First day riding

After enjoying everyone's company in CT for a few days, it was time to get riding.  The first day's itinerary was pretty mellow: hare across country to the coast, where we would pick up the East Coast Greenway route and follow it to Bridgeport.

Mileage: 43 miles. 1700 feet of climbing.  Overall, the amount of riding was pretty average for the trip, and the climbing wasn't as much as it sounds like, coming in small rollers of 100 feet or less.  Because it wasn't going to be a particularly difficult day, we got a leisurely start.

We saw the first of what would be many of these signs as we followed parts of the route.


It was a day of firsts for the trip: first day riding, first mechanical issue (Nim's back wheel slipped out of position and started rubbing the frame), first detour (road construction just a few miles in), first flat tire (evil nail that went completely through my tire, making holes in two places!)  Still, it was good to be riding.  Even the kid agreed:

On thing I didn't fully appreciate was that Bridgeport is actually the largest city in Connecticut.  Needless to say, the approach in was a bit urban, despite the fact that we were on the East Coast Greenway Route at this point.  This section was just an on-the-road section rather than being trail like some of the later parts.

The highlight of the day was the most amazingly yummy clam and garlic pizza we had at a brew pub a short walk from the hotel.

Nim and I thought their rootbeer was also exceptionally good.

After dinner, we enjoyed the walk back in the early evening light, with many buildings to look at

and the usual teen dance shenanigans.  We must not have used her up!