First day in the bag
Day 1 (2022-06-03) 58 miles, 2100 feet (2088)

This morning I woke up at 4 for my 5am alarm, so as to be out the door by 5:30 to bike down to the Amtrak station in downtown DC in time to catch the 732 Northeast Region Amtrak to Philly at 7:06. Crazy, yes, but it was necessary in order to meet the guys at a reasonable time outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art at 9:30.

I met John and Bill on my first big organized tour going down the pacific coast from Canada to Mexico back in 2008. I've done more than ten rides with them since. We met Charlie and Henry on a ride in eastern Canada about five years ago. Henry and I did a beautiful ride in Alaska last year.

So this year, w/ a couple of the guys aging out, we decided we need to get in at least one more ride, and coincidentally Rosana had just pointed out that the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA), had just put new maps describing a ride from Philadelphia past Virginia Beach. Absolutely flat once we get on the peninsula, in reach of Rosana in a couple hours if someone gets into trouble, and accessible by Amtrak.

This explains why I was up so early (after watching my Warriors collapse against the Celtics last night). They were all already in Philly, I just had to join and we were off.

This kind of tour is fun, because we basically follow the ACA's maps, but make all decisions about lodging, and how far to go by ourselves.

Today's ride started w/ a sprint out of the train to meet the guys at the Art Museum, and then we headed south. South meant south Philly, which can be a bit, uh, rough. In the midst of this rough patch on a gray day in a city we know pretty much just through reputation, some guys driving past honked and gave us the thumbs up. A bit later another old guy stopped near us at a convenience store and we talked w/ him for ten minutes about what it is like to bike tour.

The packed bikes, carrying everything up to and including camping gear are a real curiosity to a lot of people, serving as easy conversation starters even in areas where you might roll your window up if driving through. Later another guy stopped and averred that he'd give anything to be able to just get on his bike and go, but "I can't because I need to take care of them", motioning towards his kids in the back seat. "Leave ‘em behind," suggests Henry.

After South Philly, the riding became more rural, and more hilly. This is supposed to be a flat ride, but that's only once we get onto the peninsula, some time tomorrow.

Towards the end we rode a series of beautiful bike paths and long boardwalks through marshes, arriving in New Castle DE somewhere around 4. Rather than go directly to the hotel, about which we had read horrible reviews, we went into New Castle proper, which has a cobblestoned historic town center, complete with a tall ship moored to the wharf.

We then stumbled upon the only brew pub in the town and had a fitting dinner, complete w/ a couple good beers (except for Henry, who had Bud Light).

And about that hotel, it's fine. The rooms are spacious and clean, and no more worries about bedbugs.

All in all, a very good first day.