Day 59: Roller Coaster Ride (AKA Interval Training or Leg Day)

August 14, 2023

Old Forge, NY to Schroon, NY

Monday, August 14:

It is 8:37 am on Tuesday, and I am sitting in bed blogging about Monday while in a very comfortable motel room at the Blue Ridge Motel in Schroon, NY. I highly recommend this motel- especially if you are a bike tourist. The owner is working hard to make this place a nice refuge. We are in room #14, and it looks and feels like a rustic cabin without being rustic.

Why aren’t we on the road already? Well, it’s raining and will be all day, so we are not in a hurry as we only have 45 miles with 3,000 feet of climbing and another motel tonight- New England is making us soft.

Yesterday’s ride was also a really long day; at first, it was only supposed to be 78 miles, but then we added on some to get to the motel; however, before that, we missed a turn and added on 13 miles. The day ended with 97 miles and 4,700 feet of climbing. There was no flat aspect to this ride; it was chugging up the steep hills and then screaming down for a short descent over and over and over and over…Like a roller coaster!

The scenery and road quality were very nice, but I did not get many photos. The highlights of the day were seeing the quaint hamlets- what’s the difference between a village and a hamlet, a big lunch at The Corner Store in Blue Mountain Lake, and a pannier picnic on the porch of the motel while sitting in Adirondack chairs chatting with the motel’s owner. It’s the small stuff.

We should be to our Maine destination in fiveish days!

Team Bean

One of the many lakes on the day’s route.

I tried to capture the range of Adirondacks. Many people try to bag as many of those peeks in one day.

Stats

Cribbage Game Wins: Mike 12, Dawn 8
Tortillas Eaten: Mike 170, Dawn 54
Jars of Peanut Butter: 6
Flats: Dawn 2, Mike 1
Bike Haters: 4 (We had our first one in Montana yesterday.) None in North Dakota that we know of.
We may have had some bike haters in Canada…not sure; they do it in a polite way…
Bags of Salad Consumed: 26
Dog Encounters: 2
Beers, too many to count
Bags of M&M’s: 5 of various sizes
Fritos: 11 of various sizes
Bear Encounters: 1
Major Inclement Weather Episode: 1

Today's ride: 97 miles (156 km)
Total: 3,961 miles (6,375 km)

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Ed CraftI recall staying at the Blue Ridge Motel, two years ago this coming Friday! Did you stop at the Paradox Brewery? Great place for dinner! It was raining when I was there too!
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