Boy am I slow...

[mimitabby]

yea, Pardes! great story. It's nice to have another wise woman on TE.

[wackyjacky1]

Not bike-related, but Pardes, your story about grocery shopping reminds me of one time when I went to the store on my old moped. As I was going up and down the aisles filling up my cart, I completely forgot that I wasn't in my car. It wasn't until I was checking out that I realized I had bought waaaaay to much stuff, including an 11-lb. bucket of kitty litter, a bag of charcoal, a 12-pack of Coke, etc. Somehow I managed to strap it all on my moped, and lurched home (the center of gravity was completely thrown off).



Thank goodness for that custom rear cargo carrier.

[danadear]

Pardes, you are doing GREAT!!! You are an inspiration, actually...

1! You are a great storyteller and you make me want to get out and ride right this moment!

[pardes]

My next challenge is to figure out how to attach my camera/video in a shock-absorbing manner to my Trek and video some segments to encourage other senior pleasure riders to the scenic beauty spots hidden within our East Coast urban sprawl in northern Delaware.

Fortunately the camera store is right acorss the street from the LBS where both stores are extremely helpful and where they look forward to pleasure-riding increasingly strange questions. "I would like a button installed on my handlebar that when pushed will extend and reach into passing cars and smack the drivers who ride my rear tire."

In this area I'm able to pursue two hobbies: biking and researching the late 1600's settlements, particularly New Castle, Delaware where ladies, believe it or not, the only woman in America, Catherine Bevan, was both hanged and burned at the stake for allegedly killing her husband with the aid of her young male servant. In those days killing your husband was called "petit treason."

Packet Alley is a particular "haunting" spot.



A house on the cobblestone road.



Faithful friend frozen in time.



Reproduction of the Kalmar Nykel at the dock. I went for a ride on it and can't believe it how small it was to cross the ocean and bring Swedish immigrants to this area.



It's a town that makes you reflective of both your past and your future....

Historic Delaware

In these historic places,
there are spirits everywhere--
those we discover looking back at us
through a mullioned window
and those we bring with us.
It's our choice
whether that will be
a haunting
or a blessing.

Pardes

[Tuckervill]

Nice, Pardes!

I was just looking online at state parks in Delaware. I've never been there, but son (14) and I are heading that way in September, and we need a beach to visit while we travel. The state park I was looking at I think was Henlopen?

Delaware and Rhode Island are states we have yet to cross off our list. Any recommendations of must-sees in Delaware?

Karen

[pardes]

Northern Delaware

Chad's Ford in Pa into Delaware to end of Route 9 in Dover. The scenic areas where herds of bikers travel.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2153752

highlights
Brandywine Battlefield
Chad's Ford Art museum
scenic roads into Wilmington
There are some major mountain bike areas near Newark in White Clay Creek parks.
very scenic ride from New Castle to Dover on Route 9 which is beautiful
Pea Patch Island a must-see and break from biking. Take the ferry to the island and step back into the Civil War at Ft. Delaware.

Delaware beaches

US 1 from Wilmington to the beaches is a MAJOR speed highway. Avoid at all costs.

I haven't traveled the beach area yet but the Rail Trail looks great. US 1 from Rehoboth to Ocean City is very busy in summer but not a super highway and not as fast and should be fine in Sept. Lots of turnoffs to get to the beach in just yards of walking.

Junction and Breakwater Rail Trail

http://www.traillink.com/ViewTrailMa...AcctID=6015481

http://www.railstotrails.org/resourc...waterTrail.pdf

http://www.railtrails.org/newsandpub...ives/0411.html

[Becky]

Pardes has some great suggestions! I love Fort Delaware and Pea Patch Island! I'll just toss out a couple more of my own....

Cape Henlopen is a beautiful state park. I actually got to live there for a couple of summers (in the park!) as a lowly intern at the college down the road.

If you go, check out the remnants of the WWII-era naval installation (Fort Miles)....the bunkers, the observation towers, and the "T-Building" at Herring Point. Herring Point used to be the "secret" beach that only the fishermen and locals knew about. Not sure if that's true anymore....

Lewes itself is a beautiful little town, perfect for strolling. It's a much quieter town than Rehoboth Beach, and more to my liking. Alas, it's been about 8 years since I lived there, so I don't know any of the shops or restaurants anymore.

A word of caution: please be exceedingly careful on Route 1, especially between Lewes and Bethany Beach. It's very heavily traveled by cars and some brave cyclists, but there are several reports each summer of cyclists and pedestrians getting hurt or killed there. I don't mean to alarm you, just looking out for you. Oh, and all of the municipalities love to run speed traps on their sections of Route 1...when they say 35 mph in Dewey Beach, they really do mean it

Have a great trip!

[Duck on Wheels]

I was riding back from the grocery store this afternoon with a very light load (the trip was mainly to get city trash bags as we were out and tomorrow is trash day), and was riding up a fairly gradual incline on this one street and all of a sudden I hear another bike coming up on my left. Somewhat unusual around here, and even more unusual was that this guy was wearing a fluorescent/reflective vest as I do. Anyway, he blew by me like I was flippin' STANDING STILL!! And it wasn't like he was even trying to go fast--he looked like just another person using his bike to get around town, not a racing type (although he was on a road bike rather than a hybrid). I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, but I felt like I wanted to go crawl in a hole! I guess I didn't realize how slow I really was until then. I'd say my average speed was about 12 mph (the majority of the return trip is uphill). Sorry for the random vent, just aggravated with myself right now!

Sorry I'm so slow . I only just saw this thread. So here I go yanking us back to square 1. I just wanted to say that, by now, you're probably averaging more than those 12 mph, whereas I'm still pretty pleased to average 10 or 11. I'd ask to ride with you to get my speed up a bit, but I'd be holding you back. You go grrrl! And don't worry about others speeding by. I think the real speedsters miss some of the fun I have enjoying the scenery. Enjoy your rides! You're doin' fine!

[7rider]

"I would like a button installed on my handlebar that when pushed will extend and reach into passing cars and smack the drivers who ride my rear tire."

Wow!!!!
I want one of those!!!

[TrekTheKaty]

At least you're not on the couch! I looked back at my training log from my first ride and I averaged 8 mph--and I thought I was FLYING! My speed has increased significantly on my hybrid--my family rides a loop and the boys now have new street bikes. Our training is riding as hard as we can so they don't lap up before we get in 5 laps!

And 12 mph is good! I just started riding a hilly route for training and my husband said I was averaging 6-8 mph at the top of some of the bigger hills and that was slowing my average speed down (I was too busy to look--I was just trying to not stop or fall over!)

What SIZE tires do you have? We swapped out the 32's that came with my bike for 25's and that also increased by speed.