Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Day 9 - Friday August 21st

85.69 miles
6:05.25 hrs
39.9 mph max
14.1 Avg

As you approach the Adirondacks from VT, as I did yesterday, and you ride up and down the rolling hills you can't imagine anything more beautiful. Once you cross over the boarder of VT/NY, the what once were mystic mountains turn into what seem to be little hills (compared to the White Mountains); It is kind of a disappointing site. It wasn't till I biked along Lake George that I thought that the Adirondacks were truly beautiful. I gazed into the crystal clear lake with large hills bulging out of the water to define the outer diameter and was immediately in a state of awe.

I stopped along lake George at a visitors station and met this very nice lady whom I talked to for quite some time about the Adirondacks. She convinced me to bike a certain route that she ensured would be low in traffic and not a lot of climbing, I think she mixed the two roads up! The route she sent me on started off with a 5.5 mile climb up the side of a mountain!

The funny thing about NY is that I think they try and deceive you whenever possible. Ask me why next time you see me and I will explain all the ways that they make you think one thing and deliver something totally different.

I wandered into a town called Camden at the end of my trip today and they had a Firemans Fair going on. I talked to a couple firemen and they allowed me to camp out under the large tent on the fairgrounds because it was going to rain 1/2 to 3/4 an inch. I unfortunately had to wait until the fair was over (11pm) to finally pitch tent. Prior to the end of the fair I had 3 potential donators to the cause, had fallen asleep on a bench for a least 30 min and was given some free fried clams by the fireman. The clams were not a good idea for they did not settle well and I had stomach aches all that night and the next morning.