[DVBC] Dreamer's TOPA 2007 Ride Report

[Edward Sobolewski]

Debbie,
Great report, I enjoyed reading it and tried to visualize the areas you
described, some of them I've been but on different rides. I love the multi
days rides and the special bonding which forms as we face off the challenges
together. 

I still think that to name the ride ToPA it should have at least 51% of
roads in PA (or at least the highest percentage if it crosses to more than 2
states), but that does not minimize the fact that you guys had, it seems,
good time.  After all it is only a name.

Welcome home, and I am glad that everybody made it back safely.  Rest your
achy muscles quickly, and see you on the reads.
Edward  

-----Original Message-----
From: dvbc-list-bounces at list.dvbc.org
[mailto:dvbc-list-bounces at list.dvbc.org] On Behalf Of dreamer
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 11:20 PM
To: dvbc-list at dvbc.org
Subject: Re: [DVBC] Dreamer's TOPA 2007 Ride Report

YEAH BABY!!!  I'm happy to say that I hung in there and completed my 
first _full_ ToPA today.  Got home about 3:45.  The Tour was great 
overall and the last 3 days were especially fun.  Some tour highlights 
for me:

Day 1
Rode up a 30% grade hill on Callowhill Rd.  The route went past Lake 
Nockamixson and along the Delaware River and was quite beautiful.  We 
crossed over into NJ just past Easton.  Stayed at a great hotel in 
Belividere NJ.  Bought dinner at a deli, got some six packs of beer and 
ate at picnic tables in town and we all had a grand time.  Two hot air 
balloons passed by as we were eating.

Day 2
Started the day at Uncle Buck's for breakfast.  Dom got a belly-buster 
which was a lot of food!  Then we headed for the hills and were climbing 
most of the day until we got to Princeton.  Again beautiful scenery.  
Dave had his little incident looking at the helicopter which we laughed 
about since he was okay.  Got to ring my bell at 3 cute guys running 
shirtless by a lake--they got a kick out of that.  A great Italian 
dinner with some beers in the lobby of our hotel at 9:30 p.m. sharing 
stories from the day.

Day 3
Not too many hills and a mostly flat ride to Seaside Heights NJ.  We 
rode past a field of sunflowers where I just had to stop and take a 
picture since it reminded me of the TDF.  Just down the road a few miles 
we passed the place where it seems all the world's Port a Potties are 
kept--there must have been a thousand of them all lined up.  Lunch stop 
at Art & Kathy's which was a real hoot!  They were an elderly couple who 
ran a country store/deli.  The store was very interesting and they had 
quite a selection of varied items for sale and a signed autograph of 
Ozzie Osborne who apparently likes to eat there.  They had a selection 
of hot sauces including but not limited to "Colon Cleaner", "NJ 
Roadkill" and "Hula Girl".  Some of us went to the beach and Mike, 
Nancy, Doug and I actually braved the cold water and went all the way in 
the ocean.  We all had an excellent dinner at the Fish Market restaurant.

Day 4
This was a tough one!  Weather was hot and humid.  Nancy, Doug, and Dave 
were the only ones who chose to do the 100 mile route through the Pine 
Barrens down to Atlantic City.  The rest of us thought we'd take the  
shorter Route 9 down to A.C.  Well, as it turns out the ride was much 
longer than expected and we wound up with 85 hot miles since parts of 
Route 9 are for cars only so we had to find an alternate route.  Later, 
a good dinner and  some brews at an Irish Pub in the Tropicana Casino 
helped make us feel much better.  Ironically, the other 3 riders got in 
much sooner than we did and they only did 85 miles!  Go figure .  .  .

Day 5
This was a fun day.  We rode from A.C. down to Cape May and caught the 
ferry  to Lewes DE.  We had a good breakfast, stopped to see Lucy the 
elephant, saw the house and met the people where Dave vacations in Ocean 
City (see you there the week after next Dave--we know where you'll be 
now!), saw Nancy's friend's old pink shack.  Dave got a flat on Route 9 
and was working on it when a truck with PA tags stopped.  Lo and behold 
it was Garth Donaldson, a DVBCer from Springfield who we had never met.  
He had seen the guys' jerseys and said he just had to stop and help.  He 
walked up to Dave with a foot pump and saved the day.  Thank you Garth!  
The ferry ride was fun and brought back memories for me when I used to 
go to Lewes DE with my grandmother and ride over to Cape May.  Another 
good dinner in Lewes DE along with some excellent Mojitos.  The guys 
seemed to appreciate the cute blond working the counter at the motel.

Day 6
At this point we were down to 4 riders--Dave, Doug, Nancy and  myself.  
We rode from Lewes to Middletown  DE since we decided not to go all the 
way down to Cambridge MD.  We rode Route 1 down to Dover where we picked 
up Route 9.  We stopped at the Dover Air Force Museum and got to see 
some cool stuff.  I've always wanted to ride Route 9 since I used to 
drive that as an alternate route going to O.C. MD so that was  pretty 
cool.  We had lunch at a little deli in Little Creek and met some of the 
locals.  We beat some pretty nasty storms out and got to Middletown in 
time to have some ice cream and then hit the pool and the hot tub before 
dinner.

Day 7 (Today)
The weather was much cooler and less humid although we had a strong 
headwind all the way back home.  We rode through  Delaware City and saw 
some civil war re-enacters and then tackled the bridge over the D & C 
Canal.  We rode half way up and had to get off and walk because of the 
high winds.  It was a beautiful view from way up there.  Dave mapped out 
a great route home although our legs complained a little since we were 
now climbing hills again.

Now I'm looking forward to _not_ riding tomorrow, sleeping late, and 
watching the TDF time trial.  Well, that's my greasy, grimy, road dirt 
for now!  See you on the roads.

Debbie


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