a hitch-less livestream. Last time mom and dad were here, livestream video calls (courtesy of Skype) had only just become available to the public for common use, and had yet to make its way into common household daily lives. Now, dad can plop down in the middle of a forest with nothing but a phone and a tripod if he's feeling fancy, and the folks back home can get a hi-def look at his location and listen in on the discussion from hundreds of other locations with no more trouble than the occasional buffering. Amazing how so many things can change in 15 or 16 years, and yet so many things, like the grove, church historical sites, etc. are all but untouched.

Another thing that never changes is dad's dedication to efficiency. Dad's a hard worker, but he'll work smarter wherever he can before working harder, and then pass it off as laziness. When you have 4000 miles to cover, though, shaving off a few hills and miles here and there with more optimal routes isn't laziness, it's smarts.

From dad:

REROUTING! I looked at my maps for the next 3 days and realized I had myself set up for 5900 feet of climbing. An alternate route through Syracuse and on to Utica would cut that to only 2600 feet, plus cut 10 miles for the 3 days. So, I made the obvious lazy choice.

We started out at 8:05 and had ridden the full route for the day before noon, which put us at Camillus on the west end of Syracuse. Today was very humid, and also very warm--84 degrees when I quit. I was happier on the bike than resting, because I could make my own wind! But I digress. When we arrived at Camillus just before noon, I still felt pretty good, so decided to ride through the city to the other side so we wouldn’t have to be on city streets at rush hour tomorrow. It’s about 15 miles across the city. We picked a route that looked like it would go all the way through--Genessee Street (it didn’t--not directly, anyway). I rode into the center of town, got detoured onto another street--Erie--that continued east. And as it turned out, it worked out perfectly for me. Mom, however, got misdirected somehow and headed north, ending up in a less desirable part of town. Saved by google maps again! I gave her the address for a Burger King where I had stopped and had her navigate there. I waited for 15 minutes or so for her to wend her way to me. About four miles later, we were out of town and at Lyndon. 59.25 miles in 5:30. So it took an hour and forty-five minutes to get across town, including reconnecting. But that leaves only about 30 miles to do tomorrow. With rain in the forecast, that may turn out to be a blessing.

We stopped at a local bike shop and picked up some new bright lights for the bike. My original headlight wouldn’t charge anymore, and the tail light just didn’t give off enough light to even be noticed in the daylight.

Congrats on the milestone, dad!

LATE EDIT: Dad ended up in Fayetteville, not Lyndon, today.