the following are some of the photographs from bike odyssey 2008. short explanations follow each one. click on an image to see the low-res–but larger–version.
preparing to leave.
the crushed mobile phone.
the first (and only) flat tire. the wolfman supervises.
route 40, and the first ‘share the road’ sign.
one of the many fine photography establishments along ‘pornaski highway.’
taking a break before the havre de grace bridge.
mr. barry picks me up.
mr. barry drops me off, on the other side of the havre de grace bridge.
room 111, where i stayed my first night out of town.
the wolfman approves of motel 6.
still eager to go outside, even when the beginning of day 2 was nothing but rain.
i decided that i didn’t want to start a rainy ride on an empty stomach, so to the waffle house i went.
i returned to my room only to find that the wolfman, too, was enjoying breakfast.
i made some minor adjustments to the position of my brake handles and gearshifts for comfort on the long-distance ride. the arrow points to the position of the allen bolts i needed to loosen in order to adjust the handles.
with my wrist no longer at an angle, and instead in a straight line with my hand and arm, numbness and strain were much less common on the rest of the ride.
the beginning of day 2, rain gear applied.
i hopped to the other side of the road to cross the chesapeake – delaware canal.
the wolfman approves of the bridge, and allows me to cross.
if i felt like chickening out, i could always bike back home. at this point on route 301, the bay bridge was only 41 miles away. i can do that, easy.
since it was so cold and rainy, and i actually felt a little hypothermic, i felt that stopping at the next large town would be a good idea. at this point, it was goldsboro; at that point i resolved i would chill out in goldsboro, warm up, and continue the remainder of the ride to denton after adequately drying in a nice cafe. unfortunately, goldsboro turned out to be a tiny, rural residential hamlet, with no coffee shop (or even fast food joint) in sight. i reluctantly resolved to press on past goldsboro, and stop in denton.
bike odyssey 2008 continues on the following page: photos 2 – bike odyssey 2008.