Day 47 journal Little Falls, NY to Troy, NY

I biked 83.12 miles today. It was another wonderful day out there on my bicycle. First though, I’ll update on the rider who fell yesterday. Kent ended up going to Utica hospital, and sure enough he has a broken shoulder bone. The same one as he broke a year ago. He came back to our motel and had made arrangements for a taxi to take him to the airport this morning. He had his arm in a sling and when he gets home will check in with his doctor and see what the next step is, could be surgery. He, as are all of us very saddened by this happening and we will miss him very much. He was a steady, and fast rider. He would pass me several times a day (he stopped a lot, then catch back up. He ate several meals along the way – bottomless appetite that guy had!). When he glided on by me he would always say, “Sara, there’s pie and ice cream up there, keep going!” I saw him about 5:30 this morning in the hotel lobby and he was waiting for the taxi driver. I wished him well and had a chance to say goodbye to him. He slept last night sitting up, and he said he slept good because the high-powered drug he was sent with from the hospital. It helped with the pain.

So this morning when I woke up and was hauling my bike and bags out to the front door at 5:30 AM it was RAINING! A pretty heavy downpour. But other were saying the weather channel showed it would be passing and we would have clearing and sunny skies in the direction we were headed. Breakfast was served in the banquet room at the hotel and luggage loaded at 7:15. Sure glad that rain did stop, just in time. But the roads were still pretty wet and the big trucks splattered us some, and of course the bicycles were getting very dirty. I must get out there in a few minutes and hose down the bike and polish it all up. It was cloudy for a few hours, but the scenery was so beautiful. Mountains off in the distance on either side of us and there was deep green foliage every where. Certainly not dry looking here in New York. We had a few climbs, but nothing much. Just waiting until the next three days!!! There will be a lot of climbing! At about mile 52 we entered on to a bike path that was paved and stayed on that for nearly thirty miles. It was paved the entire way, but some places had some back bumps and cracks in the blacktop pavement. I felt a little cheated out of seeing more of the state of New York by having to stay for way too many miles on a tree lined narrow bike path. I remember in 2001 we only had to be on the bike path for a few miles and we saw a lot more of the nice terrain and beauty of New York.

Note: It is Sunday, August 6 now. I did not finish this above posting 3 days ago when I should have. So now I can’t remember much more about that day. Stayed in Troy, New York. On to the next day’s report. . . . .