Introduction

Some of my friends and relatives have said (well, at least one has) they would like to follow the progress of my bicycle tour of the Upper North East in August 2009, so I will try to post here occasionally until the tour starts, and daily during the tour from August 15 to August 24.

The tour starts in Portsmouth, N.H., and covers about 650 miles ending in downtown Washington, D.C. Our route will take us from Portsmouth to Worcester, Mass., Windsor Locks, Conn., Poughkeepsie, New York, Port Jervis, New York, Easton, Penn., Pottstown, Penn., Lancaster, Penn. and Hunt Valley, Maryland before ending in DC.

The tour is organized by America By Bicycle, and is fully supported. Each day ABB carries our belongings and follows the riders as we ride an average of 75 miles to our next destination.

I've been riding increasing mileage each week since January, when I decided to do the tour, and am now riding about 250 miles a week. My rides have included several centuries (one hundred mile rides), including beautiful rides in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in Central California and a spectacular ride in Sonoma County in late June. I've covered lots of territory surrounding my home in La Cañada, including several rides up Glendora Mountain (shown here) just to the east of us and plenty of circuits around the Rose Bowl about five miles from my house. Since this spring I have been riding the fourteen miles to work several days a week, adding mileage to the commute by taking swings around a six mile circuit in Griffith Park.

Altogether, I've ridden over 4,500 miles since the first of the year, and though I can't say I've enjoyed every minute of it (a climb to the Mount Baldy ski area was particularly grueling), I've gotten a great deal of satisfaction from the rides. I think I'm in about the shape I want to be in for the tour and think the hours of riding will pay off.