Boston – July 15^th

 I’m now in the City of Boston

The land of the bean and the cod
To take in some sites without biking
And rejuvenate my aching bod…

That about sums it up.  They’ll probably be no more posts for a few days as I poke around Boston and hopefully heal.  I’ve kept riding with a pulled leg muscle that’s slowly got worse and I’m now not sure if I’ll be able to continue...  The leg doesn’t bother me as long as I’m pedalling but setting up a tent, climbing stairs, etc. is becoming quite painful.  Anyway, enough of my aches and pains.  At my age, I’m probably lucky to still be able to travel this way and (somewhat) enjoy it.

Anyway, to backtrack, yesterday was mostly overcast but scorching hot.  I only rode 23 miles (about 35 km) into Portland but I was drenched in sweat by the time I arrived there.  The terrain was hilly for the first 7 km, but considerably flatter thereafter.  I didn’t take in any sights in Portland (there didn’t appear to be many) but biked directly to the train/bus station, an air conditioned oasis.

I’ve cheated and taken a bus here to Boston, where I’m going to hopefully heal and wait out the never-ending heat wave.  It’s supposed to be somewhat cooler this coming week and I’m hoping I’ll be able to continue riding.  Viewed through the bus window, the terrain between Portland and Boston appeared to be almost flat and I’m told it’s similarly flat between here and New York City.  Whether or not I’m prepared to spend a week riding through such flat, featureless country however, is an open question.  I’m now finding out why people don’t talk much about bike touring the US east coast.  All for now.