Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route: Day 1
Jim and I had our first day on the Mid-Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route today (Thursday). It was a huge success.
We drove down from Massachusetts last night (Wednesday) and slept near Avis, PA. This morning we woke up and rode about 60 miles north on back roads to get to the start of the MABDR in Lawrenceville, PA. From there we rode about 140 miles on the MABDR before building camp near Jersey Shore, PA—me in my tent, Jim in his hammock. It was an awesome first day on the trail, with some great scenery too.
The past few weeks I’ve been anxious to get going, especially since I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on my first ride over 1,000 miles. The riding today helped answer all the questions I had. The route today was in great shape and super fast and I was psyched to open it up and haul ass—something I don’t get to do too often back home. I’m sure if Jim had looked over at me as we rode he’d have seen me grinning from ear to ear!
I also learned today that I can do much more on the bike than I first thought possible.Somewhere in the woods today, the MABDR crosses a river on a bridge. But today the bridge was closed due to construction and we had to find another way across. My initial thought was to backtrack and find a route around. But Jim had other ideas—he wanted us to ride across the water. At first I thought Jim was crazy, but then he said something that kinda hit me: “We can do a lot more than we actually think we can do and we can cross this body of water cus that’s what we have to do.” Turned out he was right. We did the crossing and it wasn’t the big deal I’d made it out to be in my head. Good thing too, because we were 120 miles into the woods with zero cell service. Sometimes you just need to step up and solve your own problems!
Let’s see what the rest this adventure brings. I’m pretty excited for tomorrow.
By: Mickey Spades. If you found Mickey’s post useful, consider sending him a few bucks. (Venmo: @michael-spadea-4). And here are all the posts from all Mickey’s trip:
