Today was a beautiful day. Milder temperatures for much of the day. Sun shining in and out of broken clouds. Feisty winds from the northwest as we were heading southwest, so basically crosswinds all day long. And a slow, steady climb for the first 53 miles. But, all in all, a really nice day.
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| Much of the day was riding along the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. |
That steady climbing had an unusual effect on me. While we did have short, steep climbs of 6-8% from time to time, much of the day was a steady 1-3% grade ride. At first, I kept thinking I has lost air pressure in my tires. Then, after checking them repeatedly to assure that wasn't the case, I started wondering if my legs were just getting tired. No, it was simply that steady low grade climb that gave me that sensation of having to work harder than I had expected.
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| The Hudson River, looking North. |
The day was filled with lots of stops and starts. We got a late start out of the hotel in Poughkeepsie because they don't serve breakfast before 7:00 am. And, once we departed, we soon all stopped atop of the Walkway Over the Hudson for a short, 10-minute lecture from the man who was largely responsible for driving the conversion from a dilapidated, neglected railway bridge to the major regional tourist attraction it is today. The best part of his talk was all the before/after pictures. He and his team did a fabulous job of rehabilitating the original structure and building a nice parkland over the Hudson.
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The Hudson River, looking South. The 1.3 mile Walkway Over The Hudson is 212 feet above the river and looks down at the Mid-Hudson bridge.
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The middle part of the day's starts and stops was due to a series of roadway constructions, mostly bridges, that reduced traffic down to single lane usage. As you can imagine, that led to back-ups along the route. One bridge construction resulted in a major detour. However, our crack team of ride leaders were able to convince that construction crew to let the riders carry their bikes across a stretch of bridge construction while cars had to take a 9-mile detour around the site.
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| The middle of the ride through Ulster County passed by lots of horse farms. It was a nice mix to break up the dairy and crop farms. Oh, about those tobacco barns from a couple of days ago. I found out last night that tobacco farming in Connecticut was in high demand until about 20 years ago. It was big business up there for centuries. |
The final stop was due to the arrival hotel not having our rooms available until 4:00 pm. We all chose different options to while away our wait times. Michelle, Shane (the ride leader) and I stopped off at an ice cream shop and enjoyed our early desserts in an air conditioned space (by then, the temperatures had just touched 90 degrees).
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| As we were only riding 71 miles today, I did a lot of turning around to take a picture of something that caught my eye as I was riding past it. I was lucky to get a shot of this flock of wild turkeys. I missed a similar shot two days ago. I also missed a chance to take a picture of a heron wading in a small stream. By the time I was able to turn around and try to get the shot, the heron took flight. |
And the treat tonight was being invited to dinner at Michelle's brother's home. Peter, a retired New York City fireman who was actively working in the World Trade Center sites on 9/11, lives fifteen minutes from today's hotel. And, he makes a mean batch of barbecued wings! It was great to have a home-cooked meal. The added bonus was that he invited us to do our laundry there while having dinner. No quarters. No iffy hotel laundry machines. No waiting on line for the one machine and 21 riders. Yes, he spoiled us.
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| Another state, another non-existent "welcome" sign. But the Delaware River did look majestic and tranquil in the afternoon sun. |
Tomorrow, we'll hug the coast of the Delaware River and bounce back and forth between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Another climbing day with two severely steep climbs. Can't wait!
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