Day 49 - Friday, June 29th - Burlington to Revere Beach, MA

Distance:  17.4 miles

Elevation Gain:  578 ft. or 31.8 ft./mile

Net elevation change:  -144 ft.

Click Here for the Final Ride Along

There will be no complaints about the weather because it was bright and sunny. There will be no more complaints about bad drivers because today I don't remember any.  If you understand the weather and volume of traffic in this part of the country we got road conditions that were expected. In short, they ranged from very good to very bad. Today was a compendium  that perfectly summarized just about all the road surfaces we have encountered on this trip. Well, maybe not quite, no rumble strips that I recall, but that's ok.

The first 13 miles of the ride got us to a city pool in Malden where we paused to re-group and then went the final 4 miles riding two by two with a van in front and a van in back running interference.  Once in Revere we actually got an assist from the local police who blocked traffic at one intersection.  It was rather interesting to see him pull his car into the intersection with all his lights flashing, block the intersection, and still have several cars go around him until he was able to get out of  car and actually signal for them to stop. There was really no doubt what he was going to do. Mind you this is not a complaint, merely an observation. 

Out of the hotel we entered Winchester at mile 5. With a population of around 21,000 it is the seventh wealthiest municipality in Massachusetts as it is a bedroom community for professionals working in the Boston area. The land that Winchester occupies was purchased from Native Americans by representatives of the settlement of Charlestown in 1639, and first settled by Europeans in 1640. In the early years of the settlement, the area was known informally as Waterfield, a reference to its many ponds and to the river which bisected the central village. In its second century, the area was referred to as Black Horse Village, after the tavern in its center.

By mile 9 we were in Medford, a city of over 56,000 that is home to Tufts University. The area was settled in 1630 as part of Charlestown and was referred to then as Mistick, which later became Meadford. The first bridge across the Mystic River was built in 1637 at the site of the present-day Cradock Bridge and it carries Main Street into Medford Square. It remained the only bridge across the Mystic for 150 years so it became a major route for traffic coming into Boston from the north. God bless the English language, so many spellings for the same place.

At mile 13 we reach the regroup point in a park in Malden. A city of close to 60,000 it was built on land purchased from the Pennacook tribe in 1629 and settled by Puritans in 1640 and was originally part of Charlestown.  At the time of the American Revolution the population was at about 1,000 people, and the citizens were involved early in resisting British oppression by boycotting the consumption of tea in 1770. They also were the first town to petition the colonial government to withdraw from the British Empire.

Gathering at the Regroup Point

Shortly after leaving the regroup point we were in Revere, a city of over 51,000 and originally founded in 1846 as North Chelsea and renamed after Paul Revere in 1871.

The rest of the pictures are from the finish at Revere Beach. I realize it was early on a Friday morning, but I was truly surprised at how empty and quiet it was, This is just a bit over 5 miles as the crow flies from Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston. No runners. No dog-walkers. Truly astonishing!

Wheel dipping ceremony!

A Look Back

Last night at dinner we were asked to comment on why we decided to do this and now that we had done it, what did we think. In listening to the comments what struck me was how many riders said this was a bucket list item or they had wanted to do this for years. It resonated with me but not in the way I think most would expect. My response was that unlike so many others in the room, it was never on my bucket list (I don't have a bucket list), I met Barry and he talked me into it. That got a bit of a laugh since my tone was probably a bit sarcastic. I went on to say that it had been a wonderful experience but asked for a week to decide if I had enjoyed it. "Enjoy" is a very vague word when you think about how you will feel after riding 3400 miles across the US on a freaking bike,  There is no way it was all good, or all bad, for anybody. I'm sorry, but here I am about 12 hours from the end of the last "ride" and there is no way that I have processed all of this. I am also pleasantly drunk on one scotch on the rocks and too many glasses of Cabernet.

Here is what I do know. I know that if I had never met Barry I never would have considered doing this on my own so I am truly grateful that we met and that he did put this absolutely ridiculous idea in my head.

 I'm also grateful that when I agreed, I didn't know then what I know now. Let's face it, 51 days of living in 43 different hotels, out of two duffel bags and waking up at five am and eating fake eggs pretty much every day are not strong selling points. 

For now I'm happy to be heading to the beach with Millie for the rest of the summer.  I'm happy I get to see my dad, my sister and her husband on Sunday, and in a little over 17 days, my daughter, her husband and our two granddaughters when they come to "Grandmom's beach house" for vacation. I'm happy that our son and his wife are moving back east to the Philadelphia area so we will see them more often.

For all of you that have followed along and enjoyed this road trip, I'm glad you did. Having never tried to write anything longer than a birthday or anniversary card I was surprised to find out how much I enjoyed it. I never set out to write a blog. When I decided to do the ride, I wanted to learn something about all these different places I was going to be going through. I've always been fascinated by the history surrounding people and places, so I started keeping notes. Somewhere along the way someone suggested writing a blog and I figured, why not. It's an easy way to keep family and friends informed and they can read as much or as little as they want. What is truly astonishing is as of today there have been nearly 21,000 pageviews (a pageview is when someone loads the page into a browser). Some as far away as Australia and Peru. That works out to 420 pageviews per day. Astonishing! 

Two more things I know. First, I'm glad I did this ride, cracked frame and all. Second, I will get back on a bike, maybe as soon as Monday.  This trip has done nothing to lessen the shear sense of freedom, escape and pleasure that I get from simply pedaling a bike. 

For those of you who haven't had enough. Here are links to the blogs of other riders who I rode with.  I have intentionally avoided reading them, but now that it is over I look forward to reading these with my morning coffee before I ride.

http://swisscyclingacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

http://brucebikestheusa.blogspot.com/

http://lifewithedge.com/

https://cbsbikes.com/

https://www.captaincentury.com/

https://www.captaincentury.com/


Thank you all and good night.