Onwards

September 9, 2023

Peekskill NY to Poughkeepsie NY

Day 2 ahead! First time doing two long rides back to back in a while. Exciting stuff.

I headed down for the complimentary breakfast to get a goodie bag of yogurt, a nutri grain bar, and some OJ. Gotta fuel the day! Afterwards back up at my room I wondered how all of my stuff had managed to get strewn everywhere. I was only here for half a day! I gotta be better about this when I’m actually camping. Spent a lot of time repacking everything and headed out at a late 0930.

The plan for the day was pretty short so I wasn’t too worried about the time, I just had to find a way to Route 9 and take that most of the way to reconnect with the Empire State Trail. That’s the one I took out from the Bronx and will be a large part of the rest of the trip.

Giants used to roam the lands near Peekskill back when people drank their milk and ate their wheaties

As fate would have it I got a bit lost finding Route 9’s entry and took the innocently named Canopus Hill road. When the road is called hill you should believe it.

I spent a couple hours on the dirt hill road and got turned around a few times so climbed the same ones twice... This is particularly tough when you are carrying 30 extra lbs of junk behind you (and also in the panniers too).

At the top of a particularly gnarly gravel hill there was a little free library.

At this point, 2 hours in, I had barely finished 15 miles. Eventually though I made it back to route 9 and was treated with some rolling hills and large stretches of downhill. This was pretty smooth sailing.

Past Fishkill I started to head northeast towards my final stretch for the day - about an hour of duchess rail trail, part of the greater Empire State trail.

Thankful I’d soon get some relief from cars (Route 9 is a highway), I was starting to put some power down on the pedals. Unfortunately at some intersection I made a left turn too slow (it takes more time to get a bike up to momentum than to hit a gas pedal), and the guy behind me blared on his horn and then coal rolled me as he passed.

I wanted to keep this journal pretty light hearted, but also wanted to share the realities of sharing the road and touring by bike. So I’ll leave it at that. Anyways, my neck buff kept me from getting the worst of the bad air and I kept my spirits high. Almost at the trail now!

Peace at last.

Somewhere near Poughkeepsie I got off the trail and heading to my cousins house where I met his wife and his two adorable twins for the first time. They have graciously volunteered to host and feed a sweaty cyclist tonight. They’re truly all heroes.

I got cleaned up and spent the night catching up with them. It had been far too long since I saw my cousin.

I also met the most distinguished gentleman of the family

I am exhausted. Time for bed. Thanks for reading!

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 105 miles (169 km)

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