| Ride Date |
Distance (miles) |
Altitude Gain (ft) |
Ride Category |
Ride Type |
Bike |
Club Affiliation |
9/1/2023
(Fri)
|
33.00 |
2,575 |
general: leisure -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Tour Tune-up. Damascus and back. Intentionally hilly. About 2600 feet of climb in 33 miles. My biggest climbing day on the tour coming up should be about 3300. I think I'll be OK.
Perfect weather. Followed Price's Distillery as far as the ford. Stopped in Damascus for a soda and at Doc Waters' for a cider.
Americano seems ready to go. I've got the saddle broken in and adjusted. The USB charger is hooked up again. The tick is gone from the front spokes. |
9/7/2023
(Thu)
|
52.00 |
0 |
general: touring -
solo
|
Road: Steep |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Lake Champlain Solo Day 1. Whitehall NY to Westport NY, Left Whitehall just after 8. Got to Westport about 2:30. Pretty hot. Must have been high 80's. Drank a lot of water and coke. Stopped at a makeshift dockside cafe for lunch. The lake is absolutely beautiful. From the cafe, there was a nice view of the new Crown Point bridge.
There were two big climbs today. One about 12 miles out, which I felt pretty good on. unforch, it made me cocky and I went too hard on the smaller climbs leading up to the second big climb coming out of Port Henry. I had to walk up the top of that one. I need to establish a "touring" pace, especially on the big climbs. Even so, there's nothing wrong with walking up a steep hill. If you're willing to do that, you can go almost anywhere.
I really lucked out with the weather. A half hour after I got to Westport a thunderstorm blew in with drenching rain and gusty winds. |
9/8/2023
(Fri)
|
49.00 |
0 |
general: touring -
solo
|
Road: Steep |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Lake Champlain Solo. Day 2. Westport to Plattsburgh. Couldn't get breakfast in Westport till 8, so I didn't get going till about 9. Last night the weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms all day, but no rain materialized. Was mostly cloudy. Cooler than yesterday.
Saw a pair of tourists stopped at a convenience store in Willsboro. I pulled in to chat with them. They were heading south. Today's destination was Port Henry. I never found out their ultimate goal. They were guys my age or about.
Today had one big climb -- coming out of Willsboro. It's the biggest of the whole tour. I took it slow and rested about halfway up. From the top it was several miles of downhill, including most of US9 going into Keeseville.
Coming out of Keeseville, you cross the AuSable twice -- once at the chasm, then again just before the river meets the lake. The second bridge is closed for reconstruction. There's a detour, but it isn't marked very well. Fortunately, the guys I met in Willsboro gave me good advice about the detour.
Coming up 9 past Valcour was beautiful.
I'm staying at Mom's. Peggy is there, too. She made a big pot of chili for supper. |
9/9/2023
(Sat)
|
65.00 |
0 |
general: touring -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Lake Champlain Solo. Day 3. Plattsburgh to South Hero. Best day on a bike all year. Rode up the West Side of the lake to Rouses Point, then down through Alburg, North Hero, and South hero.
Yesterday, the forecast was for rain, but it never materialized. Skies were mostly sunny with scattered clouds. Temps in the high 60s. Just ideal for biking.
Stopped at a nice coffee shop in Rouses Point. While I was there a club ride out of Plattsburgh rolled in. Had a nice chat with them.
I probably saw at least a hundred cyclists today. There were gaggles of them stopped at the general store in North Hero, where you can get a good sandwich. While I ate my sandwich, I chatted with a group of 4 young ladies on a tour. They were classmates at Davidson College in NC and do a bike tour every year. They picked this area because one of their number lives in Burlington.
I rolled into the Ring Dang Doo B&B about a quarter to 3.
|
9/10/2023
(Sun)
|
56.00 |
0 |
general: touring -
solo
|
Road: Hills |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Lake Champlain Solo. Day 4. South Hero to Middlebury.
Fantastic stay last night at Ring Dang Doo.
Day started out great with trip across the Island Line causeway, including what might be the world's only bike ferry.
I got lost in Colchester where the bike path is not contiguous. I had pulled off the road and was checking the map on my phone. A lady passing by in a car stopped and asked me if I needed directions? I said yes. She turned her car around and led me back to the place I'd gone wrong.
Burlington was disappointing. The last two times I was here (both times on a bike) it was charming. Today, it just seemed crowded and ugly. I didn't linger at all.
I did have some trouble with my GPS. It kept losing the pre-loaded Komoot route. Eventually, I used its stand-alone routing function to get me to Middlebury, and that worked fine.
Skies were cloudy. There was an occasional drizzle, but it had no real impact.
Came through Bristol, a nice-looking town, which seemed to have a nice coffee shop. Unforch, it had just closed as I rolled up. |
9/11/2023
(Mon)
|
41.00 |
0 |
general: touring -
solo
|
Road: Steep |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
Comments: Lake Champlain Solo. Day 5. Middlebury to Whitehall. A good day. Maybe the second best of the tour. Short but quite hilly. Had to walk up three hills. Didn't go through a single settlement of any size. I might not even have seen a gas station. Went past a lovely lake (Hortonia). Short stretch of gravel (very rideable).
Weather was predicted to improve after 10 and the distance was short, so I didn't leave till then. Got to Whitehall about 2, where I had a late lunch at a Stewart's.
Weather today was a lot like yesterday -- cloudy with occasional no-impact drizzle.
Bike ran great. Not a single hitch. No flats. New saddle is very comfortable. Bike packs very nicely in the trunk of the rental car by merely splitting it. You don't eve have to take the wheels off.
So ends my first solo multi-day tour. 263 miles. Some challenges. Lots of beautiful scenery and interesting, friendly people. I don't think this will be the last one. |
9/12/2023
(Tue)
|
15.00 |
0 |
general: leisure -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: City, Old Base, West End |
9/14/2023
(Thu)
|
49.00 |
0 |
general: leisure -
solo
|
Road: Steep |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Beekmantown, Dannemora, Saranac, Schuyler Falls. Great roads, challenging hills. Clinton County should be be a biking mecca. |
9/16/2023
(Sat)
|
10.00 |
0 |
general: leisure -
group
|
Road: Flat |
Panasonic DX-4000
Road |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: City, base with John. |
9/19/2023
(Tue)
|
11.00 |
0 |
general: commute -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Exploration Lane |
9/20/2023
(Wed)
|
20.00 |
0 |
general: commute -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Exploration Lane. Long way home. Saw a doe and two fawns in WG. Fawns were so still, at first I thought they were statues. |
9/25/2023
(Mon)
|
10.00 |
0 |
general: commute -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Exploration Lane |
9/26/2023
(Tue)
|
6.00 |
0 |
general: commute -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Lakeforest |
9/27/2023
(Wed)
|
10.00 |
0 |
general: commute -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Exploration Lane |
9/28/2023
(Thu)
|
19.00 |
0 |
general: leisure -
solo
|
Road: Flat |
Co-Motion Americano
Touring |
Bike Washington |
| Comments: Airport, OldeTown, Saints' Row |
| September Rides |
Distance (miles) |
Altitude Gain (ft) |
Ride Category |
Ride Type |
Bike |
Club Affiliation |
| 15 |
446.00 |
2,575 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| YTD Rides |
Distance (miles) |
Altitude Gain (ft) |
Ride Category |
Ride Type |
Bike |
Club Affiliation |
| 185 |
2,818.00 |
2,575 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
view my journal
