On Wednesday September 24th Pearson and Pete left Lima, NY and rolled towards their hometown of Skaneateles, NY.  Just outside of Waterloo, NY Pete got his first flat tire. 

After laughing and celebrating, Pearson changed the tire and tube for him.  There were many pieces of glass and other objects stuck in his tire, so the Kevlar lining has saved Pete from many flats.

As Pearson and Pete cycled into Skaneateles they were greeted by cheering friends and family.  We were then treated to a dinner of sauce and meatballs made by Pearson & Pete’s Mom—Thank you!

There was a photo and blurb about our arrival in the Post-Standard Newspaper:

http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1222333004232740.xml&coll=1

On Thursday September 25^th Pearson got up early to talk to the 3^rd graders at his old elementary school.  The kids were enthralled with Pearson and his bikes and he made them all promise to wear their helmets every time they get on a bike. Thank you to Pearson’s 5^th grade teacher Janet Fagal for arranging the event.

 News Channel 9 in Syracuse came to the event and interviewed Pearson:  http://www.9wsyr.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=73BBF63E-C102-4D51-A1CE-013631EF0EBB&gsa=true

Later in the morning Pearson and Pete spoke to the 6^th grade at Jordan-Elbridge Middle School.  The kids asked specific questions about the ride and they all wanted to lift Pearson’s bike (because it’s very light).  Thanks Chris Palen for setting up the event.

In the early afternoon they addressed a group of high school students and 6^th graders at the Skaneateles schools.  The 6^th graders mobbed Pearson and Pete after the event—very excited to meet them.  Thank you to Pete Chapman and Liz Hyatt for arranging the event.

Pearson went to an emergency eye exam and found out he had a severe eye infection that has caused an ulcer on his cornea.  To make matters worse the infection is in his good eye (he has almost no vision in his other eye due to a degenerative eye condition).  He was given eye drops and told not to wear his contacts. 

In the evening Pearson and Pete gave a public presentation about their trip and their mission at the Skaneateles Library.  Thank you to Janet Fagal, Liz Hyatt and Mitch Major for all of their hard work to make the event possible.

On Friday September 26^th, despite the rain and a problem with Pete’s back brakes, P&P tackled the hills between Skaneateles and Cazenovia – which were anticipated to be the toughest of the trip – with relative ease.

While going up the first big hill Pearson tumbled off his bike and took Pete down with him.  Luckily both of them were okay. 

They rolled through Lafayette, NY (about 20 miles from Skaneateles) to the cheering of the Elementary School.  Pearson and Pete shook hands, gave hi-fives and even signed autographs for the kids—it was like they were rockstars!  Just before they left Pearson encouraged all the kids to wear their helmets. 

Down the road they found the second LBB sign spray-painted on the road by friend Todd Diel.

Because of his eye infection Pearson couldn’t wear his contacts and because of the rain he wasn’t able to wear his glasses so he was effectively riding blind.  About halfway through the ride he slammed into a mailbox and was knocked off his bike and onto his left arm (again).

As Pearson and Pete cycled through Richfield Springs on Saturday September 27^th they had an interview with the Richfield Springs Mercury newspaper. 

As we approached Cooperstown Pearson got flat #19.  During the rush to change his tire and get going again I put my tripod on the side of the road and must have forgotten to put it back in the van – Pearson’s parents looked for it- even knocking on doors but with no luck.  So if anyone in near the Cooperstown baseball diamond or in Richfield Springs find a black tripod please let me know.

In the late afternoon we met up with a group from the New York Bicycling Coalition and they, along with my Dad, rode the last 15 miles with Pearson and Pete.  They all rode to the Upstate Artists Guild where the New York Bicycling Coalition welcomed us with a reception and Pearson and Pete gave a presentation about their mission.

The Albany Times Union ran an article about our arrival and events on Sept 25^th:

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=723674&category=SPORTS 

In the late evening we all went to a party and great dinner at Chris Duryea and Mary Witkowski’s house—thank you!

On Sunday September 28^th we took a rest day in Albany and Pearson had an interview with Albany’s ABC affiliate WTEN and they did a great story on the 6 and 10pm.

On Monday September 29^th we were back on the road and Pearson and Pete were joined by David Wilson, the president of the Westchester Cycle Club, who is writing a profile of us for the Purchase Alumni magazine.

In the afternoon we entered Massachusetts — our last state.

Pearson took another nasty fall (#7) “supermaning” across the rode and is now covered in a bloody road rash.

 On Tuesday September 30^th we started with an interview for the Springfield Republican Newspaper and then took off towards Boston.  Just outside of Palmer, MA Pearson’s rear derailleur hanger sheared off his bike. 

 

 

We stopped at the nearest bike shop but they didn’t have the proper piece. We called around to the nearest bike shops and Raleigh dealers but couldn’t find the piece.  Erin got on the case (thank you!) and found us a bike shop in Boston that didn’t have the piece but could rig something.  Determined to ride to the end, Pearson rode his mountain bike to Boston and the end of Route 20!

 

 

Along the way Pearson had an interview with WXTK news radio in Hyannis and a Worcester bicycle columnist. 

After celebrating at the end 20 sign we took Pearson’s bike to Bicycle Bill’s and the shop manager/mechanic/frame-builder created a derailleur hanger that worked—we were all very impressed.

Today we head for the Atlantic Ocean and the completion of our cross-country odyssey.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 9:34 am and is filed under Julia's Posts from the Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.