Day 4: Isle La Motte VT to Plattsburg NY
With a brief sojourn into Canada
The Ruthcliffe included a hearty breakfast (Chris had the Hunky Construction Worker’s breakfast, completing his quest to consume the full set of Village People’s meals). To move beyond simple load-lightening, Rick replaced his 700 cc front wheel with a 26 inch wheel so that he “would always be cycling downhill.”
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The clear skies of the night before had invited many dark clouds to greet us as we rolled out of Isle La Motte, with temperatures near 50 degrees. The winds were out of the west, promising many miles of head winds on the way to Plattsburgh.
We cycled north on Rt. 2 through Alsburg and then turned directly west to cross the bridge over the lake at Rouse’s Point. The headwind was pretty ferocious and after barely 10 miles we were feeling pretty wimpy. After a brief break for a group whine, we took a short detour to cycle up to the Canadian border. We stopped short of the customs station and assumed we were still in the US. However, on the way back we had to go through US Customs, where the border patrol man informed us we had actually been in Canada and were now suspected as returning draft dodgers. Mike volunteered for an invasive strip search, but was rebuffed and we cycled onward.
The route kept switching between the south (side winds) and west (direct 20 mph headwinds) under clearing skies. In Coopersville, the route blessedly swung to the southeast with incredibly enjoyable tailwinds. We continued to have gorgeous views of the lake, as usual on our left shoulder. At Point Au Roche State Park we had to turn right for a mile or two directly into the wind.
At Rt. 9 the official route called for us to head north on 9 to take a route that avoided Rt. 9 into Plattsburgh. However, that would have added miles and some additional headwind slogging. We stuck it out on Rt. 9 with a fantastic tailwind and decent shoulder for most of the ride. We hit some traffic close to Plattsburgh, but turned onto deserted Cumberland Avenue along the Heritage Trail.
The routemeister missed a turn at Court Street and the OMBTers began to whine, quickly followed by pissing and moaning after the routemeister got back on route and discovered that the Days Inn was nowhere near where he thought it was. A quick cellular phone call found out that the Days Inn was at the intersection of I87 and Rt. 3, requiring an uphill, upwind slog along heavily trafficked Rt. 3 West. The road was in crummy shape, the traffic was annoying and mutiny was in the air. We found the Days Inn, but the rooms weren’t ready so we gorged ourselves at yet another Friendly’s and once again compromised our values and rented a car.
After showering and putting away the bikes, we drove to Ausable Chasm where we learned that everything in New York has a price – they wanted $13 per person simply to hike along the river and canyon. We briefly considered tying up the 75 year old ticket taker with Mike’s bungee cords, but decided to move on. Chris and Mike then hiked to the top of a 2,100 foot peak with gorgeous views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, while John and Rick lounged in the rental car with gorgeous views of the inside of their eyelids.
We did some sightseeing in Plattsburgh, including a plaque declaring the site of the first building, located the Amtrak station, had a good meal at the Butcher’s Block restaurant and went for dips in the Days Inn Jacuzzi.
Since we had the rental car, Chris came up with the idea of driving to Glens Falls, recovering the Official Ford Explorer of the OMBT, driving back to Plattsburgh and leaving directly from there – eliminating the delay of taking the only Amtrak train out of Plattsburgh at 1pm the next day.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 216 miles (348 km)
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