Sunday, August 19, 2012

A Multitude of States, Cities, and People (DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT)

So much has happened in the last several days that it's difficult to remember it all, but I'll try. Since my last post we rode from Baltimore to Newark, DE where we stayed at a church near University of Delaware. The ride that day was a good 70-80 miles with lots of rolling hills on scenic back-country roads in very rural Maryland-we saw lots of mansions and rode through tiny, winding roads in the morning but in the afternoon switched onto a highway to get to Delaware faster.

The following day we rode to a suburb north of Philadelphia. While an afternoon lightning and thunderstorm necessitated that I get in the van in the afternoon, I enjoyed riding through inner Philadelphia in the late morning. Some of my favorite riding moments this summer have been through inner cities. I enjoy the change in environment when we ride through an area with crappy road quality, heavy traffic, narrow roads, run-down buildings, and an almost all-black population. I don't enjoy it because of what some people refer to as a cultural experience. I enjoy riding through urban and impoverished parts of the U.S. because it feels more honest than it would be to ride around them. It would be disingenuous to pretend that certain neighborhoods don't exist. I am grateful to be able to ride my bike across America for many reasons; one of those reasons is that I am able to acknowledge, of my own volition and with my own strength, side of this country that the media usually chooses to ignore except to report violent crimes related to gangs. But the communities I've ridden through are filled with more than what you read on your smartphone or listen to on NPR. Yes, I definitely rode over syringes the other day, but I also rode past blocks and blocks of people socializing with one another on their front stoops. No matter how much you know about a place or person, there's always another side to every story.

This trip is crazy in part because a day's worth of RAA experiences is equivalent to at least one week's experiences in real/normal life. While en route to Philadelphia, I was at a stoplight in Wilmington with Sydney and Gabi and a car stopped next to me rolled down its window. After the man in the passenger seat asked me what we were up to, I got a very positive and enthusiastic response. Later on we got lost, but then when we got back on track we rode past the skyline. Then I lost my sunglasses and was pissed about that, but then I chatted up a woman while standing next to a mini famers' market and she bought us six cider doughnuts. Then after lunch a thunderstorm rolled in and I wasn't able to ride my bike anymore, which was upsetting, but then we got to our homestay, which was comfortable, warm, and had food, so I felt better. I also felt less spiritually tired when I got a call from my friend Nancy, who I met at Lake Johnson in Nebraska.

See what I mean? And that day was slightly uneventful compared to some of the days we've had.

The next day I drove the van while the team rode to Princeton, NJ. The day was 20 miles (the shortest day in RAA history by far) and I had time in the afternoon to wander the campus of Princeton University and to call home (which helped re-energize me for the remainder of the Ride).

The next day I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and was on the bike riding by 5:45. We rode 35 miles to Keansburg, NJ, in time to catch the 9:30 a.m. ferry to Manhattan with 30 minutes to spare. I met a nice man who worked on Wall Street named Elliott on the ferry and gave him advice about how to complete a century (his goal for the upcoming year) by telling him hydration tips from my rides. We passed by all the Manhattan skylines and the statue of Liberty on the ferry, and then got off and rode to find lunch in the nearby city. Then we rode along the Hudson on the path on west Manhattan, and then rode another 35 miles through the Bronx and along Route 1 to Greenwich, CT. While stopped at a Wendy's in West Chester after riding through the crazy and aggressive traffic of the Bronx, a man I started talking with outside the eatery told me he was HIV-positive and we talked about bikes. After dropping my bike and extra luggage off at our Monday and Tuesday night homestay in Greenwich, I rode the commuter rail to Grand Central Station, and then took the subway with a teammate to navigate our way to our apartment for two nights in the West Village. On Saturday morning I woke up again at 4:30 a.m. to go to Rockefeller Center to wait outside the Today Show studios with the team (we ended up being featured for a very short bit on the Today Show). I walked around the city for several hours and took my laptop to the NYPL for some free Wi-Fi to write e-mails, and then navigated to the Great Lawn in Central Park to meet the team and folks affiliated with Partners in Health for a picnic. Then I crashed at 9:30 pm, and woke up today to take the commuter rail to Greenwich again for a church service and picnic fundraising event organized by our host. Now I am writing, reflecting on the unbelievable amount of people I've seen, met, talked to, and/or made friends with in the past several days (and weeks).

Only three riding days left--Tuesday we ride to Madison, CT, the next day Providence, RI, and then Boston on Thursday.

Some thoughts on what people have told me/what I've listened to/what I've learned:
1) Every day is a new day, a gift, and can create new opportunities.
2) Being able to do this Ride is a privilege.
3) I don't like rest days anymore, so how am I going to function in normal life when I don't have time to ride my bike everyday?
4) It's ok if what inspires you is unique.
5) I can do anything and talk to anyone, and I feel empowered by this summer's experiences.

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