September 11, 2023
Fork in the road
Spencertown NY to Malta NY
The tent held up fine. It wasn’t particularly windy just rainy.
My sleeping pad deflated some over night but I was too tired to fix it and got my solid eight hours easy.
I woke up around 7 and didn’t feel like leaving my tent quite yet. So I engaged in something that reminds me of home comforts: doomscrolling.
Anyways then I got up, put away camp and set off. Yesterdays final climb is now my first descent. Hooray!
I headed northwest so I would eventually meet back up with the Empire State Trail. At the time I wasn’t sure where I’ll stay the night but somewhere north of Albany for sure.
Since this is a vacation and I wasn’t feeling much like pushing I stopped barely an hour in for pancakes. Remember the second goal?
Then, pressed for time I continued working my way north since I was nowhere near Albany yet. The pancakes town (Valatie) also got me back on the trail. This particular section is called the Albany Hudson Electric Trail. It’s about 36 miles and was formerly home to an electric trolley.
I also saw a blue Jay but couldn’t snag a picture. Next time. I’m considering becoming a Central Park Birder.
Turns out the route I took didn’t actually go into the state capitol but stayed along the water and was generally very pleasant.
I also met my first solo female bike tourer of the trip! She is Canadian and was headed from Niagara to Albany so her trip was almost wrapped up. I didn’t catch the name of where she’s posting on Instagram, but she had a pretty neat Insta360 camera stuck to her handlebars.
Just north of Albany was where the trail splits in two: one to Niagara / Toronto and one to Montréal. I will be staying on the northbound path for my trip, as I really would like to see Lake George amongst other things.
It was at this point I found out my target campgrounds cost more than a hotel so I decided to just get a hotel. Yeesh, next time I’ll pick a route with more camping.
To get there I left the trail in Waterford. The 20 miles after that were a bit of a dull slog. I rejoined my old pal, Route 9, and hung out with a bunch of trucks for a while.
I also grabbed cookies and a sandwich from Stewart’s for my dinner later. My social battery was pretty drained by this point (despite my sunny disposition) and I knew I would have no interest in leaving my hotel room after I got there.
I’m now plopped down on the hotel bed wondering what TLC I should give my bike. I think it’s definitely time to clean up the drivetrain which I should have anyways done yesterday after all that rain.
Then time for bed. The fatigue is starting to set in so I am considering a rest day sometime soon, but will play it by ear.
Thanks for reading!
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 255 miles (410 km)
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