Over The Top Tour Day 4 - Abingdon to Home

 The quick tour from the beach to home, going over the top of the Chesapeake Bay, was a success.

Here is the only picture I could take:

This is me testing that my phone still works after I drove back and found it where I dropped it a mile from the start of the ride. The phone has been run over, the screen is all cracked, but it still works.

The ride today was very old school, what with no phone. No checking the map for where to eat, no texting Jim to see where he is, just riding.

What lead to this mess was the rain. The forecast said rain in the morning until around 1:00. This was no big deal since we only had to go 40 miles or so. We hang out in the motel until checkout at noon or so, then have lunch nearby, then start riding when the rain stops. 

But at 10:30, the forecast changed to light rain until 1,  then heavier rain from 1:00 to 2:00. So we decided to set out at 10:30, and stop for lunch when the heavy rain came. 

I didn't bring rain gear, just a jacket that is not water repellent, so I was big on staying dry. Instead of riding at Jim's very comfortable pace, I took off faster to get as far as I could while it wasn't raining much. Jim had rain gear. 

There are not a lot of good options to get into Baltimore from the northeast. The recommended bike route is Route 40, the Pulaski Highway. Route 40 has a big, wide shoulder and it's direct, but other than that it's really horrible, with heavy traffic, lots of trucks, and it's generally ugly. I had a plan to avoid 40 as much as possible by meandering around on back roads, but due to the weather, we decided to just ride 40. 

I realized I had dropped my phone about 5 hilly, rainy miles from the start.

So I have no phone, I'm way ahead of Jim, and the expected heavy rain at 1:00 never actually comes. By 2:00 I'm at Rossville Road, which is just before the Baltimore beltway, and 40 gets really ugly inside the beltway. A much better route is to take Rossville to Mace Ave. to Essex, then come in on Eastern Ave. Which is by no means a nice ride, but way better than 40. 

So I lean my bike on the traffic light pole at Rossville, sit and make myself comfortable and wait for Jim to catch up. Fifteen minutes or so later, he does, and he rides right by. He doesn't hear me yelling because he's listening to books on tape and the heavy traffic noise.

By the time I catch him, we decide we might as well continue on 40 because it gives us an opportunity to visit Chap's Pit Beef for lunch. We will make lemonade from the Route 40 lemons.

Chap's is very famous and is generally recognized as the best pit beef place in Baltimore, which really means in the world because pit beef is a Baltimore thing. Despite its location on horrible Route 40, which is full of heavy industry, sleazy motels, liquor stores, payday loans, tattoo parlors and used tire stores. Chap's literally shares a parking lot with an ALL NUDE strip club. Location location location. The inside of Chap's has all the glamour of the outside environs.

And after having an amazing pit beef sandwich at Chap's, I can confirm that it is EXACTLY THE SAME as the most frou-frou Southern California Tri-Tip Sandwich. Except for toppings, but the Chap's fixin's counter has every sauce known to man, so you can exactly replicate the fancy-pants Tri-Tip if you want, instead of the classic Tiger Sauce, thin-sliced onions, and pickles.

Ten blocks later, we are in my old Southeast Baltimore neighborhood and the rest of the ride was my old commute route. And there was no more rain.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/18404492921

Over The Top Tour Day 3 - Middletown to Abingdon

 It was a nice 50 mile ride yesterday. We are back in Maryland.

It's interesting how different things look in Maryland compared to Delaware. This is in the small town of North East, which, not surprisingly, is in the northeast corner of the state. No more swamps. Gentle, rolling hills instead of flat. No more chicken houses and fields of chicken food. More and different trees.

We had lunch in this nice pizza place in North East.

Just after North East, we discovered we have a very big obstacle to overcome.

This is the end of the Hatem Bridge, which takes US 40 over the very, very wide Susquehanna River. It's legal to ride your bike across it, but it's no fun at all, and there is no shoulder. Except it's not legal if there is a lane closure for construction. And that would be the case.

The nearest alternative crossing of the Susquehanna is Route 1 over the Conowingo Dam, which is 30 very hilly miles out of the way.

So we had a seat at the weigh station right before the bridge and got busy with Lyft and Uber. Prices vary dynamically and dramatically between $21 and $75. But regardless of what the price is, nobody will take our fare!. After about 40 minutes of failure, my phone battery is nearly dead, so we decided to ride back up the road a half mile to a Dunkin Donuts so I can charge my phone and we can reconsider our options. Maybe the ride sharing drivers think it's sketchy to pick people up at the weigh station? 

Jim is tossing out ideas like maybe renting a van from Enterprise and having them deliver it to us so we can drive ourselves across. One thing for sure is we are not riding up to the Conowingo Dam.

So at Dunkin, I got Uber to find us a driver, but he said he wouldn't carry bikes. So despite immediately cancelling, I had to pay $7. With Lyft, you can put a note in your request that you have bikes. Big win here for Lyft over Uber.

After another half hour of trying and failing, Jim declares we should just ride over the bridge anyway. 

I gave Lyft one last try, and a driver accepted the job! And it was only $21! We were so happy, we both tipped her $20. 

Now I realize that when I was gouged for $150 to cross the Bay Bridge a few days ago, I should have cancelled and tried again for a half hour or so to see if the cost would come down. 

Next time I try to do this ride, I think the plan would be to make an overnight stop at the end of the bridge and reserve the ride share the night before crossing in the morning.

The Hatem Bridge fiasco cost us an hour and a half, but we finally made it to our end point at around 6:00.

We are at the Country Inn and Suites, which is between Abingdon and Aberdeen. Call it Abingdon. This place is the best lodging deal so far on the trip. It's new, clean, spacious, and includes a decent breakfast, all for $100.

It's also a short walk from food.

And we are within the Radius of Baltimore Bar Food Influence. Which means Natty Boh, Buffalo wings, nachos, steamed shrimp with Old Bay, and lots of crab things.

We are almost home.

Here are the Strava tracks.

Part 1 - Middletown to Perryville: https://www.strava.com/activities/18389682357/overview

Part 2 - Backtracking to Dunkin: https://www.strava.com/activities/18390512732

Part 3 - Havre de Grace to Abingdon: https://www.strava.com/activities/18391527052

Over The Top Tour Day 2 - Milford to Middletown

 It was a nice day of riding through scenic farm land and marshes to Middletown. We are staying at a fancy Holiday Inn Express, because Jim stays at these all the time for his job and he gets loyalty points.

Middletown is a city I never knew existed until we started planning the route for this trip. It's actually pretty big and new, with a nice historic core. And there are lots of fancy stores. So there are obviously people with lots of money living here. I just can't figure out why. But it means we have nice lodging options with lots of food nearby, but we have to ride through five miles of Strip Mall Hell and heavy traffic.

We had dinner next door at the Crooked Hammock Brewery, which is this brightly colored places giving off a day care vibe.

Crooked Hammock is a small, growing chain in beach towns. It's very corporate. Nobody there knows why Middletown exists.

Most of the day was fabulous rural countryside, with lots of farms and marshes when we were near the Delaware Bay. The terrain is totally flat.

We started out at this nice old school diner next to our Rodeway Inn. 

There are some tiny towns scattered among the farms. This is the Town Hall in Magnolia, population 235.

We spent most of the day riding up State Route 9, which is the easternmost north-south road in Delaware. But to get there we had to cross the St. Jones River south of Dover. The only option is State Route 1, which is a limited access freeway. Is that legal? Hard telling. Strava won't plan a route over it, but there are no signs saying NO BIKES, and the Strava Global Heatmap shows some people ride it. It was definitely not fun.

After that, we skirted the south side of Dover Air Force Base, past the Air Mobility Command Museum.

Dover AFB is where giant cargo planes are based. It's also where dead soldiers are shipped back to the USA.

The next location of note was Leipsic. I've been to Leipsic before. Back around 1990, I was driving around Delaware watching birds one morning, and I drove over that low bridge in the picture below. I pulled over and stopped where that pickup truck is parked. A policeman, who was parked across the street, walked over and handed me a ticket for going 45 in a 25 zone. 

"How am I doing 45 in a 25 zone when I AM PARKED?" I asked, totally outraged. 

"I have you on radar going 45."

This is a speed trap. When you go over the bridge, the speed limit is 40, but it lowers to 25 right before town. The cop records your speed going over the bridge, and then says you were in the 25 zone.

I have hated Delaware "The Shitty Little State" generally and Leipsic in particular ever since.

Leipsic, however, has the only restaurant for lunch on our route for 15 miles in any direction.

Unfortunately, this only lunch option is called "Sambo's Tavern".

Jim says you can only get away with that when you are far from any civilization. 

Despite the name, it's a nice place, and it has a great view out the back window.

They also sell T-Shirts, which are very nice. They the Sambo's logo which features a big black Labrador Retriever, who presumably is "Sambo".

Jim: "Those are nice shirts, but I don't want to get one because I'd get beat up."

me: "Saying the dog is named "Sambo" probably won't help."

Jim: "Probably not."

I had tasty fried oysters.

We had tailwinds and crosswinds most of the day, but the last part was into a headwind. Here is a picture of Jim I took while waiting for him to catchup. 

I love recumbents.

Here's the Strava track.

https://www.strava.com/activities/18376869641

Over The Top Tour Day 1 - Rehoboth Beach to Milford

 We are at Milford, Delaware, in the relatively decent Rodeway Inn. 

The room is spacious and recently updated, except for.the mold in the bathtub. It doesn't smell too much like cigarette smoke. There is coffee in the lobby. There are only 5 cars in the parking lot at 7:00 am.

But I saw a new one in sketchy motel behavior. When I checked in, the guy at the desk shuffled through a stack of room cards until he found one with my room number. He gave me the old one instead of burning me.a new one. This means that a previous guest in this room who kept their room card could come back any time and use it to enter the room.

Today was a short day and a long day. It was only 39 miles, but it took nearly 6 hours. This was because we had to ride into a strong headwind all day. No big deal for me on the recumbent, which offers very little wind resistance, but Jim is riding an upright touring bike, which has him in an upright position, and he is really held back by the wind. So I'm letting him set the pace, casually coasting along, barely working, heart rate under 90, while he is working very very hard. Recumbents are great.

The only interesting sight today was at the turn onto Holly Tree Road.

There is a holly tree on the corner. Go figure.

The scenery is farm fields rapidly being turned into housing developments. Which are still near plenty of chicken houses. I forsee conflict.

Lunch was gas station chicken at the Quick Stop in Milton. It was amazing. I swear you can't go wrong with gas station chicken on the Eastern Shore. Milton is the home of the Dogfish Head Brewery, which we did not visit, even though Dogfish is an old favorite.

Dinner was across the street at the Surf and Turf Lounge, in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It was really good, nice Bloody Marys to replenish electrolytes (not that I sweated today) and tasty steak.

Here is the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/18365034548

Over The Top Tour Day 0 - Home to Rehoboth Beach

 My friend Jim and I are doing a quick bike tour. We are riding home from Rehoboth Beach by going over the top of the Chesapeake Bay.

Since Jim was already at Rehoboth, I had to get here. So I rode my bike. 107 miles. It was great. Flat easy cruising, with a tailwind much of the way. I left at 8:00 and got in before 6.

Here I am at my motel, still feeling fresh and strong.

This motel is in a great location, a block of the main drag, and it has a room available and no two-day minimum stay. It's not fancy *and* not cheap. 

No, it does not have coffee, which is why I had to walk over to Dunkin Donuts first thing in the morning.

There are lots of interesting local cafes, but none of them are open at 7:00 am. So it's Dunkin. 

I was on a mission on the ride, so I didn't take any pictures. 

Lunch was some Royal Fried in Queen Anne, which hit the spot.

The big first-time highlight experience was taking Lyft to get across the Bay Bridge. I've used Lyft before to get places with a bike, you order an XXL vehicle, which is typically a Toyota Sienna minivan. Bikes fit in no problem, you fold down the second and third row seats on one side. Lyft XXL drivers are used to this. 

I wasn't sure if you can use Lyft to get across the Bay Bridge, so a few days before, I did a test reservation, it's no problem, and they said it would cost $64. Which is mighty expensive, but OK.

So when I got to the end of the Bay Bridge for real, I ordered up a Lyft XXL. It was $140. HOLY CRAP. It's a seven mile ride. I did this anyway. 

I've always used Lyft instead of Uber, because I have never been able to get payments to work with Uber. It's time to make Uber an option. Demand pricing is evil.

Here are the Strava tracks.

Home to the Bay Bridge: https://www.strava.com/activities/18347023646

Bay Bridge to Rehoboth Beach: https://www.strava.com/activities/18351751646

California Cushion Day and Recap

 Today is a cushion day, where I have nothing to do except pack the bike in a box to fly home tomorrow.

This used to be stressful and complicated before the days of Lyft and Uber. You'd have to get a cab to the airport, hope the cab shows up, and hope the bike box will fit in the cab. After Jim and I actually missed a flight because of cab chaos, Jim would always rent a minivan. on the day before we would fly out. Then we would drive to the bike shop to get boxes, and then drive to the airport with the bikes, which we would unload and I would watch them while Jim would return the rental minivan.

Today I just rode 3 1/2 miles to the bike shop on a beautiful morning, with a quick stop at Home Depot for packing tape.

One I have the bike box, I called Lyft for an XXL minivan, which arrived promptly and returned me, bike, and box to the hostel with no stress or fuss.

I had all afternoon to ride down to the beach at Ocean Beach.

Where I stuffed myself with seafood and tropical cocktails. Round 1 was cerviche and a Prickly Pear Mojito.

Round 2 was some calamari and a painkiller.

Then I rode back to the hotel and had a nice nap on the hammock.

In the late afternoon, I put the bike in the box. So easy.

Once the bike was all boxed up, I went over the the Zoomer girl working the registration desk.
me (deadpan): "My bike is packed, it's ready to go."
me: "It's standing here outside the door."
Girl: <blank look>
me: "Is that a good place for me leave it overnight?"
Girl: < checks security cameras> "yes"

My Lyft XXL minivan will be here at 8:00 AM tomorrow to take me 4 miles to the airport. My flight leaves at 11:30. The TSA lines are reported to be 30-45 minutes mid day, when the airport is not very busy.

The final numbers on this trip are about 850 miles of riding over 17 days, with 2 days off. About 150 of those miles were on the shoulders of interstates!

Lodging and eating out is very expensive here. I wound up spending about $150/day on the average, and that is with being very economical on the lodging by camping and staying in hostels (or AirBnB rooms in a shared house that function like a hostel). But this is worth it. Southern California is a very unique and memorable place to go on a  bike tour.

The lodging breakdown:
6 nights budget motels
3 nights camping
4 nights AirBnB (all bedrooms in a shared house)
5 nights hostels (4 of 5 private rooms due to bike security and shame about my snoring)

Calfornia Day 17 - Doheny State Beach to San Diego

 The Great 2026 California Tour is done. I am at the Point Loma Hostel in San Diego.

I stayed here in 2003 when I finished a coast to coast tour too. The girl at the registration desk doesn't remember me. Probably because she wasn't born yet.

It's always sad to come to the end of a bike tour. But bike touring is good for you and I am always much happier after touring than before touring.

I grow tired of living Nixon's mess.

Lost on the freeway again.

This time it's I-5. You have to do about 7 miles of I-5 through Camp Pendleton regardless, but I got to do twice that much because of these guys.

This is an Ironman event. They closed about 50 miles of the road I planned to ride on, which put me on the interstate instead. I did learn, though, that when the interstate is gridlocked and traffic is only moving at 20 mph, riding on the shoulder is actually rather pleasant. But that was only about half of what I had to road.

There was also the challenge of getting to the interstate from where the road was blocked.

This dirt path was about a mile long, all downhill, and very popular with surfers going to the beach.

You see these bikes with surfboard carriers all over.

I had a nice rest break at a rest area, where I ate an apple. 

There was only a couple miles of shoulder after this, with gridlocked traffic, so it wasn't so bad, but I am so glad to be done with riding on the shoulder.

Unfortunately, riding along the beach pretty much didn't happen today. It was a lot of ups and downs, and it turned out to be very strenuous. 

Despite the Ironman event, there were a *lot* of people out riding bikes today. Apparently a thing people in San Diego like to do is take Amtrak up the coast first thing in the morning and then ride back. I chatted with several people doing this. 

I didn't see any other bike tourists, but I met a lot of people who had done touring in the past, who were happy to talk to me about touring and to share their past experiences. I think it is the off season for touring, which is weird because the weather is perfect.

I had these pizza slices for lunch in Encinitas, which was at the halfway point. They got the job done.

The killer was Torrey PInes, which is 15 miles from the end. This is a 500 foot hill with a golf course on top. You have to go over the top, there is no alternative.

Here's a view looking back at Torrey Pines from La Jolla, which is full of short steep climbs itself.

Today was actually pretty tough. It was 67 miles and 2405 feet of climb. I'm pretty comfortable when the days are under 60 miles and 2000 feet of climb.  I'm feeling it now.

The hostel is a low-key residential neighborhood. It is not near any big party zones with lots of bars, like say Hermosa Beach. But it does have a surprising number of good-looking restaurants nearby, which apparently focus on serving the people who live in the neighborhood. 

I checked out the Thai place, which was terrific, although it was pretty authentically spicy compared to the stuff I"m used to.

I really like it when I get to experience places as the typical residents experience them.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/17894366277