After 2 days of Ophelia, we rolled into Anapolis where we had a layover day. As the humans wandered the streets of Anapolis (in the rainy drizzle, of course), feeling every ounce of virus coursing through their bodies, they decided on a “kill switch” decision point — if they woke up Tuesday morning and were not feeling up to riding, we would say good-bye to the group and remain behind in Anapolis. Tuesday morning rolled around and neither human was up to continue. So, we all worked through Plan B, C, D, E, F, G …. at one point there was an M.
The current alternate plan is to take me and my other brother Clyde to the bike shop tomorrow, pack us up and ship us via bikeflights. Then our panniers will go to UPS and the humans will travel home by plane on Friday. So ends the trip.
Was it worth it? Hmmm…hard to say. The concept of the East Coast Greenway is really cool. The execution, in the big cities, tho, leaves a lot to be desired. In the search for all the little bitty segments there was some really tough riding in the cities. Consider in Milwaukee a route that chose 27th street from Oklahoma to Hampton (and repeated it 10 times), but instead of just a direct shot, you zig-zagged back and forth using 26th or 28th or 20th or 32nd or…you get my point. At no point could you build momentum and you were constantly starting and stopping. And….what would you think of Milwaukee when you were done? You would have seen some of the worst Milwaukee had to offer and very few of the positives.
I’m not saying that not seeing just a sugar coated city is a problem, but we didn’t see much of the positive sides of New Jersey, Philadelphia or Baltimore. Sure we had those awesome tow paths and some great trails in Delaware, but in 300 miles…we had maybe 80 miles of long trail segements, another 50 mile of highway with clean, broad shoulders, but then at least 150 miles of really rough urban riding.
So when the humans woke up still feeling ill, they flipped the kill switch and booked us Plan B….we’re hanging in Anapolis through Friday morning so that we have time to get me and my other brother Clyde to the bike shop on Thursday and then we put this trip behind us.
It is bitter sweet — we did have some good riding before Ophelia and the virus took us down, and, in 20 years the ECG might be closer to what we hoped for as more trail segments are built and connected. But, for today, we pack it in, and plan for another day in the saddle in another place and another time.
Travels With Edwina 