The Summer Solstice arrives today in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s the official first day of summer, and “the longest day.”
Some clubs and individuals have planned “longest day” rides to take advantage of the long stretch of daylight. I am going to take such a ride later.
In my youth, I did a “longest day” ride that spanned the entire day and state of New Jersey. We began at dawn at High Point, where the states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania meet, and pedaled just over 200 miles to Cape May, about 50 miles south of Atlantic City.. (No, we didn’t go to AC.)
Honestly, I don’t remember much about the ride. I hadn’t slept the night before because I was so concerned about missing the meetup—at 3am, if I recall correctly—and van ride to the start point.
The flickering of dawn was about the only sunlight we saw that day. The good news was that the sun wasn’t beating down on us on that humid day. The bad news was that the humidity fell on us—as showers somewhere around Clinton and in a torrent just south of Prlinceton.
Cape May juts into the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay about 50 miles south of Atlantic City. (No, we didn’t go to AC!) The pizza we ate, in large quantities, wouldn’t have passed muster in my old Brooklyn neighborhood or northern Jersey Shore (Long Branch and Asbury Park) hangouts. And I have no idea of what kind of beer we drank, pitcher after pitcher. Few things, though, have ever tasted better—or more earned, at the end of the Longest Day.
P.S. There is an edited version of Saturday’s post on The Daily Kos.
