- to track online our current location, see instructions on the Ride the Nation Route plan page
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- check out our Monday blog on www.bmxmania.com for exclusive details you won’t find here. (Fyi, sometimes our Monday blog doesn’t appear until Wednesday … so check back often)
We awoke to overcast skies after a terrific night of sleep. We enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to Trilogy Park’s track office to retrieve our bikes. As we got on our bikes, each of us commented how “odd” our seats felt … how our bikes seemed to be dragging. Turns out, the bikes weren’t dragging. It was us. We had broken one of the rules of long distance biking: Never stay off the bikes more than 2 days, or you’ll pay.
We followed our GPS directions up (and up and up) Route 100 North. We all settled into the fact that we were going to “feel” this ride but that it was important to put in a respectable number of miles. Unfortunately for Frankenbutt, he had misplaced one of his riding gloves and was now riding without gloves. We kept an eye out for a bike shop but didn’t find one until the Bethlehem, PA area. I felt badly for him, especially since the only gloves he could find at the combination bike shop/cappuccino bar were pretty inferior. Still, they were better than nothing.



We passed through Allentown and it was sobering to see the old, empty steel mills that Billy Joel brought to the forefront of our country’s mind with his song of the same name: “Allentown”. It looks like the town is still in recovery and I was surprised to see a “Sands Casino” in the center of town. The building was designed and built to look industrial; I didn’t stop to take pix but I wish I had.

Shortly after leaving that Wawa, the Beast noted that one of her pannier bag zippers spontaneously busted open. It was my personal pannier and I was glad at least my clothes didn’t spill out in the street. We decided to hit a Walmart in the morning and see if we can replace it since it’s beyond repair. I’m disappointed that only our 2 Jandd pannier bags are holding up well. Jandd … I’d buy those again if we ever do another long distance ride.
The last 10 miles were going well until we got to the last ¼ mile: a steep downhill that made all three of us nervous! At the bottom of the hill was our hotel AND a busy intersection with a Wawa on the corner. We all decided to hold our brakes on the way down and ditch our bikes if they pick up too much speed. Luckily, our brakes held out and we made it down the hill with white knuckles and clenched teeth. I got us checked in and then Frankenbutt and Coco met me at a rear door where I was waiting. We settled in, put our feet up and then 30 minutes later @ 6ish Frankenbutt walked to the Wawa and brought back sandwiches and iced tea. I still feel a bit nauseated but I’m hoping a good night’s sleep will get me back in the groove. Looking forward to seeing you crazy BMXers at New Paltz!