Thread City Cyclers

Saturday, May 1, 2010
96 LB BIKE
I always pictured a touring ride as a moderately paced journey, maybe 40 to 80 miles a day, depending on the terrain, weather, and how I was feeling that day...and if I was touring with someone, how they were doing as well. It would never be rainy or cold...and I'd never need to change my clothes.

My gear would be nominal, a rain layer perhaps, tucked into a back pocket...some carb nibbles, money/credit card, spare tube, some allen wrenches and all that sort of thing in my little saddle bag swinging under my butt... and plenty of water....the usual stuff. Just enough to get me to my hotel, where a cold libation, food and hot shower awaited me....

Well, Neil Fein, my Warm Showers guest, had a different take on touring...

He had a Novara hybrid rigged with plenty of aluminum racks and brackets to hold enough gear to be completely self contained. Tent, blanket and sleeping cushion behind the saddle. This was the largest pack. A camp/cookstove were hidden in back panniers. Clothing including a pair of plastic looking crocs strapped happily atop his tent. The rest of his clothing was packed inside saddle bags on either side of his forks. Attached to the outside of these were two extra water bottles. On top of his bars was another bag sitting upright...presumably holding cell phone GPS, camera (he took a picture of our woods), easy access food and printed directions.

And it all weighed 96 pounds.

He was touring from Boston to NYC for no apparent reason except just to do it. He'd shipped all his gear from his home in NJ to Boston by rail. Was it the joy of cycling...freedom of the open road, wind in your hair touring fantasy like I envisioned? ...no, not really like that. He did enjoy doing it though and had done a number of short and long tours, so he knew how to do it in the most efficient manner.

Amy and I met and then met him on Bedlam Rd in Chaplin. He had rear derailleur trouble and he couldn't shift. Fortunately he was on the innermost gear (high?) and he could climb up grades. But moderately steep hills forced him to walk...and push his 96lb bike uphill. We came down 89 and Amy left us at the sharp corner...good to see her out and about...and we managed the intersection of Browns Rd and 195 at rush hour with little problem. Neil walked his bike up to the second knoll on Browns Rd. where I discovered I can balance and ride at 2.7mph...not much fun but nice to know...

He was tired and a little shaky. Being an epileptic and on new medication, he was alert for anything that felt out of kilter. We got to my house and after a cold soda, he felt okay. We chatted and I had made some pesto dip with good bread to go along with it...I figured he'd be hungry and we had offered dinner as well as an inside bed and shower. In our emails he'd mentioned he didn't eat meat, so I asked him why...it's not Kosher, he replied..Oh. I said. So I had made sure to include beans rice and cheese in our dinner, as well as pasta with homemade marinara...it was all good and he liked it very much.

He was a very nice man, 40something...friendly and polite. He'd been laid off several months ago from a pharmaceutical company and was getting counseling on how to change careers. His wife was laid off too. Very techno-savvy, he left Dan and I blinking on some things that came up in conversation and over all, it was a very pleasant evening.

In the morning, we gave him directions to Scotts Cyclery to check out the shifting trouble...they told him his shifter was broken but didn't have a replacement in stock. Just as well, a shop in Glastonbury deduced a frayed shifter cable: problem solved.

His GPS directions took him out to the Andover area rail trail and he headed to West Hartford, his next stop with friends for two days. He emailed and said he'd made it safe and sound. I had given him Rein's Deli's address...I don't know if he made it, but I'm sure he had a great ride anyway.

All in all a good experience...