Long, country roads through the forest.
Not only do they have fake palm trees on the Jersey shore, they have BLUE ones!
They let the cyclists board the ferry before the cars.
Al, Jan, Sam, Jack, Michel, me, Stuart, and Peter.
Welcome to Delaware!
When we left the hotel in Hammonton, it was overcast, but the pavement was dry! Once we got out of town, we were treated to long, straight, lightly traveled, country roads through the pine forest. Jack, Al, Mike, and I took turns at the front of a pace line and never let our speed drop below 20 mph until the SAG stop. (Peter's knee was bothering him, so he had opted to ride in one of the vans instead of riding.) After the SAG stop, it began to rain, but it was a warm rain and we kept the pedal to the medal. There was purpose in our rush - today we were to board the Cape May Ferry from Cape May to Lewes, Delaware. The ferry had scheduled departure times of 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 2:30 PM. While there was no chance we could cover the 71 miles to Cape May in time to board the 11:00 AM boat, we figured we could easily make the 1:00 PM if we pushed. As we neared the coast, the rain had stopped. We had to slow as we rode through the beach cities, filled with stop signs, but little traffic. We got to the ferry terminal a little after noon. Plenty of time to grab a sandwich and a coke before rolling our bikes onto the ferry for the ninety minute crossing to Delaware. Once we landed in Lewes, we had another ten miles to ride to the hotel in Dewey Beach. It was sunny, hot, humid, and buggy on the highway into town.
This was our eighth day of riding. Tomorrow is a much needed rest day!
Dewey Beach, DE (1981); population 340, elevation 7'
Rehoboth Beach DE (1873); population 1,327; elevation 8'
Rehoboth Beach and its smaller neighbor, Dewey Beach are summer vacation, resort towns. The population can swell to over 30,000 people on a warm, summer weekend. Rehoboth is a Biblical name, meaning "place for all." RB has a wooden boardwalk and a wide, sandy beach.
81.9 miles; 4:53 hours; 650' of climb; 4,293 Calories.
At last Team Horsin' Around has joined the East Coast adventure. Miss India, the powerful black and white Gypsy Drum team leader, books no nonsense from nobody. Serving as domestique, supportive of all phases of a day's ride (although a bit slow on the downhills), general all round friendly guy even to reporters is The Fonze, a white Arabian - Andalusian. Tomorrow's weather is 20% chance of rain, not a problem for these superb athletes in their all weather outfits. The route is steep up and down hills, a stream, a mud flat, trails on the edges of cliffs, stairs, heavy underbrush, and knock your heads off low branches. The vertical climb is 1000 feet and once you go up, you must come down especially if you want dinner. Will the Team survive its first venture into the world of competitive long distance pleasure cycling? Miss India thinks they (at least she) are (is) the best and most beautiful of the teams. Perhaps a picture for the crowds should they succeed to ride another day. After all, when you look good, you ride good.
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