A brief respite in Saratoga Springs

September 12, 2023

Malta NY to Glen Falls NY

Playing it by ear meant I woke up and decided it was a rest day. I spent the morning puttering around my hotel room and doing all the chores I did not do the night before.

I didn’t claim to be perfect.

So anyways I did all the things, cleaned the bike up, added some air to the tires, packed away all the airing out camping gear, and was out the door at 1000. Todays ride would be short of 40. (In hindsight we almost made this goal a reality)

I’ve got something new in my bottles today - Liquid IV. I was given this when I stopped in Poughkeepsie. Did I mention my cousin is an ultramarathoner? That’s when you run a marathon and decide you need to suffer more so you keep going. Anyways, since today was gonna be hot I took their nutrition advice and added electrolytes to my water. It tastes pretty good.

I took 67 west until I curved alongside the west side of Saratoga lake and stopped several times to admire the view.

About 10 miles along this path I made it to downtown Sarasota Springs where I planned to spend most of my day. First up the racetrack! Maybe I can win back the money I spent on the hotel.

Bummer. I missed it by a week it just closed for a week. Here’s the pics from an outsiders view

Next up the horse racing museum! They had a cool 360 view theater which vaguely reminded me of the one at Adlers Planetarium growing up, but for horses instead of planets. It was great and gave me a greater appreciation for the sport of horse racing.

A couple years ago I visited the rodeo in Texas. I can’t say I have more than a passing interest in learning to ride horses, but horse sports are a whole different beast. Very impressive and all uniquely challenging. I’ll try to come back up here by train to see a race someday.

After that I took a nice roll through Avenue of the Pines in Saratoga State Park. Gorgeous.

At the park were many historical features and the famous natural springs.

On my Boston to nyc trip, every diner claimed that George Washington ate breakfast there. So if we use our deductive reasoning skills…

This was the normal spring water. Lots of people filling up huge jugs of the stuff. I filled one of my bottles

This was the naturally carbonated spring. It didn’t taste very good. I will plan to continue paying the grocery markup for my seltzer

Sipping on my natural spring water, it was time to move on to my destination for the night. I had about 15 miles of rural roads to reach the town of Glen Falls.

Tonight I was staying at a Warmshowers. For those who don’t know, this is a bike touring community which a similar mission to couchsurfing. I used it a couple times from Boston to NYC and would love to host one day when I have the spare room and my own place to do so.

My host is very sweet. She is an avid hiker and backpacker, spending some multi day stretches in -40 degree wind chill. What a legend.

After some dinner and washing up it’s time for bed. The next morning will start pretty early, as my host will be on her way to work.

Thanks for reading as always!

An aside - I initially set out for a 30 miles day but 5-10 were just meandering around beautiful Saratoga Springs. So it goes, maybe a proper rest day in the future but at the moment I’m feeling a lot less tired than yesterday.

Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 295 miles (475 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesSome people have the knack of taking a proper rest day - they sleep in, eat a leisurely breakfast, play with their bikes, eat a leisurely lunch, take a nap, etc. You get the idea. Others, like us, and maybe like you, just take it a bit slower one day and think they had a rest day. Either way is fine, we guess, just different.
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