Day 4, Friday, August 4
Little Falls, NY to Troy, NY
( 83 miles/14.7 mph avg.) 5h 13m 18sec
Up at 6:00, organize and pack, 6:30 breakfast buffet at hotel - scrambled eggs, sausage, French toast, home fries, cold cereal, bananas and orange juice, 7:15 load luggage, 7:30 on the road. It was raining when we got up this morning but stopped a short time before 7:30. The front that had caused the rain overnight was heading East. The forecast was for clearing skies with coolish temps in the low 80's so I didn't take my rain gear. The day's weather was excellent for cycling. However, the roads remained wet for several hours so our tires were splashing water up from the road and if we rode to close to the rider in front of us, his rear tire splashed a 'rooster tail' up in our face.
There were 2 SAG's today, SAG 1, 34 miles out at a scenic rest stop and SAG 2, 58 miles out at Jumpin Jacks Drivein. The first 50 miles was on Rt 5. We entered a Bike Path at Rotterdam and rode on it for the last 30 miles to Troy. There were many gorgeous scenic views from the bike path. The day remained partly cloudy, which was very nice, but the bike path was mostly in the shade of trees and next to the Erie Canal, which was GREAT. Again - very nice cycling weather today!
I arrived at the Best Western hotel at 2:45, checked in and walked down town and joined several other cyclists at a small restaurant for lunch. I had some type of a variation of a Philly Cheese Stake Sandwich and 3 Pepsi. I returned to hotel and went on a 1.5 hour cruise around the RPI campus here at Troy. Our hotel is down the hill right below the campus. I took several pics of some buildings. Julia, Ed's wife, attended RPI.
Dinner was at the hotel, a buffet of salad, rolls, broccoli and cauliflower, ziti, baked chicken, pepsi and Ice tea. After dinner we had route rap and a route trivia game. It was difficult for me because I don't know a lot of the cyclists but it was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow is a very difficult ride over the Green Mountains of Vermont that will include a 10 mile and a 6 mile climb. Our destination is Brattleboro, VT. I'll find out tomorrow if my 1,300 training miles was adequate.
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