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Today was a day to exhibit control. We started out with a cold morning again and had 84 miles on the docket with just under 4000 feet of elevation gain. While today was on all of our minds, tomorrow and Sunday were even more prevalent. What we did today would contribute to how the harder coming two days would be. We made a point of going relatively easy.
The day itself was beautiful in terms of the scenery and the ride. We were blessed with spectacular fall colors the entire way peppered with small and quaint towns as we have been since entering the northeast. It makes for far more enjoyable riding than 100 miles into the wind across South Dakota. But those South Dakota days help us to appreciate these beautiful days even more.
The milestone highlight was passing across the Hudson River – a far cleaner version than what we know of in New York City. Crossing over the river means we are truly in the northeast and that much closer to Portland, Maine.
Our big challenges today were two climbs – one shorter and one longer. Thankfully, neither was terrible and even the second with one or two little punchy spots wasn’t so bad. What I’ve come to learn on this trip is that Garmin and other services and devices are far from accurate since we’ve had conflicting reports from multiple riders regarding how many climbs they have on any given day, or things are inconsistently noted as climbs or hills. The most accurate way to determine anything along this ride is by using your eyes and legs. They will tell you whether it was 11% or not or whether it was a hill or a climb.
Dinner was a bit challenging this evening as our server was only on her second day, and – unfortunately – it showed. We waited nearly two hours after sitting down to get our food. There were twelve of us at the table and we were not the happiest of cyclists after 84 miles on the road. We finally did receive our food, but only half the table and the other half was told they sat down later by the server. We reminded the server that while they sat down a bit later, we all ordered together. In any event, we all survived even if slightly annoyed and irritated and hungry for longer than need be.
The name of the game will be resting up for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s ride will be just under 99 miles and Sunday’s will be 105 miles. They will present us with 6000 and 7000 feet in elevation respectively. Nothing we haven’t already done. We may be a bit tired, but we are a lot stronger today than on day one.