1.) I found out there were very large snakes in our campground. Now, as a biologist, I love all creatures. However, when your tent no longer zips up properly and you're sleeping right next to the site where said 4-ft long snake was seen, you feel less than inclined to like the creature.
2.) Meatloaf was for dinner. I love our cooks and I love their food, but I was secretly hoping for lasagna, or stir fry, or... well, anything but meatloaf. That, and they were all out of chocolate milk, and 1% so I had to settle for 2%. My mom understands how much of a sacrifice that is for me... Not a big fan of the 2%.
Oh, and a 3rd thing. We also found out that we could have taken a different route that day that would have been much more pleasant, and would have brought us to Vermont! Apparently, we could have taken the ferry to Vermont (which we passed and several people took anyways just to visit), traversed the distance in Vermont, and crossed back over to NY state to reach our destination. Oh well. That 6,600 and some ft of climbing was good for the soul.
Well, enough complaining. After dinner I cleaned my bike chain because it was squeaking quite a bit, had peloton, found out about the route for the next day, and then settled into my tent. Some of the others head back to the tavern to hang out, but I was pretty tired and settled for reading my book. It was fairly short-lived, and I fell asleep before 9pm :)
After our success yesterday leaving early, we decided to try it again, so we left this morning at 7:15. Not as early as yesterday, but still a great starting time! We biked easily along the route which consisted of rolling hills and beautiful views. I'll hand it to New York. They may have the worst grades on ills, but they sure have beautiful views.
At one point in the ride, early in the morning, we caught up with a large group of cyclists. I thought it looked pretty neat to see us all biking in a line, going around the corner, so I took a photo.
After skipping the second SAG, we stopped at a small coffee shop. Many riders had come through there that morning and so they knew all about our cause. I think they may have been slightly overwhelmed by the number of costumers they got that morning, but they still wished us well!
To be honest, I was ready to leave the café about 30 minutes before we did (we were there almost an hour), but stayed because everyone else ordered breakfast and I ate my peanut-butter sandwiches. In retrospect I should have continued on my own so they didn't feel rushed by my desire to leave. Live and learn!
By SAG 3 it was starting to get pretty warm out. It was around 11:30 and I was ready to get going an dhead into camp without more stops, so Zach and I just grabbed water, a piece of watermelon, and head back on to road. I really enjoyed only taking about 2 minutes at the SAG because my legs didn't feel tired when I got back on the bike. All of these things you wish you knew/had done 8 weeks earlier :P We repeated the same technique at the last SAG, which had "imitation Tim-bits" (Dunkin' Donuts), and set back on the path. Here are some of the sights along the way, from the saddle.
At one point, only about 10km from camp, we had to go up a large ramp, and were required to walk our bikes up and down the ramps, but could bike on the flat part. Weird, but interesting to experience.
When we got into camp we were greeted with Cowbells and signs, food, and the promise of a nice shower :) Today's stop is at the YMCA! Zach and I set up our tents and also Matt's, Sara's and Laura's because they weren't in yet, and worked up a real sweat in the process! it was over 90 degrees by this time and we needed to cool off. The showers were as wonderful as promised, and even better because there were 12 for men and 12 for women! A huge difference compared to yesterday, when there were only 2 for everyone.
And so concludes Week 9, Day 4. Stay tuned for the rest of my last week on Sea to Sea!
Great Post again Karyn!
ReplyDeleteI love your descriptions of the things we learn... and should put into practice, but now you know for... next time???