53 miles in 4.33 hours – Max Speed 33.5mph
I got up later than expected the next day, probably because of the late night. I packed up all my stuff, ate a breakfast with the aunt and uncle, and thanked them again. I ended up leaving at around 10am, which is later than I had anticipated. But I was on no real schedule, so it didn’t really matter.
I headed back up the road and got back on route 144 to ascend and descend some more hills. This day turned out to be an extremely uneventful one on the bicycle, which I suppose is a good thing with it being my final day and all. The only somewhat amusing story that every bicyclist knows is that when I finally turned off the 144 and onto Marriottsville Road, it was almost entirely downhill. I knew that I had done nothing to deserve this downhill, and as the road kept going down, I got more and more uncomfortable. There is no worse feeling that when you keep on descending when you haven’t climbed anything to begin with. Sure enough, as soon as I turned onto the next road (Ward’s Chapel Road) it was uphill almost the entire length. But then again, this was no real problem, and I made it through without issues.
Once I reached Reisterstown the roads became a little busier, but it was nothing I hadn’t seen before. Once I got on Shawan Road and rode past Oregon Ridge Park, then I really, for the first time in my trip, felt like I was home.
So I realized a couple miles from home that I had not taken any pictures, so I figured that I should take at least one. Sorry for the lack of them though.
I rode up to my mom’s house, dropped my bike outside, and walked in the front door. I went out back, hugged my mom, and sat down, feeling that I was finished for the first time all trip. My stepdad brought me a Natty Boh, and I sat outside for a few hours chatting with the mother. I eventually unpacked the bike, went upstairs, showered, and changed my clothes.
I was finished with one journey. It felt good to be home again, but there was one question in the back of my head that was growing louder with every passing moment at home. A question that I desperately did not want to confront.
What now?
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I will be back next week with a conclusion, some words about bike touring, an update on my life, and a quick FAQ. I want to thank everyone who read, and give special thanks to everyone who commented in the blogs or helped out in any way on the journey.
Kyle