City Saturation

I’ve hit my wall and it’s time to head for the hills. My attitude is starting to deteriorate and I’m starting to get growly at traffic, telling them to go places where the sun doesn’t shine, and sometimes out loud. Frequent beeps of the horn are starting to drive me nuts, and a few taunts from drivers to tell me to ‘Get on the sidewalk, that’s what its for’ are enough to make my blood boil. Because of this I haven’t been myself for the past 3 days in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I’ve unsuccessfully tried to catch some rest and relaxation. It’s not in the cards for me here, so I’m going to move on tomorrow morning and seek solace somewhere else, and to give myself some time to reflect without letting the experience taint me for a long period.

The weather has been less than favorable the past few days, ever since I left the state of Connecticut. I rode most of the day before heading into the Bronx borough of New York City to meet up with my new friend Erin, who I spoke about before in Portland. I put out a call on my Facebook page for contacts in the area, and she just happened to have a family member that had a vacant apartment that was available for a night’s rest for me. It was welcomed, that place is a zoo! People everywhere, loud trains, musical car horns, and next to no places to hide out for the night in a tent. Highlight of the stay was walking to find a beer, eventually coming to the Bronx Alehouse which had an exceptional selection of hoppy beers on tap, a loud atmosphere, and some banging music. It was then I realized that all the music they were playing from the early 80′s (rap/hiphop) was from the area, and probably was the reason why the patrons were going wild when each song came on. I’m sure a lot has changed in those 30 years, with gentrification paired with a massive crime sweep intended on removing the stigma as New York being one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Regardless, I smiled as I had listened extensively to some of these tunes during my younger years and thought it was pretty cool that I was in the area where a whole subculture was born.

There was lots of rain coming down, and I didn’t make it too far out of the apartment on Sunday, after a quick stopover to the grocery store before Erin offered to get me out of the mess of NYC. I took her up on her offer over the George Washington bridge, and we said goodbye as I pedaled off south, and she drove north. I became rather lost in the huge urban sprawl of Newark and shared some of my food with some homeless people in exchange for directions. I had also managed to land a place to stay for the night in Highland Park, close to Rutgers University which allowed me to pedal until sunset as opposed to stopping and searching for a place to live/a bite to eat. It was a great experience meeting Michael, originally from Rio Di Janeiro, Brazil, Leon from the Netherlands and Jeremy from Philadelphia. All 3 were either on their way to completing their PhD’s or had just completed it in the past few days and we had a great time talking about all sorts of random things, laughing and I snagged some tips on cycle routes for the time ahead. Highland Park was a multicultural town, and I noticed some Korean Supermarkets that I would see back home in the Vancouver area, and I found out that the Dunkin’ Donuts down the way where I was staying was in fact a kosher establishment! There were lots of nice parks and green paths on the way, not to mention many trains for passenger and cargo.

Heading towards Philadelphia I rode the D&R Canal, a very scenic route that takes one into the town of Princeton. I met a few people along the way while I was enjoying a coffee who were interested in touring and asked if they could come along with me for a bit in a few months, and I said that would be alright, in their court! It wasn’t too far after before I ended up down Mercer street, where Albert Einstein once lived. I stopped and had a quick bite to eat, snapped some photos, and continued down into the final city of New Jersey, a huge mess of roads, burned out buildings and careless drivers in Trenton. Once you cross the Delaware river you end up in Pennsylvania and I immediately noticed a difference in landmarks, street signs, placards, and the attitudes of people. I received many welcomes, thumbs up and honks of approval from drivers in the state where the Constitution was founded. It’s a pretty busy place and while there was some scenic parts for 1-2 kilometres, most of it was weaving through traffic at the rush hour period. I made it into Philadelphia to meet up with my friend Danica, studying at UPenn for the past 6 years completing her Doctorate degree and while she was ultra busy finishing off the final touches to defend her thesis we still got a chance to hang out and reconnect albeit brief. It was a happy mail day for me as I received quite a few packages from around the world from friends and suppliers even an early birthday present. Tom from Click Stand sent me not one but two replacement stands due to the old one bending and becoming unusable in Nova Scotia a few weeks back, and I look forward to having a stand again. One of the things that I’ve found with straight handlebars is that I don’t have as much surface area when I want to lean my bike on things, which usually results in some paint scraping off my bike, and the whole unit lying on its side.

I took the time while here to plan out my next stages of my route across the USA, since I  have to head back to Vancouver for a wedding in September. It looks as if I’m going to head over to Pittsburgh, PA for some well needed R&R and importantly little to no people, and some wilderness which I am so desperately craving. After that I’ll head into Kentucky and all the way down to New Orleans – I know the Mississippi River has swelled to great proportions and there is massive amounts of flooding, but I won’t let it deter me whatsoever, and will use the chaos as training for the future. After I hope to head to Austin Texas, finally heading north into Santa Fe, New Mexico, onto Moab, Utah and then make my way back to Vancouver someway or the other. I may just stop at the Burningman Festival if I can secure a low-income ticket, unfortunately the tickets are well sold out for that price range now and I don’t think I can afford the existing $320 price level.

I’m quite looking forward to the next 7 days, where I will ride Route S – a 435+ mile stretch of secluded bike path through the Appalachian mountains and through Amish country. I need to reconnect with the wild and meet some strangers outside as opposed into the big cities as it is starting to drain me physically and mentally – however I do need to find an address in the next 10 days that I can ship some mail to – my Exped Synmat Deluxe Mattress has started to act up and I frequently wake up with rocks in my back due to it deflating. It also is making a sound like a wheezing smoker, a problem with their manufacturing apparently. Finding an address ahead of time is very difficult for me, and I wish I had an easier solution to receive new parts.

I did however dump some of my gear today, sending back to Vancouver a pair of shorts, my winter long johns, and 2 long sleeved shirts. Travelling lighter might help with the 4lbs of savings because I have a few nasty climbs ahead of me for the next few months.

A very special mention to the folks at Trophy Bikes in Philadelphia, these guys were really happy to talk to a cycle tourist, and actually cater themselves for the travelling tourist with a decent selection of panniers, gear, racks, and some solid bikes. They’ve all toured before and know how crazy things can get, and I appreciated the fact they offered tools for someone to fix up their bike without having to pay for a mechanic, unlike some of the stores that I’ve visited, especially in Connecticut. My chain is now tensioned (it stretches frequently and every 1000km you need to rotate the bottom bracket a bit to ensure proper motion) and I’m ready for whatever the universe wants to throw at me. Let’s hope it’s not more rain.

Finally, the 2011 Cranklisted awards for best bicycle blog is out – Could you Vote for me for the traveling section? They take a vote a day, and even if I’m not listed, click the Other section and Add Tired of I.T!
Distance Travelled

• Day 12 – Crazies in Crescent City
• The Windy City