Day 6, 67 miles, Friday August 22, 2008

Phillipsburg, NJ to Pottstown, PA

(my odometer: 75.3 miles, 12.9 mph, 5hr 48min 40 sec)
Max speed 37.4 mph

Up at 5:20; 7:00 breakfast at "Perkins" - scrambled eggs, 3 pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee; 7:45 load luggage, 8:00 on the road. We had 3,250 feet of climbing today. It was another very nice cycling day.

There was a delay with breakfast today (45 min) - the cooks were sick and didn't come to work and I think the manager did the cooking! Today we again had several climbs of 10% - 16%, and guess what! I had another flat tire, and again it was the rear tire. This is my 5th flat and that is a record for me and in only 6 days. This time we really spent a lot of time inspecting the tire, tube and rim. Shane again was there to do the change. We found a break in the inside tire wall, installed a "tire boot" (I carry that item in my bike bag) over that area and then put in another new tube. A tire boot is like a super strong band aid that does a very nice temporary tire fix. I think it will do just fine for the 3 days that I have left to ride.

We continued to ride a lot next to the Delaware River. We see a lot of various recreational activities on the river. It also appears that the river is prone to flooding as many of the homes are built on stilts and the shore line shows sign of repeated flooding. At the second SAG I got talked into getting on that "spinning thing" and naturally got a bit dizzy. It was just one of those goofy, fun things to do. After leaving the SAG I was alone and took a wrong turn and got separated from my cycling group and rode the rest of the ride alone and didn't stop for lunch.

Today was a tough day and Shane told us at route rap that tomorrow is tougher and Sunday is tougher than tomorrow. We'll see what happens. So far I feel that the training I did to get ready for this ride was very adequate. Tomorrow's ride is 63 miles to Lancaster, PA.

"Grate bridge" across the Delaware River

Delaware River

Johnny Henderson from Alabama

Andy Perry from England

Anne Swiercz from Michigan

Another state

Interesting -- but I didn't see any elephants

Connie's new tiara

I'm getting dizzy!

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