Di and Steve Go Biking: Southampton, NY

Day 17

We made it to Southamption! We left the Red Carpet Inn, thank God (and Jen you know why) at 9:00a. We intended to leave earlier knowing the storm was on its way, but we overslept :( It wasn't raining when we left, but soon thereafter, about 6 miles later, it started coming down hard; we decide to duck for cover at A&M Deli. Let me tell you - everyone was extraordinarily weird in there, but they had a great potato and egg omelet; Steve had an egg sandwich that he very much enjoyed.

After about an hour, the heavy rain subsided so we decided to ride to get some miles behind us. It was a good decision because it only lightly rained so we rode another 15 miles. We stopped at Duncan Donuts for lunch and to dry off. I changed my clothes to stay warm. At this point in the ride I learned that a waterproof rain coat and a splash guard for the rear tire was imperative. Unfortunately I didn't have either; Steve had both. I won't make this mistake twice!

It took us 2 hours to get our nerve to embark on the 2nd half of the ride. We were monitoring NOAA storm radar so we knew the next few hours were going to be wet. We also knew that we had to get back on our bikes or we would not make it to Southamption before dark; we left the D&D at 3:30p.

For the next 16 miles it rained like cats and dogs. Heavy winds in our face and what seemed to be up hill all the way. Luckily there were very few cars on the road and we were riding green roads so we had a dedicated bike lane most of the way. Water drainage surprisingly was not a problem given the heavy rain. We did not encounter flooding at all.

We were desperate to stop, so we pulled over at a McDonalds. Like I said, we were desperate! We ate the healthiest thing we could find on the menu - grilled chicken breast and salad (me) and grilled chicken breast sandwich (Steve), and we changed our clothes again. According to NOAA storm update, the storm had near passed at this point, so we left at about 6:30p. We had about 16 miles to go, so we knew we would arrive before dark. This leg of the ride was extremely easy, light mist only and hills in our favor. We made great time and arrived before 8:00p.

At many times during the day, Steve and I discussed stopping to get a hotel along the way and we also looked into the Long Island train to catch a ride to Southampton, but in the end we got back on our bikes to ride it out (57 miles total). We are very happy that we are here and that the next two days are rest days. Not to mention the fabulous weather forecast for the weekend!

Here are some pics from previous days ...

Day 13 - returning to Princeton.

On our ride to Princeton we saw our first corn field. It brought back great memories from our Chesapeake Bay bike trip.