It’s All About Education

I generally consider myself to pretty bright, but there’s no doubt that academically, I had peaked by 11th grade. Just ask any of my professors at Rice. I’m pretty sure they gave me passing grades to get me out of there. It was mercy for both me and the university. Fortunately, there were plenty of other things to learn that weren’t in textbooks or lectures. Two of those things have served me well. First, know what you know and more importantly, know what you don’t. Second, know someone that knows the stuff you don’t.

A perfect example of that is Kelly’s cousin, Gil. Gil is an avid cyclist and has done several crazy solo tours himself in Europe and New Zealand. He is also a bit of a gear head. I am definitely not! My bike is no different than my cell phone or my car. I know nothing about how it works, and I’m not really that interested. My question is simple - does it do what I need it to do? When I finally decided to move past the route planning (I do live maps and spent countless hours over the last several years trying to optimize this ride), I figured the next step was to get a good bike. I’ve had several bikes over the years and all the previous tours I did (decades ago) were on your basic skinny-tire road bikes. Gil asked me if I had thought about gravel bikes. Of course, I had never heard of a gravel bike but did a little research and liked the concept. As with most things, there’s a wide variety but I wanted one that would also be good for riding on the road, since the majority of my trip would be on paved surfaces. After I got the bike, I had it modified to take a rack, and had Gil walk me through all the tools I should have with me. Had I not had that resource, I probably would have had a couple spare tubes, a wrong-sized Allen wrench, and a can of WD-40. I tried to watch a couple of YouTube videos on bike repair but had a hard time staying awake. I basically just cross my fingers any time I hit a pothole or a rock. I can change a flat, but that’s about the limit.

Today, the gravel bike recommendation paid off in spades. Up until now, I had only found myself on one unpaved road and that was all the way back in Oklahoma for about 2 miles. I’ve been on a couple of unpaved bike paths, but that’s usually crushed gravel and pretty harmless. I was riding along enjoying the beautiful day, some rail trails and roads with nice wide bike lanes. I was in far northwest Connecticut and I turned on to a side road to follow the directions to my destination. The road didn’t have a shoulder but it was nicely paved with almost no traffic. About 3 miles up the road, I entered Massachusetts and I thought I was screwed. Immediately upon entering, the pavement ended and I was on a gravel road. I was stunned. I thought it was against the law to have unpaved surfaces north of Virginia or unless there are at least two people with the given name “Bubba” in your town. Nonetheless, I kept plowing ahead and the directions had me turning from one unpaved road to the next. At one point, “the road” was basically a single track through the woods. Had I been on my old road bike, I wouldn’t have made it 100 feet, but I felt confident with the gravel bike. I would have felt way more confident if the tires had less than 2500 miles on them. I kept waiting for the inevitable flat, sure that it would be accompanied by some blowout in the tire, for which I do not have a spare, in the middle of woods with no cell coverage. Thankfully, it never came. All in all, I spent about 8 miles on the dirt and gravel and found myself enjoying it more and more as I went. That never would have happened if I hadn’t listened to the smart guy in the first place.

The Foothills Motel in Dover Plains, NY. If you have the choice, keep driving.

The Harlem Valley Rail Trail. A fantastic 10 miles or so this morning.

Officially entering New England

Welcome to Massachusetts, where apparently they have no money to pave roads.

Wishing I hadn’t removed the fenders. I actually had to walk around these.

The beautiful Berkshires