Tour de SEP

In keeping with the theme of July (if you are in France), I took my own little Tour de France on Sunday. I shall call it the Tour de SEP (Southeastern Pennsylvania). I rode my bike from Philadelphia to West Grove Pa. Final destination: IR and PS's house.

Fortunately for me, I didn't have to worry about strategically placing my support crew in crucial locations to give me fresh water bottles or power bars or grilled chicken sandwiches. I had no support crew. I also had no grilled chicken sandwiches.

Fortunately for me I also had no teammates to worry about slingshotting into the lead or drafting behind me. Nor did I have to deal with finding a car for my support crew, or having a handyman to fix my tires when they go flat, or even having to have spare tires. The best part was that while there were several cars zipping by at speeds I'm sure surpassed the posted speed limits, there were no annoying tourists along the side of the road screaming in my face or threatening to throw sticks in my tires. Nope, I was all alone.

I'm sorry to report I don't have any pictures. I didn't bring my camera (that's a first). But I did see 2 dead foxes, several dead raccoons and skunks, about 8 dead birds, a few dead mice, some dead squirrels, a live cat, and I got bitten/stung by some insect that crawled up the side of my shirt and almost caused me to have an accident. Oh yes, I stopped to eat some wild raspberries on the side of the road as well. At least I think that's what they were...

All in all, I made the 36 mile trek in 3:06:23. Not too bad. Averaging about 12 miles an hour. I think I'm ready for the real tour. It's only what, another 1500 miles or something? Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

PS. A big thanks to IR and PS for providing a spa retreat at the end of my long tour and a drop at the train station to make it home!