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It was a cold start this morning with temperatures in the mid-forties. The sun was shining so we were able to warm up more quickly than previous cold days where fog had been prevalent. I opted for tights over my bib shorts today because I hate being cold and I knew we had several descents where the wind would be blowing, and it would be chilly. I removed layers at each rest stop and never regretted what I had been wearing or the layers I took off at the rest stops.
Today was a day of multiple climbs, but none was terrible. There was one at the end which had a shorter steeper section that was a little challenging. On any given day – again, not terrible. Ninety-five miles into a day with several climbs – slightly uncomfortable. But we were only a few slightly downhill or flat miles to the hotel at that point.
The wind added some challenge to the ride in the afternoon, and, at times, it felt like being back in South Dakota. We did our best to keep in our pace line, though some dropped back on some of the climbs and causing us to need to regroup at times.
The terrain and scenery were beautiful. This part of the country is wonderful to ride through with the spectacular scenery of the changing colors of the leaves, but also with the opportunity to ride through several small towns peppering the route breaking up what can be longer days. Today we rode through Watkins Glen and also through Ithaca. The falls in Ithaca were amazingly beautiful and we took advantage of the opportunity to stop and grab a photo from the height of the bridge across the gorge.
We had a wonderful lunch of chili and grilled cheese about mid-way through the day, and two former riders from last year’s run were at the rest stop with us. One brought apple pie which was delicious. Overall, I’ve been able to keep up with my fueling and hydration making the days less and less difficult. Having those two aspects dialed-in definitely improves the experience. I try to ensure that I’m eating a little more at rest stops before climbs and also drinking just a little more water. On the colder days, it requires reminding yourself to drink water because you are less thirsty, but still definitely in need of significant hydration given the distance. My every other bottle addition of electrolytes seems to be a good solution and I’m sticking with it.
We stayed at the Brewster Inn, a beautiful manor home on the lake, in Cazenovia. It’s a lovely spot and a shame we have such a short visit here. I’ll appreciate this stay as we move into several days of Best Western hotel stays over the remaining five days. It’s hard to believe that there are only five days left on the trip. Three look to be fairly sensible and reasonable rides and two seem a little more challenging – but again, nothing we haven’t already done. And we were supposed to have done 5500 feet yesterday, but most have over 6000 showing up on Garmin which suggests that if we can manage yesterday, we can absolutely manage the remaining days. I know we can.
We had a wonderful dinner at the hotel last night – one of the best yet. I did manage to overeat a little and had some difficulty falling asleep with my full belly. I was exhausted and had lights out by 9 pm. Sleep has been an issue on this trip – as it is at home. I did try a frequency app last night instead of my usual putting on movies with extensive dialogue to put me to sleep. It seemed to work fairly well in spite of my Garmin giving me a sleep score of 44 versus 82 the night before – and I felt like I had a terrible sleep the night before. Maybe data isn’t always a good thing, and we should go by feel? I should take that lesson about climbing and apply it to the other areas of my life.
We start out a little later int he morning as we’ve been keeping very consistent times allowing the guides to trust that can estimate our finish times fairly well. Combine that with the fact that most hotel rooms aren’t ready until three or four pm and riding a little later with the cooler temperatures is preferable to riding early in the cold of the morning and sitting around and waiting for a hotel room when we arrive.
Just five more days of riding. It seems like we just started yesterday… though I don’t honestly remember where we were yesterday, so who knows? Most days I can’t remember where we were in the morning by the time we arrive at our destination in the late afternoon.