May 18, 2021
Day 13: Ticonderoga, NY to Long Lake, NY
Hills, Black Flies, Stores Closed - A Long Hard Day
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Climbing Today; 4,390 ft Climbing Total; 32,022
I rolled out at 7:00 this morning, and 50 minutes and 3.5 miles later I was atop the first big climb of the day. I was happy that I only needed my 2nd lowest gear, which seems to translate to about an 8 - 8.5% slope. The granny gear has been needed when the slope is steeper than about 9%. Doc and I had breakfast at the McDonald's adjacent to the Super 8 in Ticonderoga. I had my bike staged outside the McDonald's and departed immediately afterwards, while Doc went back to the hotel to retrieve his bike.
Today is going to be our longest mileage day and also the most climbing day so far, so we are apprehensive. For various reasons I didn't sleep well at all last night - it was after 2:00am before I finally got to sleep and I woke up before the alarm went off at 6:00am. Oh well, I thought, maybe I will sleep tonight.
Atop the first big climb, I was disheartened to see trash in the grass next to the parking area. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont were all spectacularly clean and devoid of the typical roadside litter one sees in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other less-enlightened states. I mean, hey, come on, do you not expect that Bernie Sander's state would have a high environmental ethos? I guess I was hoping that this high environmental standard would transfer into adjacent New York, but not so; all day long we both noticed that the roadside had the typical beer bottle and plastics litter one finds in the south. Sigh... we Sapiens are trashing the entire planet. I daresay that it isn't being done by cyclists. But I diverge - I'm very sleepy right now and trying to finish the journal.
I waited at the top to be sure Doc was coming, and when I spotted him in the telephoto lens I rolled on. I later learned that Doc added 2 miles to his day because he forgot a water bottle that was in the room refrigerator and had to go back for it.
We rolled past several lakes today with crystal clear water and several beautiful mountain streams. Eagle Lake was particularly attractive.
After missing a great opportunity to photograph a bear cub a couple of days back, I am now keeping the telephoto lens mounted at least until noon each day. No bears today, but we did see some wild turkeys.
The Adirondacks have their fare share of gorgeous mountain streams and waterfalls as well.
Entering Severance, I stopped and picked up a small adjustable spanner wrench on the shoulder. I thought I'd mail it home with a few other unneeded items the next time I came across a post office. Well, the post office appeared 2 blocks later, and the lady working there was very helpful in finding me an envelope to ship things home - the small town post offices are always preferable to me as compared to the larger and more hectic urban post offices.
We stopped for a snack at a convenience store in North Hudson, then quickly rolled on. We planned to have lunch in Newcomb, which was listed with an "all services" symbol on the ACA map - so it should have had a grocery store and a restaurant. However, when we arrived we found that the general store also housed the cafe, and that it was closed. We were devastated - we were quite exhausted at this point and needed to eat to continue. So we stopped in a shady area next to the road, and endured the black flies just long enough to sit down and eat some of our "emergency food" that we carry for this purpose. The black flies made every stop today miserable, and we suffered lots of bites. The last 13.5 miles from Newcomb were a death march - we had to get to Long Lake for our hotel, but we were quite exhausted. Most touring cyclists will understand - this was a tough day - ultimately we rode 63 miles and climbed between 4,400 and 5,000 feet (depending on whether Doc's GPS or RWGPS route planning is correct), missed lunch and endured black fly attacks - it was just a real struggle today.
Maybe I'll add more later about the German lady who runs the Shamrock Motel and has a husband who was the former District Engineer of the Baltimore District Corps of Engineers, or other miscellaneous details - but it's after 10 and I got to sleep now. Night all...
Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 541 miles (871 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
Great to see the both of you at the end of a day that probably couldn’t have ended soon enough... keep these videos and pictures going. They are absolutely terrific. Hope tmrw’s ride has fewer flies.
3 years ago
3 years ago