Two months of healing.

Today marks 2 months since my "tussle" with the bridge.

As my family keeps reminding me, I have made remarkable progress with my recovery! Various cracked and broken bones have repaired. The mental "fog" of concussion has evaporated. Nose surgery was bypassed & jaw surgery was successful. Various and sundry abrasions and cuts have healed.

My wife and daughters "frame of reference" is the day of the accident, when things looked ugly & grim. So they are quite amazed at how far I've come along in two months. (My perspective? Since I do not remember the accident at all, my own "frame of reference" tends to be the day before the accident when I was fit, happy and unscathed! So I'm typically a little more impatient and critical about returning to my 'normal' standard of health than they are!).

My remaining issues are a "gimpy" sprained right foot, broken teeth and lack of feeling in the upper part of my face (due to nerve aggravation during surgery). Give me a few more months and I'm sure these issues will resolve themselves.

My mental state? I must admit continued disappointment and sadness at not being able to proceed along our planned bicycle journey. It seems that last summer "all the stars were aligned" for Elizabeth and I to accomplish a really interesting and meaningful adventure. (Something I had spent much of the previous year planning and preparing for). The accident arrived on us very early in the ride...like a meat cleaver out of nowhere. Whether any of that original dream can be resurrected, is hard to say.

On a brighter note, I have many things to be thankful for. Thankful that the accident was not more severe. Thankful for the loving care provided to me by my wife and daughters. Thankful for the medical personnel at Albany Medical Center & also here at Fallon. And, certainly, tremendously thankful for the flood of cards, letters, emails, visits, gifts of soup, gifts of soft food, etc. that have come my way in the past 2 months. The love and support expressed by (literally) dozens and dozens of friends has been quite stunning.

Day 10. West Lebanon NY to East Nassau (2 miles)

("Cliff Notes" Version. Our trip comes to a very quick and very shocking end.).

Given the predictions for a hot, humid afternoon with possible thunderstorms, we had Ava deliver us back to the West Lebanon Auto Track a little earlier this morning, where we had the "flat" yesterday. (I had replaced Elizabeth's rear tube, but also the rear tire the night before).

We had a slight delay, hunting for the GPS Logger that keeps track of our daily progress. Turned out to be inside the leg of my cycing shorts!! Once found, we had Ava take a photo of us about to set off...which is shown below:


David & Elizabeth about to cycle off on (what turned out to be) our final day.

It should be noted at this point, that I remember this photo being taken, and I also remember a quaint, wooden Post Office we passed a few minutes later on Route 20, as we rode west. I do NOT remember anything else from the remainder of this day....but the following information is pieced together from various sources (including Elizabeth, and a bystander, and my GPS Logger....).

Within about 10 minutes (2 1/2 miles) of this photo being taken, a road accident occurred which turned our dreams, plans and 'life' upside down. We were on a long, gentle decline in elevation, picking up a little speed to a maximum of about 24 mph as we crossed a road bridge that spanned a small stream. As was typical, I was in front, with Elizabeth some distance behind. It appears that I was thrown off balance as I crossed a poorly implemented transition from asphalt "blacktop' road-surface to the concrete bridge, tossing me first against the bridge steel superstructure, before I hit the bridgetop road surface face-first and slid to a stop.

What followed was an urgent mix of horror on Elizabeth's part, early intervention on the part of nearby residents, and (later) Emergency Responders. My limp body was loaded into an Ambulance vehicle and driven perhaps a mile or so to a makeshift helipad for helicopter transport to the Albany Medical Center. My helmet had protected me from serious brain damage potential, but provided little protection against facial injuries. I also sustained several breaks and fractures in various bones (rib, foot, clavicle, collarbone....).

The immediate ramification of the accident was to start a 6 day confinement in the Albany Medical Center. But the longer term ramifications are many....including the cancellation of the rest of our plan to cycle all the way to Chicago. Bicycling has now taken a "back seat" to simply returning to normal life.

So...my dear blog-followers....I bid you a temporary farewell! I will update this blog sporadically in future as my recovery proceeds. Thanks again for your interest & enthusiasm. I dearly wish we could have proceeded further with our plan of bicycling all the way to Barrington, IL. Oh, well.......

Day 9. Pittsfield, MA to W. Lebanon, NY...(17 miles)

("Cliff Notes" Version: A short, but productive day as we crossed our first State border into New York state! ).

Day 9.
The morning was chewed up by packing up our campground items and coping with a flat battery in the minivan. We also caught up on our online obligations at a Starbucks in Dalton. This led to a late start (~1 pm) back in downtown Pittsfield.
It was kind of unusual cycling through the busy, bustling streets, keeping a wary eye on traffic and signs/lights. A rare urban/suburban experience during our trip.

David enjoys the Pittsfield street-scape

When we arrived in West Pittsfield, I pledged that we would stop at the first lunchtime stop we could see, as in previous days we had seen just how limited the retail options can be in western Mass. A Subway franchise was soon spotted, and became our home for the next 45 mins or so.
After lunch, we continued along Lebanon Mountain Rd (Route 20W), with a mixture of climbing and walking our bikes up the long mountain road. Aside from the spectacular vistas, we also enjoyed seeing the cluster of buildings known as the Hancock Shaker Village.
Right around 3 p.m., we experienced a couple of great events in quick succession. First we finally crested Lebanon Mountain, realizing that it is all 'downhill' from here! (meaning that tackling all the Berkshire peaks was behind us, and the few hills & peaks ahead of us would pale into insignificance compared with those already "under our belts").

Elizabeth celebrates topping the highest peak we'll see from now on!

Just a few minutes later we were confronted by the huge, imposing sign that announced"Welcome to New York"...quite a thrill for the 2 of us who hope to see more of this type of signery in the weeks ahead.

Quite a feeling of achievement!

From that point on there was a lot of downhill cruising, some of it so steep that we opted to pull over a couple of times to let our hot braking surfaces cool off a little. The vistas were wonderful and inspiring as we eased into our first non-MA town of New Lebanon. The dramatic highlight there was speaking with the caretaker of a large, well-established Healing Shrine next to an imposing Catholic Church. He was quite "taken" with our plan of heading to Chicago. We enjoyed hearing stories of the Healing Shrine, but (naturally) had no inkling that within the day we might have need of its "services".

"Lady of Lourdes" Healing Shrine in New Lebanon, NY

As we rode westward through town, we were suddenly hit with a relatively flat tire on Elizabeth's rear wheel. I tried to "limp along" by pumping it up without tube replacement, but it was immediately obvious that was a "loser" idea. Since the time was after 4 pm, and Ava was in need of setup help at the new campground site anyway, we decided to call it a day.

Message from Ava

Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning my dad had a serious bike accident in Lebanon Valley, NY. There were no cars involved. He was transported to Albany Medical Center and has been there ever since. He has broken bones and facial injuries, but his brain and spine are good and he is stable. This hospital is wonderful and we are just trying to make him as comfortable as possible during his recovery.

My daddy is the most wonderful, caring, and positive man who is always taking care of others. He certainly has a lot of good karma coming his way!!

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. 

xoxo Ava

Day 8. Worthington, MA to Pittsfield (22 miles)

("Cliff Notes" Version: An afternoon tour down from the Berkshires uplands into the grand old cities of Dalton & Pittsfield, trying to recover from employer decimation. Positive highlight was being swept up in a motorbike rumble).

We arrived in the minivan back in Worthington this morning at 11:30 to resume our ride West. I struck an immediate problem with leakage from my hydration pack. (a backpack with integral 3 liter water bladder inside). The slightest pressure on my backpack would cause a steady "drip, drip, drip..." of water droplets into the backpack, wetting what I had stored there. The water then drained out of the hydration pack and into my cycling pants (running completely counter to the standard bicycling advice of keeping your clothing as dry as possible to reduce chafing).This sounds bad enough, but the biggest problem was the total distraction it caused! (Imagine bicycling around while someone pours a steady stream of water into your, ummm, bottom! Try ignoring it and enjoying the ride!!...NOT!!).
After initially doubting the seams of the pack and criticizing the design, I discovered after 15 minutes or so that the problem was mine....I had not threaded the screwed cover onto the reservoir securely enough. Shortly after, the dripping water (and resultant distraction) had evaporated!


Our first hour or so took us through gently rising "haying" country. There was plenty of evidence of hay-growing and hay-making, though the area has been suffering under dry weather conditions. At one point, a gap opened up between David and Elizabeth, and I found myself cruising to a stop. The peaceful quiet was being interrupted by a deep, gentle rumble. (Was it thunder?...No!). I came to the conclusion that it must be a freight train! While I was quaffing some water, a couple of motorcycle cops with blue lights a-flashing cruised on by, then a few more motorbikes... then a torrent of them! I would say that over 200 of them passed me by, tailed by a second armada of police motorcycles. Their deep, pistonous roar shattered the calm of this remote area, yet I had a lot of fun waving at them and getting waved at in return. Clearly some sort of 'charity ride' or similar?

200 to 300 Motorbikes roared by under Police escort

Our bicycling map showed Peru, MA as the logical lunch spot. As we approached the center of town, we were riding up a slow but inexorable incline and passing by various community buildings such as a Highway Department depot and Town Hall.

Tiniest Town Hall?

The more we cycled, into Peru, the more elongated the town seemed to get. Cresting the hill in the center of town, we got a familiar feeling...another case of a significant town on the map, but without ANY retail space in sight! A local resident suggested a place 4 miles down the road ("down" being the operative word!), so we sped off in that direction. Goodbye Peru!!

We began a long gentle decline that lasted the entire rest of the day. Paused briefly to chat with fishermen at Ashmere Lake State Park, before turning right on Route 8 toward Dalton. We stopped for lunch at a roadside oasis complete with fake palms and Caribbean island music!


Soon after resuming our ride, a blog-worthy event occurred. I fully believe that this blog needs to cover "the good, the bad, and the ugly", hence I'm not going to censor my report. However it's kind of gross, so (if squeamish) you might want to "pass over" this paragraph and the next.


Route 8 narrowed and became quite wavy on our way to Dalton. This caused us to 'hug' the shrunken road-shoulder, and become extra mindful of space for cars overtaking us. While leading our pack of 2 bicycles, a couple of items of "road-kill" came into view, one of them a relatively large animal out in the roadway, the other one being much smaller but right on my track. As I skirted the smaller animal, it had the effect of pointing a truck across the path of the larger. This created a sickening moment for me, as the truck hit the larger animal head-on (an ugly, rich sound), sending a spray of moist flesh particles across my left side. One piece had to be quickly wiped off my left cheek as I uttered a grotesque "Aaaargh!" noise. GROSS!!


The final miles of the day were spent traversing through Dalton, then Pittsfield. Both are "one company" towns. Dalton dealing with the shrunken Crane Paper company, which, to my knowledge, is the sole manufacturer of U.S. Banknote Paper. Pittsfield dealing with the loss and evental destruction of General Electric manufacturing in the late 20th century. We rode thru a variety of residential areas before "calling it a day" near a boisterous Polish Festival hosted by the Caholic Church in downtown Pittsfield.

Downtown Pittsfield was 'hopping'

Day 7. Northampton, MA to Worthington (22 miles)

("Cliff Notes version: An exhausting day to re-start our tour. Heat, Humidity, Sun, long & steep ascents. What's not to love?)

In contrast to the weather forecast which called for a hot, humid but dry day, a slight rain developed in the early hours of Saturday morning and later, as we packed our final items at home, we were dealing with heavy rain. However, by the time we swung onto the Mass Pike westbound, the rain had stopped and the sky brightened ahead.

Just after 11 a.m. we set off from a busy street in Northampton which links the end of the rail trail we had finished 2 weeks ago, to a short 4 mile extension heading northwest. We both agreed that this was a fortunate start to the day as the slight but constant uphill grade enabled us to warm up our muscles and get back our pedaling-cadence after our long break. The clouds had cleared completely, and the morning was getting hotter.

Climbing out of  Northampton

Like much of this part of the state, the road view is mostly of dense forest and the occasional stream, with widely spaced homes of all sizes and conditions set on large lots. I get the feeling that ride-on mowers were developed with these folks in mind.

After 8 miles or so of riding this slow, but mostly gentle incline out of the Pioneer Valley, we hit the heavy Saturday lunchtime traffic in the bustling little town of Williamsburg. Since the time was 12:30 I thought it might make a good stop for lunch, but Elizabeth wanted to get more cycling done before the hottest part of the day. Since the next town was only about 8 miles away, I agreed. We got off our bicycles at the town library, so that Elizabeth could use their facilities. While I waited for her, a neighbor engaged me in conversation....a smartly-dressed and coiffed woman in her 70's, she had recently had a stroke, her husband was presently at the dump, they were headed off to a Graduation Party for one of her grand-children...oh, by the way, she has 10 grand-children and 4 great-grand-children, her own son died last year of a heart attack at 52, but she has 3 daughters also....all this family history I heard from a total stranger in the time it took Elizabeth to pee!

We were only on Route 9 (which crosses the State roughly east to west) for 1/2 a mile before turning onto Route 143 towards our new lunchtime target of Chesterfield. Our bicycling map does not show contour lines nor elevations. Instead it indicates uphill grades with arrowheads of varying thicknesses...and the route to lunch showed nothing but a series of bold uphill arrowheads!

Heat sag? My hand was literally 3 feet from these cables.

The map did not lie. Meantime, the temperature had climbed to 90 degrees or so. It was humid. The sun was beating down on our side of the road, and shade was at a premium. Our pace slowed dramatically, as we repeatedly paused to drink more water and catch our breath. Sometimes in shade, but at other times not. There was much more walking of the bicycles than riding them. We were not even rewarded with wide scenic views to appreciate the fruits of our labors, the dense forest restricted our sight in all directions. Though I did see one of the largest deer I've ever seen in my life. He tip-toed out into a clearing near the road shoulder where I had stopped for a breather. After seeing this haggard, red-faced, sweating, heaving animal (me) he bolted back into the forest.

As we finally crested the final peak, and saw the welcome sight of center-of-town buildings, I ran out of drinking water and eyed my last cup or so of Garorade. The relief of seeing the center of town faded a bit when we could see NO retail stores of ANY kind. And we were too "beat" to go on a scenic tour of Chesterfield, to look for anything. We needed food, drink and rest NOW! An unsuspecting driver pulled up at the stop sign and was roped into answering the critical question "Where are the shops?". He pointed us in the direction we were already headed, to the General Store about 1/2 mile DOWNhill. Yeah! Thankfully we found it readily...and it was the ONLY retail store we ever saw on our ride thru town. We had taken just short of 2 hours to complete the previous 7 miles, and had gained about 1200 feet in elevation since setting off in the morning from Northampton.

A mirage arising from our 'desert' of hot blacktop?    NO! Our Oasis!

The General Store was in tatters (as you can see from the picture) but it looked beautiful to us! Not only did we find lunch there, they sold gallon plastic bottles of Spring Water from the cooler to replenish our hydration packs and bottles. Tables and chairs were available to relax and enjoy the air conditioning. The senior citizen who ran the store chatted to us between serving the steady stream of clientele. He looked at our afternoon route and predicted a very steep climax to our day. Mentioned something about the steep grade testing the lower gears of his car......

It is amazing how quickly the human body can recover from exhaustion. We emerged from the General Store an hour later in much better shape than we had entered, and our spirits were high as we descended steadily for 2 miles, losing a total of 500 feet in elevation. The descent was so steep in parts, we paused several times for a few minutes to allow our brake pads and wheel rims to cool. The rims were much too hot to touch. We were also treated to beautiful valley views on our way down to Chesterfield Gorge State Park. Probably a beautiful spot, but we had neither the time nor the energy to stop!

The final 2 hours were spent reclaiming the height we had cheerfully surrendered after lunch...plus a couple of hundred feet more! Early in the ascent we tried multiple times to phone Ava to schedule a pickup but were stymied by a lack of cellular coverage in this sparsely populated and hilly terrain. So we plodded on in a reprise of the morning climb...steep grades, blazing sun, hot and humid weather. As we neared the top of the final hill, a fire engine overtook us, horns blaring, lights flashing., spewing a jet blast of hot exhaust fumes...but only going a few mph faster than we were!

 



Even this fire engine struggled upward, as Elizabeth looks on (distant left).


Our first day "back in the saddle" ended in the little village of Worthington Corners. Almost a Norman Rockwell scene with the brightly painted Country Store fronted onto the Town Green, townsfolk setting up tables and chairs for a summer evening "Cabaret" under a canopy on the lawn of the white Congregational Church while across the Green a family had their Yard Sale wares on a driveway, hoping to capitalize on the "crowd".

On the Worthington Corners Common

Elizabeth & Ava shop for our evening beverages

Tour will resume on Saturday.

Just a quick update for our followers. We expect to resume our journey this Saturday, July 14. Temperatures should be approaching 90F again, as we tackle the Berkshire Mountains. Oh, what joy......