75.2 miles, 3,459 ft of climbing.
Hard day for my first one back. It was supposed to be 68 miles, and 2500 ft of climbing, but a couple detours added miles and hills. The hills actually weren’t bad. No major climbs, mostly small hills, but lots of them, with a good deal of flat and downhills in between. It wasn’t the hills that made the day hard, but the constant headwind coming off of Lake Ontario. My original projection was to be to my hosts in Watertown (actually Black River) by 4:30, and I finally got there around 5:45.
Mark and Julie weren’t there, but had a great back porch to sit on and watch the river go by. Mark had provided me with the WiFi info, so I had a nice quiet time, popped the double Molson I had bought on the way, and waited for their return. They are both avid (should be capital AVID) cyclists and planning a tour to Europe next summer. We had a great time talking about cycling, touring, and more.
On the way down from Potsdam, a woman stopped her car ahead of me and came out carrying two coconut water drinks. She said she had toured across the country a long time ago, saw me, and thought I could use a drink on this hot day (80 degrees). I asked her about her tour and she mentioned having trouble finding places to stay. I asked if she had ever heard of Warm Showers and described it to her. I think there will be a new host in the Somerville NY area. I did take one of the coconut waters, pedaled to the top of the next hill and popped it open! Ahhh. Thank you road angel!
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