Today was scheduled to be a relatively flat ride, more or less a rest before the big climb tomorrow. The ride started down Hwy 5 with a quick climb (max elevation of 715 feet) over the first 10 miles at the start and then down hill with rolling hills and a couple of teasers toward the end. Seemed easy enough, but things don’t always go as planned. Just 27 miles into the ride we missed our turn onto old route 5 and wound up on a very busy road (Hwy 5 in New Hartford) with no shoulder. Enter tour director (Larry) with his trusty GPS. Within 30 minutes we were back on the right road (old route 5, not Hwy 5) with a smooth shoulder and low traffic, just a small hiccup in the grand scheme of things.
Then 33 miles later, our tour director located a shortcut on the GPS. We blindly followed his directions as we always do…our sole purpose on this trip is to ride our bikes, which we do everyday. At this point in the ride, we were at about 300-350 feet of elevation. Immediately after turning onto the shortcut, we started climbing…and climbing…and didn’t stop until we reached an elevation of 950 feet. A couple times during this climb, the grades ranged from 8% to 13%. As it turned out, despite the steep climbs, we cut across a ridge that was prim
arily Amish farms. It was like taking a step back in time…farming without John Deere tractors. And the best part was, after about five miles of climbs and rolling hills, we descended right back to 300 feet of elevation. Matt and I both think Larry was just getting our legs ready for tomorrow…he will not deny or confirm this though.
Aside from the distinct architecture of the big cities we went through, we felt like we were riding RAGBRAI back in Iowa. Once again the weather was great, 65 degrees at the start and 85 degrees when we finished. The humidity is starting to rise, but overcast skies for the early part of the day kept up comfortable until late in the ride. We rode a total distance of 106.5 miles, climbed 2,969 (thanks to the shortcut) and averaged just 17.4 mph (city riding again with lots of stop lights).
When we got back to the hotel, we took time to clean our bikes one last time in prepa
ration of the climbs that tomorrow will bring. Hard to believe that we are down to 191 miles – 2 days
