Season 2 Episode 11 (9/20-9/21): On the Right Path! Larchmont, NY to Princeton, NJ

Season 2 Episode 11 (9/20-9/21): On the Right Path!  Larchmont, NY to Princeton, NJ – 

74 miles. 2,014’ climbing. 

We planned to leave Larchmont at 7 a.m. but as I feared and suspected would happen, we struggled to leave the comfort of our own bed and home. It felt like a second start to the trip and we left after 8 a.m. in our new shirts. 

Let’s go Team Reeve.

After barely a minute of riding, and one left turn and one right turn, we were on Boston Post Rd. aka US Route 1. Incredible to think we could follow this single road all the way from our house to Florida. But after some time on it, and cycling with fear through the morning traffic in the Bronx, where there was no yielding to us, we knew better than to try that idea.  90 minutes later, we had crossed the East River. I was super impressed with Heather’s urban riding as she doesn’t enjoy weaving among cars as I do. I did hear her shouting WHOA! WHOA! to a few drivers. I was even more impressed with her photo taking skills from a moving bike. 

Crossing from the Bronx on the High Bridge (NY’s oldest bridge!) over the Harlem River and the Deegan Expressway

Cycling In The Heights – no Lin-Manuel Miranda sightings.

Riverside Park between Hudson River and West Side Highway. 

Around 10:30 a.m. in Tribecca, we passed this woman riding a mountain bike who we guessed was 75 years old. We had passed her twice before and she had passed us in turn twice. She then passed us for the third time. We could not believe her speed. Was she competing with us as much as I was definitely competing with her? I hope to be in her shape at that age. 

Respect to this older cyclist!

Staten Island Ferry and passing Lady Liberty.

Pedaling across Goethals Bridge into yet another state, this one literally spelled out on the ground. 

The Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park runs from New Brunswick, NJ to Princeton. It’s part of the ECG but this was an example of us being better off not taking a protected trail. It’s unpaved and after last night’s rain would be muddy in places. We could see as such where it was flooded in spots. Instead, we rode along the smoothly paved Canal Road into Princeton. It was beautiful with the canal on our right and striking homes on our left. The traffic was light and respectful of us although it meant sharing the road as there was no shoulder. For the last few miles, we did ride on the canal and I encountered a first – I rode through a swarm of bugs that hit me in the face, some even in my open mouth. It evoked memory of watching Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain in the famous “bug playoff game” in Cleveland in 2007. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad.

At 5 p.m., we arrived at our destination - an apartment right in the ideal location, smack on Nassau Street– just two blocks from Princeton University, next to a bike shop and across the street from great restaurants. We could not create a more ideal location. Staying here was a wonderful act of kindness from friends Barbara and Barry who lent us their place and served as de facto Warm Showers hosts in absentia. But before heading upstairs to shower and rest, we had 3 more blocks to pedal to our first stop in trying to determine who would win our version of “the Battle of Princeton”. We know who won the revolutionary one. This town boasts two world class ice cream parlors competing for the Ivy League crown. Today we visited Thomas Sweet Ice Cream – home of the Blend-in! When a shop boasts home of the blend-in, it’s not time to order a shake. The blend-in is, dare I insult them, their version of a DQ Blizzard, but far better. I went for a combo of 3 flavors Cookies & Cream, Birthday Cake, and Cinnamon with extra Oreo as my blend in. Wow, I nailed it! Underrated was the cinnamon last minute add in. This was key and I hope to remember it in the future. The resulting treat could only be better if it was bigger!

Thomas Sweet, Blend-In perfection would be hard to beat!

Wednesday 9/22 was a planned rest day. We saw the forecast was sunny for today and thunderstorms for tomorrow, the day we planned to ride to West Chester, PA (Philadelphia area). Heather proposed the practical and sensible idea that we cut our stay in Princeton to 1 night and ride today while sunny, and then take our rest day in Philadelphia. I agreed that made abundant sense, but simply could not do it. I badly needed a day off the bike. As much as I loathed the prospect of biking in rain, I could not rally to her suggestion. We would take our chances, plus I wanted to explore Princeton. This was a bit of a source of silent disagreement.  

PJ’s Pancake House offered us an amazing brunch! The tables are carved with students’ names lending an air of college history. I meant to ask if the table etchings were real or faux carvings? I’m not really a pancake guy, but it has taken me to age 59 to realize that you don’t order French toast in a place named PJ’s Pancake House. Pumpkin pancakes and banana pancakes plus omelets were a brunch that we highly recommend. The funniest thing was listening to Heather in her ongoing evolution, or maybe it was mimicry of me, enthusiastically describing the generous ratio of vegetable ingredients to eggs that made this a stellar omelet; as well as the ratio of bananas to batter in the pancakes. She literally said: “Look at this, have you ever seen such a ratio?” I’ve turned her into a crazy food critic, and imagined how I must sound.

Heather marveled at the ratio of veggies to eggs!

We toured campus, and standing inside the Memorial Atrium in Nassau Hall was a somber moment reflecting on the many Princetonians who made the ultimate sacrifice in our many wars. We soon made a new friend, Momen, a PhD student from Cairo. He was very charitable with his time, walking us around different buildings. The second Heather heard he is studying gut bacteria I knew what was next. She started discussing personal family bathroom use frequency and asking for his advice. I can only imagine what he thought of his campus tourists.

Momen gets to hear about family bathroom usage.

It was now time to check out the other ice cream parlor in the battle, The Bent Spoon. They are highly touted having been voted NJ’s best ice cream and voted by the Financial Times as one of the world’s best. However, on our way there, I had one of the most eerie, witchy, touching moments. Walking through Palmer Square, I could have chosen any number of ways to walk - left or right around the Square, or among the few paths. I walked a random route, and then about half way through the path, I happened to look down and noticed personalized bricks at our feet. I was in shock and yelled to Heather to come right away. We later counted rows and estimated 3,800 bricks. And of all the bricks I could have stopped on, if this wasn’t a sign from above (and BELOW!) that I’m on the right path, I don’t know what is.

Clearly a sign I’m on the right path.

I knew Christopher Reeve went to Cornell & Juilliard, but did not know he grew up in Princeton. Still freaked out that I stopped on the Christopher Reeve brick while wearing my Team Reeve shirt and fundraising for the Reeve Foundation,  we made it to The Bent Spoon. I ordered a banana cream milkshake that was definitely a great shake. It was so thick that at the end I needed to finish it with a spoon and love that. They could however take a lesson from others and upgrade the quality of their straws from a cheap plastic one that cracked. For that reason, I waiver on if it’s a 5-straw or only 4-straw rating. If visiting again, I’d consider ordering a 3 different scoop sampler of their artisanal ice cream.

4 or 5 Straw Shake, but think best to order ice cream

Despite our day of rest intended for leisure, we spent 3 hours checking options for changing tomorrow’s plans due to the impending thunderstorms. The original plan was to ride to West Chester, PA on Thursday, stay with friends, and then rent a car to drive back to NY Friday for our originally planned 4 days off for family visits for holidays and for Heather’s mom’s birthday. Thunderstorms were still forecasted for the following day. We are prepared to ride in the rain but not in thunder and lightning. As I said to Heather, how can we still tell our kids to make safe choices and then ride in lightning ourselves?  

So what to do. We walked to the car rental in Princeton to check options, we checked train tickets and considered returning from Princeton to Larchmont for our holiday break, and resume riding next week from Princeton instead of from West Chester, PA. Here’s where tension built between us. Heather wanted to make the decision this afternoon and be done with it, while we knew cars and train tickets were still available. I wanted to see the weather at 6 a.m. the following day and make a game day call. This goes to a basic difference between us. Heather’s mantra is why put off for tomorrow what you can do today? And I’ve lived by why decide something today that you can put off until tomorrow? Equilibrium lies somewhere between these two poles. The result, we agreed to go to bed with no plan and decide at 6 in the morning when we woke up. [IN READING THIS TO HEATHER BEFORE SUBMITTING IT, Heather says: “we didn’t agree! We went with your plan and I was pissed.” I guess that’s more accurate. 😊]

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