Day 3: I Can't Get Up

Starting Point: Middletown, Connecticut

Starting Biking Point: Southbury, Connecticut

Ending Point: New Milford, Connecticut

Distance Traveled: 25 miles

This morning I woke up to Chet’s alarm clock and the pounding hangover headache.

Lesson Learned: Don’t heavily drink the night before a ride.

Thankfully, Stephanie was generous enough to cook us some eggo waffles, which along with ice-cold bottle water, momentarily stopped the pounding in my head.

Chet too was hung over, so, we were happy when Stephanie offered us a ride to Southburg, Connecticut. After Stephanie dropped us off, Chet and I regrouped for an hour with some Dunkin Donuts egg wraps and orange juice in an attempt to cure the hangover. The hangover weakened our legs and slowed our minds. Ten miles into our ride and we missed a turn for 167 North. Chet and I looked at the map and decided against backtracking, and instead, taking a back road that was not highlighted on the map. We thought that this back road would be a “shortcut” that would take us back to 167 North in a half an hour.

Two hours, 20 steep hills and a gallon of sweat later, us cowboys finally reached 167, feeling stupid, and worn down. Our legs were unwilling to move and our minds were unable to motivate the body.

Lesson Learned: Don’t take roads that aren’t highlighted on our maps. The highlighted routes are recommended for bikers. The routes that aren’t highlighted can be in unforgivably hilly or dangerously busy.

The “shortcut” wasn’t all bad news. When I wasn’t huffin’ and puffin’ I was admiring the beautiful views of endless fields and infinite farms that homed horses, cows, lamas and chickens. The farm land hugged the open road.

Another positive of the seemingly endless “shortcut” was the steep downhill that followed the 20 up-hills. It was on this hill that Chet and I reached our top speed of 38 miles per hour. Biking at 38 miles per hour is an exhilarating feeling. I kept my eyes finely focused on the road ahead of me as my peripherals caught the trees whizzing by. I knew that with one bump or swerve I could be horribly injured, or possibly dead. But we survived. Chet and I took a long nap under a beautiful tree after a lunch at a market. With long arms, the tree took the shape of an umbrella, which was useful to the two of us when rain fell from the sky.

Chet and I woke up from the two-hour nap at 3:30, and went on to bike 15 more miles to an elementary school in New Milford, Connecticut close to the tip of Candlewood Shores. As we searched for soft ground to sleep on in the backyard of the school, a kind man suggested we sleep in the park by the beach of the lake. Chet and I found his suggestion very useful. We took a refreshing dip in the lake and then set up the tent lake-side.

Chet and I were a bit bummed about the lack of miles traveled on day three, but we went to sleep optimistic about day four.