Meet some of my ride mates

 We rode 67 miles from Hillsdale south to Brewster, our longest ride so far, and my longest ride sine I finished the 2019  cross country trip.  The ride wasn’t hard, with more than half on rail trails, but the day was long as the closure of a short but key road sent us to frequent conferences with Google lady. We are staying at our nicest motel of the trip, complete with swimming pool.  Several of us got in a quick dip, which feels great on tired muscles.

I caught this glimpse of swans from our first stretch of rail trail.

I’ve done many rides with Vermonters John and Cindy Senning.  They are resting on a trail side bench with Marlene, a Californian I’m just getting to know.  Their ages range from 74 to 78.

Here are out two octogenarians, Dick is another Vermonter with whom I’ve covered lots of miles.  He can always be counted on to help change tires, but is good at missing turns.  Lin is a Minnesotan who writes a limerick about her ride almost every day.

We walked a short distance to an excellent Mexican restaurant for dinner.  Some of us went early to relax and enjoy  libations. The other Margaret, across the table from me, is our youngest rider, a mere 64.  I refer to her as Iron Legs.  She works part time at a bike shop and is also a speedy tire changer.

Lots of hills, August 7

 Hills seem to be getting longer and steeper as I get older.  We rode 46 miles to Hillsdale, south of Albany, although I suppose I should deduct a bit for the hills I walked up.  My Garmin showed 2700 feet of climbing, but I don’t think it counts the walking either.  There were some fantastic downhills, but alas, they go by so quickly.  It was hot and muggy, almost DC weather, but as it was only the 80s, I’ll get no sympathy from the home front.  

Riding out of Albany, we passed some dramatic graffiti under an overpass.

Judging by the well preserved tombstones, I think this church was built in the 1840s.  It is on a hilltop on a country road, and we pictured the yard full of horses and buggies on a Sunday morning.  We have seen lots of historic markers along the way, but other than the dates in the cemetery, nothing here. 

The lunch stop today was just a pull-off at a corner.  The food always tastes great, there’s ice for our water bottles, and today there was also a bit of bike repair.  This was not the day to have malfunctioning gears.

River ride, motel confusion, August 6

Today we rode 56 miles from Glens Falls to Albany.  Most of the way was in sight of water, which I always love.  Susan, my riding partner and roommate, and I met up with Ken Wright, one of our tour leaders, as we were coming into Albany.  We were happy to have him guide us on the bike trails into the city, as trails are not necessarily well marked and can be confusing.  Being with him also gave us a heads up that the Hampton Inn where we thought we had confirmed reservations suddenly had no record of our booking. We are now at a nearby Motel 6, downscale from the Hampton, but we are grateful they had rooms for us.

Here’s a couple of views along the Champlain Canal, as it comes in and out of the Hudson River.  We just missed seeing a boat go through the locks, something I always like watching.

Ken stopping along the Mohawk Hudson Bikeway to work on the reservations dilemma.  He’s a fast rider, so his stops gave us a chance to catch our breath.  

Getting into the groove, August 5

Fifty-two miles, 2785 feet of climbing to reach Glens Falls felt pretty easy today. The first 37 miles were a straight shot on the same road, so we didn’t have to worry about wrong turns, and the final stretch was on quiet, lovely rural roads. We have noticed labor shortages at fast food establishments, and today we were delayed getting in to our rooms at a much nicer hotel than our norm because of lack of sufficient workers to clean the rooms. 

I call this Ode to a Snowplow.  We haven’t seen many oddities along the road, but this qualifies.

This is a too common sight, lovely old barns falling down and neglected.  Of course, we find active facilities, including the biggest milking parlor I’ve ever seen at a dairy operation we passed later in the day.

After Margaret Street the other day, we rode on Goodman Road today!

I finally got my ice cream, a delicious chocolate coconut swirl that was worth waiting for.  I’m glad ordered a small, as it was melting faster than I could eat it.

Lots of stories

 One of the joys of these bike trips is reuniting with old friends and telling “do you remember “ stories about out adventures.  Well, after today, we have a lot more stories. Our planned 46 mile ride to Ticonderoga turned into a 55 mile ride because of a detour.  Fortunately, the roads on the detour were very nice biking roads, just longer.  We climbed 3500 feet, including one 17 percent grade that most of us walked, we had several flat tires, one on my bike, and two people fell in the mud riding across the grass to the motel!  Oh, yes, and I lost a crown.  We dealt with a root canal once in Montana, so I’m sure I can get the crown reattached somewhere in the next few days.  Still no ice cream.

Fixing bikes and recuperating after one of our long climbs. The good part about climbing is that you also get great downhill runs. 

Not a sign you want to see.  A couple of people rode down to the construction site, but the workers were very firm about no bikers climbing down a 14 foot ditch.  

I was too busy panting up hills and flying down to take any more pictures. 

Adirondack wandering

 Beautiful weather, nice roads, a few challenging hills— all in all a fine 44 miles from Plattsburgh to Upper Jay, New York.  We are staying in a lovely rustic lodge in the forest of Adirondack Park, so I’m not sure what else constitutes Upper Jay.  It’s great to be back at summer camp with my friends and to know that the legs still work.

On the first 18 miles we stopped at a sculpture garden, with depictions ranging from this Goya painting to the Last Supper, to the hanging of John Brown.  On down the road we looked down on the Ausable Chasms, and a bit further on stopped at a roadside garden which was attracting lots of birds, including several redwing blackbirds. 

Ignoring the road closed sign, we rode a four mile stretch of newly paved road, much appreciated by cyclists, and stopped to enjoy the scenery without worrying about traffic.  And the scenery is indeed spectacular.

New York State has some bridges nice enough to draw the admiration of the Vermonters among us.

The day’s only drawback was a lack of ice cream shops along the way.  Maybe we will have better luck in that department tomorrow.

Back on the road

 After a two year hiatus, I’m back on a bike trip.  We will ride a bit more than 1000 miles this month, starting and ending in Burlington, Vermont, and most of the time in New York State.  Our group is once again led by Nancy and Ken Wright, and I have ridden previously with 11 of the 17 riders. It felt like old home week as we gathered in Burlington on Saturday.

Today’s ride was a short, easy warmup, 30 miles and two ferry rides to Plattsburgh, New York.

We rode from Burlington up the Colchester Causeway, with views of Vermont’s Green Mountains on one side and New York’s Adirondacks on the other.

Although we didn’t see Champy, Lake Champlain’s famous monster, se did spot a dinosaur or two hiding in a woods filled with colorful birdhouses.  

We are, appropriately enough, staying on Margaret Street.

Frequently, our evening gatherings are in a motel breakfast room.  Not today, as we looked at afterglow in the eastern sky across the lake. Focusing on tomorrow’s route was a challenge.