Day 1 ended with a call -- my son Ian would be moving back home for a couple of weeks. The magic of virtual transcon -- voila, tandem partner!
And -- that got my ideas churning -- the point of this virtual transcon is to accumulate the 3500 miles. But I don't have to follow a set schedule. If the right answer on a given day is "shorter social ride" -- go with the flow!
Day 2 was that -- test run to make sure the tandem was ready for a longer ride, included good friend Marc and my former student Elan (a 2x PMC veteran). Walden is always a good destination, and we enjoyed a very pleasant spin.
Day 3 -- the first real tandem test. The day began with snow flurries. Riding the tandem through endless suburbs requires, to quote my yoga teacher Rosie, "effortless effort". You "just keep swimming", even though the riding is through strikingly similar subdivisions and strip malls. There were small accidental finds -- the Abigail Adams cairn -- and intentional Easter Eggs (the brief trip to the ocean, with the view of Minot Light). The tip of the hat to history, doing a mile on Washington Street, the longest contiguous street in the Commonwealth. And, embracing the spirit of virtual transcon -- arranging a meetup for a few miles with PMC rider and friend Steve as we passed through his hometown of Westwood.
PS -- note the diagonal line on the southern border of the map -- we will return to this later!!
230 miles down -- 3270 to go!
