I met other friends in Albany. A concerning issue came upon me: It was less than 200 miles from Albany to Acton MA where Peter’s home is. It should be a two, at most three-day ride. But two rain systems were forecasted to come to NY and MA the rest of week. There might be gaps in between them, but they were moving in the same direction of my ride. Once caught, I might have to eighter stop and wait for them to pass over, or ride in the rain for a while. The routes through the rest of NY and MA were supposed to be hilly. Hills and rain are not good combinations for biking. It was Monday. Shuyi was scheduled to fly to Boston and meet me at the beach when I dip my front wheel in the Atlantic water. The likelihood that I could complete the rest of the ride dry to Acton by Friday was slim.
I figured that if I couldn’t compete the rest of the trip by myself, I didn’t care to ride some of it and then got picked up my Maria. I decided to skip this part of the trip, rent a car, pick up Peter who was in North Adams, and drive to Acton. On the entire trip, I had been delayed by the rain once in Seattle for a day and in Plummer in the morning. I was showered on several times. But this was a major weather event, which forced me to skip two or three days of rides. I didn’t feel too bad. I had ridden so much without accidents and I simply didn’t want to take any risk at the last part of the trip.
Chidong Zhang's WA2MA Bike Trip 