Day 001 – Brooklyn, NY > Chatham, NJ

DAY 1

I first had the idea for this bike trip in June of last year – combine two things I love – cycling with video story telling to help navigate my way through the messy feelings of getting divorced. Planning the trip would keep me focused for the rest of my time in NY while the bike trip itself would be the forum I’d use to process the thoughts and feelings that have become crusted in my brain case.

Part 1 is done and I’m through the first day of part 2 and feeling a bit overwhelmed by what I’m taking on, but also very excited to be on my way.

This blog, like the bike trip itself is a work in progress.  I have an outline of what I’m doing, but I really don’t know exactly how it will be realized or what directions it will go in.  It’s important that I say this because I habitually stop myself from creating because I don’t think what I create is good enough to share with others. I’m giving myself permission for this to suck for as long as it needs to until I find my narrative voice. So thanks for taking time to check out TruthOnion and I hope you find it interesting.

THE RIDE

I road 36 miles from Ditmas Park, Brooklyn to the house of my friends Raji and Kavita in Chatham, NJ.  I had planned to do 50, but decided to take the water taxi to Hoboken and cut out the N/S roundabout involving the GW Bridge. Good choice too because my legs started cramping up about 4 miles from the end. Nothing too bad, but a reminder that I need to take it easy the first couple of weeks until my body gets used to pedaling 150lbs of gear in addition to my 215.

Industrial NJ sucks, but I did get to see and smell Little India (fabulous) and little and what seemed like Little Brazil.  In Upper Clinton Hill I saw at least 50 dirt bike riders gunning down the street being chased by cops. It was a Mother’s Day blessing of the bikes event. I wasn’t fast enough to get my camera out to get pictures, but it felt a little like Smokey and the Bandit, but with lots of bandits.

I’ve decided to stay an extra day at Raji and Kavita’s to assess my legs and see how far I should ride tomorrow. I was originally thinking 50, but I may try for just 30 miles. I am also going to repack stuff to make it easier to get to. With a trailer and 5 bags it’s not clear what should go where in order for me to get it out easily.