Yesterday I wrote Equal parts misery and glory: today’s ride from New York to Princeton. Today: puffy white clouds and blue skies. It started chilly and foggy but warmed up to make yesterday’s ride worth it, like when the home team is down and scores to come-from-behind and win in the final moments.

Still lots of plastic packaging that nobody seemed to care about. Today we rode about 55 miles, including riding across Center City, Philadelphia, my home town, to the Art Museum, by Boat House Row, behind the museum to the Schuylkill and along the riverfront paths to south of Center City (Lombard?), then back across to the Delaware River, mostly by Pine Street. I loved seeing these beautiful parts of the city.

After the finish line festivities and the team dinner, I rode to my dad’s house, where I’m typing, through North Philadelphia and some borderline sketchy neighborhoods I’ve ridden through since the 1980s. Total two-day distance ridden: nearly 150 miles.

Sorry no pictures of us riding, but here’s a picture of some of my team after the finish (note the lack of mud or shivering):

Here’s another:

You’ll notice me carrying the wrapper from a complementary sandwich I accepted just after finishing, one of the first packaged foods (really doof, it was a grilled vegetable hoagie with too much oil on a bun with no fiber which I didn’t finish). I’m still holding it the picture because once I accepted it, I have to bring the garbage home to put in my household garbage, not leave it there. I’ll check with the compost people at the farmers market if they expect it can compost. Some food wrappers have PFAS in them, like from McDonald’s, I believe.

A couple more earlier pictures

Here’s me and a teammate, Brian, riding yesterday in the rain:

The bridge we’re crossing goes over a canal we rode on the service path next to for a few hours. See all the green behind us? The place is beautiful, though I still saw litter regularly. It’s from roughly New Brunswick to Princeton and beyond. I recommend visiting.

There’s nothing special about the picture below of me registering for the race Friday, but the organizers posted it so I’ll share it. I look focused.

I’d write more, but . . .

I’d write more, but after riding, I still had to do my burpee-based twice-daily calisthenics, for over fifty-four burpees. I’m exhausted.

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