Mohawk Valley to the Hudson Valley
Tuesday June 25, 2019. Herkimer, NY to Troy, NY. 85 miles
Ascent/Descent= 2,223/2,597. Cumulative= 3,412 miles
First thing, I need to acknowledge that my posted cumulative mileages are more than 100 miles greater than the official cumulative posted on the CrossRoads and Big Dream websites. Some of this is explained by little side trips or the few occasions when I was briefly off course due to navigation error, but the difference seems too large to explain by these relatively small variances. I have looked back over my own data for the last 12-14 days or so and cannot find a math error. Someday maybe I'll check my addition for the entire trip, but in the meantime I stand by my figures.
Rain was the forecast for today and we had light rain right up to the only SAG stop when it really let loose. CrossRoads had set up a small canopy over the food and drinks, and we all crowded under it with little room to maneuver our way to the goodies, or away from them. One of Ken's daughters and her young daughter had travelled from Poughkeepsie to meet us and brought some delicious banana bread. We waited until the heavy rain had passed and someone said the storm cell had passed on radar. We managed to catch up to it again and rode through heavy rain for a half hour or so, before the skies cleared for the remainder of the ride.
The route paralleled the Mohawk River and the names of the towns and small cities were familiar from many, many trips along the NYS Thruway, but also from "Drums Along the Mohawk" by Walter Edmonds, which I read for the first time this past year. It is historical fiction, but the author took great pains to be sure the History was accurate. the Mohawk Valley was the frontier during the Revolutionary War, and one half of the fighting in New York during the war took place here. I'll have to read it again now that I understand the geography better.
We took the Mohawk Hudson Bikeway for about 15 miles beginning in Schnectady and arrived at our hotel just after crossing the Hudson.Charlie and I decided to have a beer at Wolff's Biergartendiagonally across 4th Street from the hotel and while we enjoyed our German beer and peanuts, we had a nice conversation with the only other patrons, a young couple with a tiny kitten in a box. They gave us a dinner recommendation for a very nice inexpensive Italian restaurant, Lo Porto's which was just a few blocks past our hotel on 4th Street. If you're ever looking for a nice place to eat in Troy, NY, I recommend it. After the beer, but before dinner, we washed the road crud form the wet streets off our bikes and lubed our chains.
Kathy Page arrived in the late afternoon, and will be following us along the remainder of the tour.
Rick, the pharmacist/bike mechanic who gave me all the good information on hills a while back, says that tomorrow is the toughest day of the tour, so I'm off to bed.
Ascent/Descent= 2,223/2,597. Cumulative= 3,412 miles
First thing, I need to acknowledge that my posted cumulative mileages are more than 100 miles greater than the official cumulative posted on the CrossRoads and Big Dream websites. Some of this is explained by little side trips or the few occasions when I was briefly off course due to navigation error, but the difference seems too large to explain by these relatively small variances. I have looked back over my own data for the last 12-14 days or so and cannot find a math error. Someday maybe I'll check my addition for the entire trip, but in the meantime I stand by my figures.
Rain was the forecast for today and we had light rain right up to the only SAG stop when it really let loose. CrossRoads had set up a small canopy over the food and drinks, and we all crowded under it with little room to maneuver our way to the goodies, or away from them. One of Ken's daughters and her young daughter had travelled from Poughkeepsie to meet us and brought some delicious banana bread. We waited until the heavy rain had passed and someone said the storm cell had passed on radar. We managed to catch up to it again and rode through heavy rain for a half hour or so, before the skies cleared for the remainder of the ride.
The route paralleled the Mohawk River and the names of the towns and small cities were familiar from many, many trips along the NYS Thruway, but also from "Drums Along the Mohawk" by Walter Edmonds, which I read for the first time this past year. It is historical fiction, but the author took great pains to be sure the History was accurate. the Mohawk Valley was the frontier during the Revolutionary War, and one half of the fighting in New York during the war took place here. I'll have to read it again now that I understand the geography better.
We took the Mohawk Hudson Bikeway for about 15 miles beginning in Schnectady and arrived at our hotel just after crossing the Hudson.Charlie and I decided to have a beer at Wolff's Biergartendiagonally across 4th Street from the hotel and while we enjoyed our German beer and peanuts, we had a nice conversation with the only other patrons, a young couple with a tiny kitten in a box. They gave us a dinner recommendation for a very nice inexpensive Italian restaurant, Lo Porto's which was just a few blocks past our hotel on 4th Street. If you're ever looking for a nice place to eat in Troy, NY, I recommend it. After the beer, but before dinner, we washed the road crud form the wet streets off our bikes and lubed our chains.
Kathy Page arrived in the late afternoon, and will be following us along the remainder of the tour.
Rick, the pharmacist/bike mechanic who gave me all the good information on hills a while back, says that tomorrow is the toughest day of the tour, so I'm off to bed.
Comments
Post a Comment