Before today, if you told me that biking gods exist, I'd offer some pushback on that. But after today, I'd wholeheartedly agree. I don't think there's any other explanation for what we've been through the past 72 hours other than 1) biking gods exist and 2) they're after us.
Again, a super late start today at 10:30 am. We figured it was alright. We had a 48 mile ride ahead of us but only planned for it to take about 4 1/2 hours so that meant we should arrive by around 4 or so including stops for food and all. But we didn't get there by 4. we didn't get there at all.
We were flying when we started, finishing the first almost 6 miles in 20 minutes. But then Owen began having issues with his right pedal; he couldn't click in his biking shoe properly. That deterred us about an hour and during that hour we were trying to fix his bike on the corner of a T intersection. We were on the long side of the T, facing a red blinking light and the street it connected to, the "top" of the T had 2 yellow blinking lights facing both sides of that road. Right as we were getting ready to go, a lady maybe in her late 20s on a motorcycle came flying down the hill towards the T intersection with the red blinking light facing her. She tried braking about 150 feet away and her back tire started locking up and she began skidding, almost pig-tailing out of control. She eased up on the brakes but was still going way way too fast. She tried braking again less than 100 feet away and still was going way too fast to stop in time. She flew past the stop light and lost control, skidding and crashing in the middle of the intersection.
Owen said exactly what I was thinking, I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance immediately. Tom ran over and helped her along with her riding buddy who drove up to her a few seconds after it happened. She stood up fine and was laughing it off with her friend. Meanwhile seconds before, I legitimately thought that same person laughing was about to be involved in a fatal crash, or one causing serious injuries at the absolute minimum. Witnessing that happen today has definitely made me think twice about that motorcycle I've thought about buying after this trip... By some miracle she walked away okay with no serious injuries.
After that happened we rode to the next city with a bike shop which was Port Jarvis. They helped us out with our pedals there (as I began having trouble myself) but by this point, we were super delayed. Around 1-2 hours were lost on maintenance. After we got all that figured out, we were ready to put it behind us and get to our next destination. But at mile 27 or so, Tom's low gear on his bike connecting to his pedals just completely broke off.
That was another hour or two detour. After taking his bike to the next bike shop a few miles up the road and waiting for them to fix everything, it was already almost 6. If we wanted to, we could've made it to our next campsite by 8pm if we biked really well and didn't hit any more "bumps" along the way. But with everything that happened today, we decided not to take our chances with the bike gods and just set up camp nearby. Tom's dad drove up to drop off some extra supplies which was nice and also bought us a much needed awesome dinner from his favorite restaurant in the area. Each time we thanked him he replied "you guys could use a break today" and those words couldn't ring more true. Were it not for the next conversation I had, they'd be the truest words I heard all day.
After dinner, as we we were readying up to leave in the parking lot of the restaurant, a man approached Owen. As I walked up to them I heard Owen telling him about where we're headed. He was an older man, perhaps in his 70s, with soft blue eyes. He spoke smoothly. He told us about when he did it himself, how it was 3 months with his best friends. They went across the country through El Paso to San Diego and up the coast to Washington. He said, "then we turned right around and went back home" with a quaint smile. I asked when this happened and he said "That was in 1978." We laughed saying how that was well before we were born. He didn't really react and stayed quiet for a second. He then said "A best friend of mine just passed away yesterday who went with me on that trip." And before Owen and I had a chance to respond, he quickly said, "You'll have it with you for the rest of your life, enjoy it. God bless you." We thanked him and he was on his way as quickly as he showed up.
With that conversation, I realized something important. And I've realized this before in my life, so maybe remember is the correct word. As many "bad" things and unplanned circumstances that we've been thrown into today and these last few days, the honest to god truth is that we are absolutely nothing but blessed beyond words could ever describe. We all are. The fact that we are all reading this right now proves it. I could go into why but it'd be double the length of this blog and it still wouldn't do it justice, so I'll just leave it at that. Tonight, I'm feeling blessed. I'm just happy to be alive and well, typing my blog in my tent in the middle of a little forest in Milford, PA.
Let's hope tomorrow brings some blessings that don't require me getting philosophical about just to recognize them as blessings.
Today's stats
(It was closer to 28 miles since I forgot to record one portion.)
The stats that matter
Total people who offered us a ride: 3
Total people who helped us in one way or another: 8
Dogs pet: 2
fire post, already having meaningful conversations with strangers 🙏🏽keep it going