Mile 188 13:18

I'm home. Salty, parched, covered in bugs and grime. Grinning ear to ear all the way up Poplar St.

Mile 166 11:52

I'm tired, early morning catching up with me. On the SR trail now, homestretch. Sun's beating on my back, wind in my face. Cruisin' on home.

Mile 143 10:15

I made it to Green Lane 1:20 ahead of schedule. With plenty of daylight left I'm gonna continue home. I feel good, save a raw rear end and some nerve stuff in my hands and feet.

Yeehaw

Mile 135 9:45

At Longacres Old Fashioned Dairy Bar again. Near Barto, PA. Couldn't pass it up. All downhill from here.

Mile 115 8:19

Breaking for lunch beneath an oak tree. The tough stuff is behind me, including Little Gap, Lehigh Gap, and the 6 mile stretch of Rt. 100. The headwind becomes more oppressive the further south I go. Must be steady 20 mph at least. Will hang here in Clausville for a bit.

Mile 86 6:07

Stopping for a quick coffee, which was complimentary from this service station. In Palmerton. The weather is fantastic, 70s and sunny. Will cross Lehigh Gap soon.

Mile 74 5:17

Making decent time. Just SE of Jim Thorpe. Rt. 903 is absolutely hellish. The 10 mile stretch of death may be the one thing that keeps of from taking this route again. Then, after turning onto a more pleasant road a bottle of gatorade wiggled its way off my bike. Tried to go back for it but the hill's too steep and there's too much traffic coming down. Good time to stop anyway, had to ditch some fluids myself.

Day 2 Return Begins

My Nest

This thing is pretty rad. Time for dinner and sleep. Trying to leave around 6:30 tomorrow morn.

Mile 58 4:10

5:10 total. I made it, time to set up camp. This place is deserted. Out of 381 campsites maybe 10 are occupied.

Mile 51 3:34

4:00 total. A well timed gel had me flying o'er the hills. In White Haven now. Stopping for a hoagie to go. Not too much further til Hickory Run.

Mile 34 2:37

2:55 total. Made it to Bear Creek Lake. The climb out of Throop was long and steep. On Rt. 247 I saw a BMW full of teenagers slam into a tree. Pretty scary. They were ok. Temps have gone down a bit from 95 to 84. Riding into a stiff headwind but there are more downhills this direction.

Homeward

Departure time 1pm. 5 hours to go 55 miles.

Head Start

In his finest. Stretching the return trip over 3 days. Hoping to make it down to Hickory Run by this evening. Packing up now.

Day of Rest

There's some sporadic wi-fi service up here so I'll opt for a full keyboard, no photos. Last night, after being greeted by a bearded fellow running down George St in the dark, I slid down the survival-mode adrenaline cloud and eased into a blueberry lager provided by my host. After kicking back for a few hours I could barely keep my eyes open during conversation, and I knew it was time. Matt let me use his new mattress. What a guy.

If you've been following these posts you'll know that when I left Lehigh Gap yesterday morning I expected to go another 60 miles or so until reaching Throop.

Turned out to be 100.

Turned out to start pouring rain around 11am.

Turned out to get a flat tire on a country road with 25 miles and 1 hour of sunlight left to go. A friendly dog-walker found me half-pruned, changing out the tube with road grime and chain grease slathered all over my hands and brow.

It got dark. I was wet, kind of chilly, and made extremely anxious by the traffic passing in the dark. I had flashing lights, reflectors, and a headlamp, but it's tough to trust drivers even under good conditions.

So, I let out a carnal shriek as I saw bearded Matt jogging towards me down the street. It was the end of a long, challenging day. My limits of comfort and endurance were definitely tested, but it felt so good to finally be here knowing I'd covered the distance through thick and thin.

A neighbor passing with her dog inquired about the loaded down bike. She invited us to run the local 5k in town today.

Honestly the thought passed through my mind: man, I wonder if I could do that in my light hikers?

It would be fun, but probably a little uncomfortable. And I have a long ride home. So I'll spend the next day or two trying not to eat everything in Matt's kitchen and think about how I'm gonna take the return trip knowing now that it's 40 miles longer than planned.

Mile 190 14:24

35:40 total. I made it. Through hell on my hands and knees. Will update the blog later. Maybe.

Mile 138 10:40

Hey Matt, this is for you buddy! I'm freakin drenched, but I think I'm gonna make it.

Mile 116 9:00

28:40 total. I've been riding uphill for the past 2 hours. Early lunch, half pound burger and a pint.

Mile 110 8:16

25:10 total. 20 miles so far for the day. This one's for you, Maia. Refilling water, taking a few moments to digest some food.