Cycling Coast to Coast

Day 2 of the trip!

We’re staying at St. Anthony’s Church in Revere, MA.  They’ve been incredibly generous, providing us with both lunch and dinner tonight.  We’re staying in their Bingo Room, which is enormous.  Apparently they have hundreds of people show up for Bingo Nights; so many that there needs to be an extra “remote” room in the back.  Another fun factoid: the church’s congregation is primarily Italian, and the church itself is a replica of St. Anthony’s Church in Padua, Italy.

Yesterday, a group of 9 of us all took the T together from MIT to Wonderland, where we got picked up by the trip van and driven to the church.  After checking in and picking up our gear, we played some getting-to-know-each-other games, and listened to some presentations about trip policies, etc. Jose and Dave also did a full check of all of our bikes.  We also started to paint the trip trailer. I took some photos, but unfortunately don’t have them uploaded yet.

It’s so great to finally be here at orientation, and meeting everyone on the trip.  Most of us are recently-graduated seniors from East Coast colleges, with lots of different reasons for doing this trip.  I’ve some some really interesting conversations with other riders, and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better.

Today, we had a bike skills clinic, practicing clipping in and out, turn signals, emergency stops, looking behind yourself, and drinking from water bottles while riding.  Then, we went on a short, shakedown ride to Deer Island, where there we gorgeous views of the Boston harbor, downtown, and the airport.

Tomorrow, we’ll have our wheel-dipping ceremony at Revere Beach at 9am.  After dipping our rear wheels in the Atlantic, we’ll set out for Andover, which is only 23 miles away.  It’s a short ride for our first day, and we’ll have plenty of time in Andover to run errands and visit a bike shop.  I’ve already got a short list of additional items that I need to get.

Some goals I have for this trip:

• Be safe.  I’ve been lucky enough in life so far to avoid any serious injuries (e.g. broken bones), and I intend to keep it that way.  I know that cycling is inherently a dangerous sport, but I can minimize the risk by being aware and smart while riding.
• Have fun.  Self explanatory, I hope.
• Be positive, and minimize complaining. There will definitely be tough days on this trip; I knew that when I signed up.
• Learn more about the affordable housing cause
• Improve my cycling skills and my bike repair/maintenance skills