Miami

Final stop before heading back to Blighty is Miami.  I landed about 18:30 and enjoyed the cab ride from the airport to South Beach where the light from nearly full moon illuminated the downtown Miami skyline.  I am staying at a cool hotel on Washington Avenue called The Anglers, it is in a great location, very central and just two streets away from the main drag of Ocean Drive, thanks to Janine for recommending.

I have spent my time on more bus tours and generally just wandering about soaking up the Miami atmos. I knew that there was a strong Spanish influence in Miami but with the amount Spanish spoken here I sometimes forgot that I was in America. I took in most of the major sights here, walking round the main shopping area of Lincoln Road, the historic art deco district, the beach, the holocaust memorial, South Pointe Park, a Cuban lunch in Little Havana and several trips up and down Ocean Drive and Miami Beach boardwalk (never seen so many Ferraris). All jaunts out interspersed with frequent retreats back to the air conditioned hotel to escape the heat and humidity.  The weather has been pretty sultry with the occasional shower although today it has been cloudier with more consistent rain, perhaps will serve as a good transition for my return to the UK climate later today.  I would say it is back to reality but I don't have a job to go back to and rather fancy some more gallivanting. Ha!

Downtown from the bus top

Miami Beach

The temperature didn't drop below 80 much during my stay (or ever)

Art Deco

Ocean Drive

Beach from South Pointe Pier

St Martin

I landed at Princess Juliana Airport on the Caribbean island of St Martin about 2pm on Monday.  The airport is located right on the edge of the island and its runway is perpendicular to Maho beach. The beach has therefore become popular amongst plane spotters who come to see them fly just feet above the beach before landing and experience the jet blast as the aircraft take off.  This was the main reason I chose to come here having seen it on tv and never having been to the Caribbean.  The weather was hot and sunny when I arrived but there were some dark clouds around and shortly after arriving at my hotel there begun a tropical down pour lasting a couple of hours.  After it subsided I wandered to a nearby beach side restaurant and sampled the local mahi mahi fish and some coconut pie which were both delicious.

On Tuesday morning I walked to Maho beach to watch the planes.  The airport is not very busy and the majority of daily flights are propeller planes from other Caribbean islands but there are half a dozen larger aircraft from the US and Europe.  I got to see a couple of big ones whilst I was there, the highlight being a 747 KLM flight landing from Amsterdam. I took a video of the incoming flight but my attempt to do the same as the plane departed an hour or so later were thwarted by the sand blasting into my face forcing me to shelter behind the beach wall. After that I wandered back to the hotel, the hotel is right on the beach so had a dip in the lovely warm, clear sea.  It is still low season here in St Martin and I pretty much had the beach to myself. Later in the afternoon I took a 20 minute bus ride to Philipsburg. The island is half French (the north) and half Dutch (the south), Philipsburg is the largest town on the Dutch side. The buses are really just small beat up old people carriers that you seem to be able to flag and stop anywhere, but at $1.50 far cheaper than you'd pay in a taxi.  I had another nice fish (grouper) and rice based dinner by Simpson Bay lagoon.

On Wednesday I went on a speedboat trip round the island. We set off from Philipsburg and stopped off at various spots during the 6 hour trip. We did some snorkelling, visited a couple of small islands, had lunch (more mahi mahi) in the French side and went past a beach side mansion belonging to one Donald Trump.

My flight today was not until the afternoon so I had time for another lounge by the beach next to the hotel and another trip to Maho beach for plane spotting. The weather has been great since the first day's down pours and it has been a nice couple of days spent on this cool little island.

Hotel

Right on the beach

Simpson Bay Lagoon

Airport

Danger

Maho Beach

Preparing for take off, the pilots waved at the assembled crowd from the cockpit

Coming in to land

Massive prawns

On the speedboat, most of the people were here for the day from this cruise ship 

Trump's house

(Sea) Turtle's head

NYC

Stop 2 of my post ride journey is New York City, the city that doesn't go to bed.  I arrived mid morning and my room wasn't ready but didn't mind because it was a gorgeous day so was quite happy wandering round for a couple for hours, it really is such a great city to do that.  I dropped off what should be my final laundry of the trip and in the evening indulged my strange Wicked obsession by going to see the musical again.

I regained some street cred by going to the other end of the spectrum the following night and went to a punk rock show.  I saw Descendents were playing on Broadway and managed to get a last minute ticket.  I used to be really into them back in the day and never saw them so it was a happy coincidence that they were playing on the weekend I was here.  They were also supported by another band I got into recently, F*cked Up! (have some of that Wicked).  It was a nice air conditioned venue, there were chandeliers and cinema style seating at the back which seemed a bit out of place for the acts playing.  We were subject to airport style screening on the way in and outside a sign said no guns were allowed in, which was reassuring.  Earlier in the day I went to the 911 museum, I had just missed the opening of this the last time I was here in May 2014. It is excellent museum situated at the site of the twin towers and features lots of artifacts from the day. It is a very informative, moving in parts and really does justice to the most compelling news event of my lifetime.  I was glad I got there fairly early because when I came out the queue to get in was huge.  I would have stayed longer but underestimated the time I thought I might spend there and had to meet Grace for lunch.  I did the Lands End to John O'Groats bike ride with Grace last year and it was her who told me about the Portland to Portland trip, so she is the reason I am here really.  She lives in Manhattan so we met at southern cuisine restaurant close to my hotel.  It was nice food and good to hear about Grace's recent cycling adventures.

It was grey and wet on Sunday morning so did a bit of shopping. The rain stopped early afternoon so took a stroll along the High Line.  This is an elevated walkway on the site of an old railway that starts in Chelsea close to where I am staying. I spent the evening at a comedy club, I think I probably had the worst seat in the house with the stage at 8 o'clock to the direction I was seated. Still a couple of the acts were really good so it was a laugh.

I could definitely live here.

Scott, one of the guides from Trek Travel has uploaded a load of photos from the cycling trip.  There are some really good ones and more to follow.

Chelsea

Hot ticket

Washington DC

Stop one on my post ride travels is Washington DC.  After breakfast in Portland on Tuesday I said my last goodbyes to my cross country comrades and took a midday flight down to the capital.  After checking in to my 42nd hotel of my trip I took a walk down to the White House and Washington Monument.  Yesterday I spent all day on open top tour buses and just wandering around.  I like doing bus tours in a new place, it is a good way to familiarize yourself with its geography.  My first impressions are very good, it is a very clean city with lots of trees and wide streets.  The Dupont Circle part of the city in which I am staying is not unlike west London.  There are no skyscrapers like in New York as planning permission forbids buildings exceeding the 555 feet of the Washington Memorial.  The numerous memorials and museums are the main attractions here. There are loads of impressive memorials to ex presidents and other famous people and historical events. The majority of the museums are part of the Smithsonian Institute and are free to enter. Today I swapped the bike for alternative two wheeled transportation and took a segway tour.  It was good fun and the guide was really informative.  In the afternoon I spent some time in the Air and Space museum where I saw a really good 3D IMAX film of planet earth featuring footage from the international space station. There was some stunning film of the planet but also cool shots of the zero gravity inside the station which worked really well in 3D.  I also experienced the Metro underground system which was very easy to use.  There is so much to do and I only touched the surface during my brief stay but I got a feel for the place which was the objective.

I am still coming to terms with not being in the bubble of the cycling trip. It is a novelty to be staying in the same place for more than one day and having to making daily decisions about what to do and where to eat for myself again.  I am still dreaming about cycling (as I frequently did on the trip) so am not completely back to normal. It was quite nice when viewing the numerous views of the earth in the museum earlier today, when I saw the US I was able to think to myself 'I cycled across that'.

The White House

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Reflecting Pool

The Pentagon (in the distance)

Outside The White House on a segway

The Capitol Building

The World War II Memorial

The Korean War Memorial

Part of the Vietnam War Memorial

Vietnam Memorial wall

Day 44: North Conway to Portland

This morning had a bit of a feel of Christmas day as the counting down of days had finally brought us to the ultimate ride of the trip.  We set off in misty conditions and after 10 miles riding we left New Hampshire and entered the 17th and final state of the trip, Maine.  As we rode through pine tree lined roads, a nip in the air and the imminent reuniting with friends and family added to the strange festive sense.  Blue skies and sunshine made a welcome reappearance after a few day's absence and 60 miles in we arrived at a restaurant in Portland where riders' supporters were waiting to photograph our final pedal strokes.  After a leisurely lunch we rode a couple of miles to the beach, on the way we took a bike path past a sewage treatment plant where the stench and graffitied walls didn't quite match the romantic finale to the ride I had envisaged. That was a temporary blip though and we were soon at the sand to dip our bikes in the Atlantic and bookend our 3,750 mile ride across America.  Andy said that yesterday he had past the one million pedal revolutions mark, it is worth saying that he does ride with a high cadence compared to myself so I probably did around three quarters of that but it gives some sense of magnitude.  On the stats front, in the Strava September Distance Challenge I ended up placed 18th out of 236,404 participants.  There was much merriment and photos at the beach before a short ride to the hotel where we parked our steeds for the final time.

And that was the end of all that.

Ride Details

With all the exercise and Muscle Milk
over the past few weeks,
I have grown quite a bit

Lunch was a different affair today

th'Atlantic

Photo mayhem

Team ABC (Andy, Ben, Charlene)

USA, USA!

Great guides

Not only the bikes took a dip

Final dinner

Celebrations over, look what we face tomorrow

Day 43: Fairlee to North Conway

I might have been a bit premature in declaring our fortune with the weather in yesterday's post, today was pretty cold and wet at times.  The penultimate day of the trip saw us tackle three climbs as we rode through the White Mountain National Forest area.  After a mile of riding we left Vermont and crossed into state number 16, New Hampshire - state slogan "Live Free or Die" a phrase they stole from Buckinghamshire. The first two climbs contained some pretty testing gradients, whereas the third was less steep but was 14 miles in length.  In between climbs one and two we saw a hawk go for a group of pigeons, after a failed attempt it flew into a tree next to us while the pigeons flew in circles.  We waited a few minutes to see if it made a second attempt, sure enough it had another go, it came close but no catch so we pedalled off.  In between climbs two and three we went through the busy town of Lincoln and crossed over some train tracks, now over the last 43 days we have crossed dozens of these, but the angle of them, the width of the gap between rail and road and the wet conditions conspired to make them very treacherous.  As I rode over the tracks my back wheel caught in the gap but I managed to stay upright and I thought to myself I wouldn't be surprised if this catches people out. It turned out that 5 people in the group took a spill on them, nearly quadrupling the number of accidents on the trip!  Fortunately no one was badly hurt.  The fall foliage (I am only using this word for alliteration, not turning american) reached new levels of beauty today, on the descent into North Conway from the final climb the colours (see, spelt with a u) really were stunning.  There were lots of folk out on a Sunday afternoon drive taking in the views too.  Last day tomorrow, tradition dictates that there are no attacks so should be an easy day.

Ride Details

Crossing into Vermont

Pretty leaves

Jim conquers climb one

More lovely trees

This is from a couple of days ago, but a cool photo from Trevor

Day 42: Ticonderoga to Fairlee

Today was another fairly cool, cloudy day but we managed to evade the rain again.  We really have been quite fortunate with the weather this trip as we seem to leave places as bad weather moves in a day or two later, we are leaving a path of destruction across the States.  It had been raining earlier in the morning so the roads were wet as we set off today.  The day began with a 2.5 mile ride to the Ticonderoga ferry which took 7 minutes to transport bikes and vans over Lake Champlain.  After docking we were in state number 15 of the trip, Vermont, a group photo was taken before we set off on the rest of the ride.  Vermont is very hilly and we had with plenty of double digit gradient ascents today, most were fairly short but we had two longer ones either side of lunch through the Green Mountains.  At the top of the first one, the Brandon Gap, we met up with Lexi who was with us at the start of the trip to Missoula.  She has a place in Vermont and brought along some cattle bells to give us Tour de France style encouragement as we reached the summit.  We were also joined today by a guy from Holland who was on the trip last year.  Unfortunately he had an accident on this ride a year ago that left him with broken leg, he's here to finish the journey he was unable to complete then, good on him.  All in all another fun day's riding with more pretty fall colours on display.

Ride Details

Vans embarking the Ticonderoga ferry

Ready for the short crossing

Group photo in Vermont

Cool road

Nice view over Lake Moray at the hotel