Distance: 57.74 mi
Moving Time: 5:20:49
Elapsed Time: 6:38:41
Minimum Elevation: 0 ft
Maximum Elevation: 233 ft
Total Ascent: 1158 ft
Total Descent: 1070 ft
Low Temp: 59°
High Temp: 79°
Today was a day of jitters. The bike was packed the night before but there were still little things to take care of in the morning. Packing the car for Lisa’s return trip to Michigan and going over all of my planning and making sure that I didn’t forget anything. The Mergner’s, our host we’re so gracious and kind. They hosted us all weekend. Everyone came out to the beach and watched as I struggled to push the bike through the sand down to the water and take a few pictures and videos. After pictures, we hugged kissed and said our goodbyes.
It was time to get underway. I definitely felt prepared in terms of a general route and the gear needed to make it happen. I have some concerns over the weight and I will be looking to see what possibly I can possibly remove.
Getting started there was some challenges with the navigation because I didn’t plot the start directly from the beach and I was not yet comfortable with my Garmin computer. So there was some confusion until I got a few miles up the road and reconnected to the route. It was now time to see the roads and my route in person, not just through some app or Google Street view at various points.
Rolling out, Danny shared the first five miles through a thick, heavy, pea soup like fog north along the Atlantic coast. Casting off solo, the realization that I was on day one of many more to come was setting in. I was relatively calm throughout the day. I kept focusing on how wonderful the roads were, how little traffic there was, and all the new scenery – Every turn was something new I haven’t biked before. The Day 1 route turned out to be much better than I could ever imagine. About 16 miles in, I came to the first bike trail completed in New Jersey. From there there were flat, winding rollers past fields of horses, beautiful subdivisions, and just a wide variety of scenery. The day went fairly quickly, but I decided to stop and get a hotel just to regroup and review today and look at the next couple of days. Planning forward will be something I need to work on. Not having every day completely worked out is something new.
So good to have day one complete. I have done some prep for the next two days but I don’t want to get too far ahead.
