Day 46 Journal Liverpool, NY to Little Falls, NY

Today I biked 80 miles. I decided to get up early and head on over across the street to the Denny’s restaurant where the ABB ‘supplement’ breakfast was scheduled. I could have had the conti at the hotel, but wanted just a little more with pancakes and eggs. I was there at 5:30 AM, and about 12 other bikers were showing up at that time too. I was finished eating then by the time Box opened up to put luggage on at 6:15. It was muggy again this morning, and cloudy. I prepared pretty much resigned myself to getting rained on at some point today. I liked the motel we stayed at rather than the one in 2001. It was located on out past the most heavy morning traffic. Kent, Keith, Chuck, Peg, Ilka, Sarah G. and I pulled out at the same time. We were biking pretty close for several miles. There were some hills right away and then it leveled out so we took advantage of the great tailwinds we had. We had a pace line going for nearly 10 miles and holding speeds about 20-21 mph. We were all clipping along so fast that we arrived at the point (25.4 mile mark) where the first SAG was to be set up. But the van hadn’t passed us so no SAG to get some water and food. I called on the cell phone to say seven of us were moving on and not waiting around. Just then the van came in sight. Got some water and a banana and moved on. We passed a little sight that Peg stopped and took a photo of. It was this very tiny church sitting out in a pond of water. The sign said, “The world’s smallest church.” The clouds were getting darker off in the distance but I thought we would be moving away from the rain. Nope, we got a sprinkling at about the 52 mile mark. Just happened to come into a small town and took shelter under a canopy for about 10 minutes. When Chuck, Peg and I arrived at the second SAG there was a phone call from Kent. He said he had fallen (at mile 58) and was calling an ambulance. He was trying to change the cue sheet/map and didn’t have both hands on the handlebars and hit a bump in the road and went down. He thinks he broke his collarbone. This is so sad! He he was, almost all the way across and to have this accident. It is especially sad for him because last year he started out on this cross-country route and fell as he was trying to clip into his bike pedals just a few miles into the route. He broke his collarbone and was all healed and was on this trip so happy he was going for these final days and with all good hopes he would finish. These accidents happen in a flash. We haven’t heard anything yet, but he was taken to the hospital. Hearing that we started out from the SAG with thoughts and very concerned about Kent. This also caused us to be extra cautious because the roads were still wet from the rain that had passed through. The rest of our route went well and the terrain was changing a lot today. The hills were longer climbs, and off in the distance we can see bigger hills and mountainous all around. Tomorrow we are sure to be climbing a lot more. I had a great ride today. Jon G. tracked me down and said there was a masseuse very close to this motel and she had two openings. I’m going to keep on top of feeling good and get this massage at 6:15 today. I’ll miss route rap but Peg will pick up an extra cue sheet for me. Dinner is right here at the motel so I’ll just eat when I get back.