Time: 5h13m01s
Distance: 133.61km
Avg Spd: 25.6km/hr
Climbing: 1,815m
Today was a tough one. Heat, hills and headwind made the riding tough. But I rode with Ryan, and we took our time. The hills must have scared everyone, because at 7:25am, this was the scene in camp: (no tents, breakfast cleaned up, only a dozen riders kicking around).
Right out of camp, Ryan spotted a run down firetruck, and that started our #elevelo posing for the day. Throughout the day we got him on a bridge, on a wood pile, in an apple orchard, and in the archway of a church. Check out his pictures on his blog (thebicycleatlas.tumblr.com).
I also snapped a picture in the orchard, as it reminded me of hanging out in Grandpa Zwaagstra's orchard back in the day...
Yesterday we stopped for ice cream across the street from the World's Largest Macintosh orchard, and thought of him again, wishing my camera battery wasn't dead.
The riding today was gorgeous, but challenging. We climbed a ton. Over 6,000ft. The roads were fresh pavement with good shoulders, or minimal traffic. It was rolling hills, though, so we would go down one only to turn a corner and face another uphill. The town of Port Henry, in particular, had a nasty 14% grade to get up into town.
All day, we cruised along with Lake Champlain on our distance left, and passed through a new town every 10-20 miles. In Willsboro we stopped at a bakery. In Westport we stopped for a drink at Everybody's Market, and were surprised with a huge selection of VHS' and DVDs that we perused in our ongoing attempt to locate "Breaking Away". We were unsuccessful.
In Moriah, we left town, and I saw a sign on the left of the road that I had to stop to check out. Turns out Lake Champlain, like Okanagan Lake (which my hometown of Kelowna sits beside), has a lake monster named "Champ". He is remarkably similar-looking to Ogopogo, but has a heart on his tail, and could possibly have been sighted more frequently than his Canadian brethren. The sign actually lists all the people who have supposedly spotted him, along with the date. Sightings go back to 1609 when Samuel de Champlain first caught sight of the beast.
Camp tonight is an interesting one... we're at Whitehall Marina RV Park. There's not much room for tenting, and there's not much for facilities. Think three toilets for 150 people... line ups are going to be long in the morning! Contrary to what the name implies, the park is actually a peninsula that juts into a swamp, and the actual marina is right next to the river and lock system another 500m up the road. But there is hookups for our gear and kitchen trailers, and we are finding refuge in the pub/restaurant in the marina.
No comments:
Post a Comment