conversing, zoot suit, beer zone, glympse

September 9, 2022

Janet leaves for work at 8:45 so I made sure I was packed in time to chat a while before she left. For breakfast she served scrambled eggs and muffins with fig preserves, so I had a hearty meal before today’s ride. After a few snapshots, she left on her bike at 8:45 sharp.

I’ve been thinking about what to do with all of the food I shipped here. I could leave it, but the cost of shipping it back home is less than the cost of the food, so I put what I couldn’t carry back into the box it arrived in and taped it up. As Roland watched, I spent a few minutes figuring out how to strap it to my bike so I can take it to the post office.

I dropped a few hints to Roland about how heavy it was, and having to stop at the post office, blah, blah, blah, but apparently I was too subtle and he didn’t get it (or maybe he did) because he didn't offer to drop it off for me. Regardless, it’s my own dumb fault, so I should be the one to lug it around.

Right before leaving I thanked him for his hospitality and the great conversation (and meant it), and almost laughed at his awkward response,

“I, um, like….. conversing.” The last word came out a bit slower than the others: con-ver-sing.

I smiled to myself. It was as if he’d never heard the word "conversing" before and was trying it on. Plus, there's the irony. I love irony. In spite of that one awkward moment, all of our conversations had been engaging.

The temperature this morning was again perfect, although the ever-present headwind greeted me as soon as I left their driveway.

There were crews out repaving the blacktop for a couple of miles. It was really interesting to see the process, and I wished I’d taken some pictures of each step and the specially-designed machinery for each section. However, the box on the back of my bike made my center of gravity so high that it created a shimmy, preventing me from safely riding with only one hand on the bars so I could take a picture.

Roland gave me written instructions to the post office in Amsterdam. That was fortunate, because otherwise I'd have gone to the one in Fultonville (the one google tried directing me to), which hasn't been open in a long time.

His directions said to take a left at the third street, but apparently I have trouble with larger numbers like "3" and couldn’t remember if I’d passed two or three streets. There was a state trooper parked on the opposite side of the road so I asked him if this was the Rural Grove intersection. It wasn’t, so I continued on to the next one.

This morning was a really pleasant ride. I did a lot of climbing at the end of yesterday's ride, but this morning it seems like I went a lot farther down than I went up yesterday evening.

another very small, very old (and very cool) cemetery

I stopped at this farm store to get a wire splice to put on the USB connector for my dynamo, but they didn’t have the right one. (I bought one before I left home, but forgot to pack it) I bought a drink instead and asked the 50ish-year-old cashier, who appeared to be the manager, if they take Apple Pay . His brow furrowed and he looked at me sideways.

"You want to pay... in apples?"

Fortunately, another employee, a woman in her twenties, overheard me and came over to assist him, explaining what it was and how to do it.

I saw several signs telling people to "VOTE NO ON SOLAR!" Shortly afterwards I saw the largest solar array I've ever encountered. It was a massive carpet of blue draped across the rolling hills.

I wonder how Speculator got its name. I guess I could speculate.

When I reached Amsterdam the traffic became very heavy. I needed to make a left turn to get to the post office but didn’t want to risk becoming street pizza so I turned right instead, then turned around and used the pedestrian crosswalk light.

Once I dropped off the package, the shimmy on my bike immediately disappeared. I rode to the closest store I could find, a pharmacy, and purchased a Coke, Gatorade, and M&Ms, all for later, then ate one of my granola breakfasts for lunch.

As I sat there leaning against the brick wall eating my lunch at the strip mall, a tall, slender African American man in his twenties strolled back and forth across the parking lot a few times truly rocking a bright yellow zoot suit with a hat (feather included). I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of him... I think I was just in awe.

Google maps usually selects less-than-ideal routes to anywhere (read god-awful), even from one block to the next. However, the google route back to the bike path was uncharacteristically first rate, taking me on bike paths instead of roads. At one point it even included a weird but interesting elevator ride in the middle of nowhere.

getting back to the route was a lot easier on this, as opposed to the heavily-trafficked street I'd come in on

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Back on the trail, the canal along this section was stagnant and green, but still beautiful... just in a different way.

This section was deafening, but only about a quarter of a mile long

I'm not sure what this used to be... an old lock??

This section of the trail appeared to have been repaved within the previous 24 hours. It was as smooth as glass with no pitting, and hardly any fallen leaves.

I’ll be in Albany tonight, staying at an AirBnB, and I debated about whether to continue along the Empire State Trail, which takes a roundabout route and enters Albany from the other side (and gets me there at dusk or later), or to follow google maps, which is more direct and shorter, but likely to have more traffic.

Because I don’t like riding after dusk, I opted for the more direct route through Schenectady. Looking back, taking the longer way would’ve been much better than the google maps route, and certainly safer, even if it had meant riding in pitch blackness. It was a terrible route, and the only positive thing about it was the humor I saw in the naming of busy streets. “NY State Bicycle Route 6,” for example, was just a regular road with no designated bike lane, or even a shoulder. "Bicycle Route"??? I was agog that the State of New York couldn't find a better route through some of those areas. At least it wasn't part of the Empire State Trail. I sprinted for almost two hours, constantly looking over my shoulder and in my mirror to see how close the cars behind me were.

Although it wasn’t hot, a temperate 81 degrees this afternoon, I rode hard as I tried to compete with the traffic, and started to overheat a little. When I walked into a convenience store to buy some Gatorade I was ecstatic to find…

The Beer Zone!

When I entered, I felt like I was standing inside a refrigerator, probably because I was standing inside a refrigerator.

I bought a Gatorade and sipped it as my temperature normalized. Once I’d cooled off, I took off again. Because of the traffic, I wanted to ride on the sidewalk, and tried several times, but it never worked out. The sidewalk would force me off in a direction I didn’t want to go, or it would just end.

one of many reasons I was ultimately unable to ride on the sidewalk

I passed an Ace Hardware on the way and found the wire splice I needed. Ace Hardware always seem to have everything, and once I even saw Le Creuset cookware for cheaper than I'd ever seen it.

I’d been communicating with the owner of the AirBnB I would be staying at for the next two nights. He asked about my ETA so he could make sure the place was cleaned up before my arrival, and I thought I’d try out the Glympse app. It allows non-iPhone users to track an iPhone user, or vice versa. I sent him a link so he’d know where I was until 6PM.

I didn't realize it until later that evening that I missed his number by a single digit and sent the link to some random person who probably wondered what in the hell was going on, and who was able to track me all day.

"He's getting closer, Harold. Should I call the police??"

"Ohhhh... I see he stopped at the convenience store. Probably getting a beer. They have that great Beer Zone."

...and...

"Ace Hardware?? What's he getting there?" [gasp] "A crowbar?? Duct tape?? ... oh, wait... probably some of their Le Creuset. It's on sale. That reminds me, we should to stop by there tomorrow to pick up a Dutch oven to make that turducken in."

A large bug, about the size of a large beetle, slammed into my forehead right between my glasses and my helmet. It didn’t hurt, but was startling. It was one of those events which happen so quickly that it's over before it even registers.

As I got closer to my lodgings for the night, the neighborhood became sketchier… the houses were in disrepair, there were a number of tattoo parlors, a mission, and just around the corner from where I’d be staying there were about fifteen people in a driveway drinking beer and yelling at each other.

The AirBnB was nice enough, and faced a small, tidy park away from all of the excitement around the corner. It was very quiet the entire time I was there.

By the time I arrived, I was spent. I’d driven myself pretty hard trying to get through the busy streets before dark, and I needed to eat. Unfortunately, it took me over an hour to get something ordered for delivery, and that didn't count the delivery time. Apparently, you can’t just call up a place and order delivery anymore - you have to go through an app... GrubHub, DoorDash, Uber Eats. The apps allowed me to work my way all the way through the order, then said they don’t deliver to my location. One of them even let me pay first, THEN said it wouldn't deliver it. No wonder the mob around the corner sounded angry, and no wonder they were drinking.

It took a long time, and was extremely frustrating, but ultimately I had two large, very delicious pizzas delivered.

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distance: 55.8 miles
elevation : + 1752 feet
total time: 6:53:34
moving time: 4:36:14
maximum speed: 38.9 mph
average moving speed: 12.1 mph

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 371 miles (597 km)

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