Cycle across America – Day 100

Manchester to Dover

40 Miles / 1,909ft climb

Last night, when checking the route for today, the climbs looked almost the same as the those for the last three days. I had set myself up for three days of hilly cycling and not four.

I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to do another day of climbing so I tried to pretend to myself that I was looking forward to a flat day today. Absolutely no logic or common sense there at all but in my mind it was going to make the day easier.

Indeed the route started out flat – for the first mile and then from that moment on there were many hills of all shapes and sizes that got in the way of my flat route.

My legs were pleased that I hadn’t dwelled on what was in store for them or they may have refused to get up and go. They were happy with flat but when I showed them hills they responded well. In fact my cycling was strong today and nothing really phased me. Not the deep gravel of the bike trail that we started out on, not the busy roads that we switched to when the trail became too much like a mountain bike trail, not the narrow shoulder on the highway and not the speed or volume of the passing traffic.

We had planned a short day deliberately to allow us time to enjoy the ride without any time pressures. It worked. When we saw the lake, we stopped, sat on a bench and enjoyed the view and enjoyed chatting with a local cyclist who couldn’t quite believe what we were doing.

When we saw a bustling cafe and market we stopped for a leisurely lunch, sitting outside to enjoy it.

When, a few miles from our destination, we passed a winery, we stopped, reversed and went in for a wine smoothie. Who knew that there was such a thing? Delicious in the heat of the afternoon. Again, we got chatting a group of people who couldn’t quite believe what we were doing.

Arriving at our destination for the evening, we found a fabulous restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed three courses from their menu with not a burger anywhere to be seen!

It is hard to believe that we have been on the road for 100 days today and that tomorrow we reach the Atlantic Coast. By then we will have cycled 4,370 miles across America. After which we will spend another three days and 130 miles getting to Marianne and Steve’s home near Boston where our bike boxes are stored. This will complete our 4,500 mile journey across America. We fly home from Boston early next week.

I have such mixed emotions as we begin the final stages of our adventure but for now I’m going focus on the excitement that will be reaching the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow.

We are tantalisingly close now.

Then just the other 130 miles to go!