Day 1 - New York City to Somerville - 30 miles

Clive, Goose and Statue of Liberty
see all photos »

The start

It couldn't be put off any longer, it was time to do what i had come here for.... to ride my bike, Goose had arraigned to call round at 8am for the start. As i expected, i didn't sleep much last night, i had planned to be up at 6 but i was awake at 4, after three days of sorting kit and making use of the dollar exchange rate to buy stuff, i still had the final packing to do, was ready and out on the street when goose arrived, probably much to his surprise after my bad reputation for mornings on the tour d'afrique, although his threat to not do it if it was raining was put to the test when it started as soon as he turned up.

Motel Sign - Somerville
see all photos »

It was Goose's idea to head for the Battery at the tip of Manhattan for some symbolic photos, before setting of to Staten Island by the ferry (amazingly free of charge), but when Anne and i were working on the details on Monday, we found out that of the three bridges that connect the Island to New Jersey, the only one that could be used by us on bikes was the George Washington bridge thats heads north, then we would have other problems, so we scrapped that and decided to take the ferry from peer 11 to Hoboken, then head straight across new Jersey and cross the Lincoln Highway bridge, that meant we could still get to the Battery for a epic photo. (Unfortunately, due to not reading the instruction book for the new camera, the Epic pic did not turn out that well, in fact, i continued to shoot bad pics for about two weeks,  before i realized,.....and then read the manual!)

Ground Zero
see all photos »

As part of the planning, Anne a native New Yorker, called up the crime figures for the various districts, so that we could plot the best route, based on the murder, rape and theft incidents, being able to discount the ones for car crimes, as not applicable of coarse!

It's been so good to see Goose again, and amazing as well, to think that it was only two months ago that we said goodbye in Cape Town, not knowing if we would ever meet up again. So as we set off from outside Anne's it just felt so right to be riding together again, even if it was the wrong way down a one way street, that was just the start of my crash coarse in riding a bike across New York, as Goose demonstrated the art of gauging whether or not to stop at any red lights we came across, but i was so thankful that he was there, as it was something i was dreading doing on my own. Our route took us to the cycle path that follows the water's edge to the Battery, past the stunted remains of several piers, Goose gave me strict instructions to stay in single file, as the path was also used roller bladers as well as other crazy cyclists who had no road sense and were unpredictable. In a slightly calmer stretch , as we were chatting, i suddenly realized that we were passing the site of the World Trade Center, although i have passed it by car several times before hand it only looks like a large construction site, i just had to stop, to just ''take a moment'', and think of what had happened on this site. As i stood there, my gaze drifted across to an adjacent brown building, that was surrounded in scaffolding and swathed in that safety netting that is used on all construction sites these days, the same safety netting that had been responsible for the deaths of two firemen recently. Not surprisingly the building had been so badly damaged in the 9/11 attack, hat it had to be demolished, but because of a high amount of asbestos that was present, it was being taken down slowly and carefully, unfortunately a carelessly discarded cigarette by a workman, resulted in a fire, the team of fire fighters rushed up the building, to tackle the blaze, only to find that the water supply had been cut off, unable to fight the fire, the men became trapped, and the 'safety' netting contained the smoke and heat, that led to the deaths.

Clive with Flag
see all photos »

Although my research had sorted the bridges and ferry times, i hadn't gotten precise directions to the peer, and this caused Goose some problems as, to his embarrassment we had to stop for directions a couple of times.

Finally we boarded the ferry, and were off, as i carefully maneuvered my heavily loaded bike off at Hoboken,one of the crew asked Goose ''Has his wife kicked him out of the house?''. As we set off to find our way to the start of the cycle route at Penn Station, the scene on this side of the river was a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, such a short distance away, the sun was shinning, and the streets were  relatively quite,  and except for a  rather 'hairy'  crossing  of the bridge all went well. Goose said that he hadn't been  on his bike since the end of the tour, and i think he was quite enjoying it, he kept on changing when he was going to leave me (ether that, or he was worried about me), we stopped at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for my  inaugural  lunch, as we left, we attracted the attention of a couple of curious locals, who wanted to know about the trip, and took our pics with their phones, as they parted, i could see Goose smiling, and could tell what was going on in his mind, ''You're gonna love it'' he said. We rode a little further and stopped at a hardware store so he could get a Stars and Stripes flag, to fly from the trailer, 'The Americans love to see their flag, this will win you lots of friends', (and he was right), a few more miles, and then it couldn't be put off any longer, so after 20 miles together, with one last photo, and a handshake, well ok, (a hug, we've been through a lot you know!), we went our separate ways.

Goose, Clive and a fan
see all photos »

S**t! now it's really happening, as i wobbled off down the road.

Notes/bits and bobs:-

Lunch:- At IHOP (International House o Pancakes)

Mushroom and Spinach omelet,with chopped Strawberry (!), and a stack of Pancakes

Clive and Goose
see all photos »

Evening:- At Time to Eat Dinner Somerville

Iced Coffee, Chocolate milk shake, Mushroom and Mozzarella wrap with Rice

Note: A family of three large individuals, sat near to me in the dinner, left a vast quantity of food (all fried), that was just thrown in the trash (what else could you do),but it emphasized the overly large portions in this country, and the amount of waste.

Fear of bed bugs

Original Entry:- ( looking back at this now on 3rd Sept, i cant believe the figures, but this is what i wrote then so...)

Just a quick note for now. 9 hours of riding in very hot and humid conditions got me to somerville in the pouring rain at 5.30. Goose stayed with me till Edison,when he caught a train back. i pushed on or another3 hours, and booked into a motel.feeling better about things.