Woke to a surprisingly cool morning, but that was nice for getting in the early miles, again through some quiet forested areas. Dennis was feeling strong, so I was happy to let him lead the way into the mild but noticeable wind. We were heading to a ferry, and trips were scheduled to depart at 2pm and 3:30.  At the pace we started at, we would be so very close to making the 2, but I figured there was no way we could maintain that pace over 60 miles, and we pseudo-agreed to just relax and get the 3:30. However, even at “relaxed” pace, Dennis was doing a annoyingly good job at keeping the 2pm in play.  But after his knee started complaining, we finally came to our senses and shut it down a bit.  And a good thing too, since we ended up getting there just before the 2:30 ferry departed. 2:30? Yeah, apparently I read the schedule wrong. D’oh.

In addition to not inventing fake deadlines, I need to convince Dennis that he’s probably the fastest loaded touring cyclist the world has ever seen; even at 50% effort, he’s faster than me, and I’m pretty damn fast myself.  But the psychology of bike riding is very weird, at least for us.  Even for me, if Dennis is cruising at 17mph and I’m happily following in his wake, I think, “when I take the lead, I’ll back us down to an easy 14mph.”  But then I somehow find myself up front cranking away at at least 16mph.  So we need to get control of our minds, and that will keep our bodies in shape.

The ferry took us and a boatload of cars into a new state, Delaware. It was a bit slower than the NYC ferry, but a nice relaxing ride on another beautiful day.  At short ride then brought us to our campsite at Cape Henlopen.

One of the reasons I’d had trouble letting go of the mythical 2pm ferry was because I had made plans for us to visit Dogfish Head’s brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, one of my favorite breweries.  We would be meeting some old friends of mine, Heather and Matt, who live nearby.  Not only were they nice enough to come out on such short and poorly-planned notice, but they even picked us up from the campground!

I filled myself up with three fine Dogfish Head creations (Palo Santo Marron, DFH Ale, and Chateau Jihau), and they were great, but sharing the evening with good people made it truly special.

Then, on the way back to the campground, Dennis and I got a chance to take the “shortcut” from town, walking straight down the beach. This is another bit I’d had planned in my head for months, so I was glad Dennis was game and we could squeeze it in. The 4-mile hike began on the lively boardwalk (where we gained firsthand experience of the unusually high concentration of Russian immigrants in the area), continued along the edge of the roaring surf, and ended with Google Satellite View and GPS leading us across the beach in total darkness to the trail back to the campground. Quite a memorable night.

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