Day 52: Manchester to Portsmouth NH

Today’s Highlights:
We had an awesome finish to our cross country bicycle trip! After fifty one days of sunshine, we had pouring rain today. It would not have been a fulfilled challenge without some rain, so today’s downpour made it complete. We started out at 6:45 AM in a hard steady rain. After four miles I was soaked all the way through and water was squishing out of my shoes with every pedal stroke. For the next sixty miles, almost seven hours, the soaking continued. There were times when it came down so hard there was a steady flow of water across the entire road. It felt a little like swimming and biking at the same time. Once you are that wet, more water just doesn’t matter. You might as well just stay out in it and ride. The trick is to stay warm by cycling hard, and also being careful with your speed and breaking and watching out for potholes hiding under the water. I really enjoyed it! A sunny finish at the beach would have been nice, but the satisfaction of riding so far through any situation was far more rewarding.

Our last SAG stop was at thirty miles, and set up under a porch roof. After a brief rest out of the rain, we continued. Twenty miles later we stopped at The Hungry Horse Cafe in Rye NH. There I enjoyed a big hot chocolate and apple strudel to help warm me up. We waited for all the riders to catch up, then continued a short distance to the planned meeting point at a school. The Rye police met us there at noon, and led us along the shoreline in a parade fashion. Our two eldest riders, Ken Harris and Mike, led the group behind a police cruiser. We all arrived at Wallas Sands Beach at 12:15. Many of the riders had family or friend waiting there to greet them and take pictures. We took our bikes down to the water to dip the front wheel in, which is the customary way to finish.

After officially reaching the Atlantic Ocean, Mark and I road to the border of Maine. Well, almost. The bridge between New Hampshire and Maine was closed for construction and we were not allowed on the next bridge over because it was interstate. So we could see the border about 200 yards away, but could not quite touch it. After 3834 miles of cycling, that was close enough. Several other riders cycled from the beach to the hotel, which was a mere 1.5 miles before Maine. Others hitched a ride in a car to the hotel where we all got our luggage, cleaned up, packed up, and said some final good-byes.

It was an amazing and rewarding trip, and I met very nice people, some very inspiring, who I will remember forever. Thank you to all my new cycling friends for making the trip very special.

I tried to get pictures of everyone today, so check them out to see our final approach to the beach. Today was a very long including my travel partial back toward home and a nice visit with my brother Jim and his wife Joan. Perhaps I will write a little more tomorrow.

I hope you have found my journal and photos helpful or enjoyable. I don’t know who has been following, except for those who sent me a note already (Thank you very much.). If you have been, and you have any feedback, I would appreciate hearing from you. I will consider any suggestions to improve the site content and format whenever I start my next adventure.

Pictures Of The Day:

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