Category Archives: XC 2015

Race to the lake (9)

After listening to kids partying down the street until the wee hours of morning, we woke early and packed up camp in between rain showers.  It was too convenient not to get breakfast at the store we slept behind, so we supplemented some leftover pasta salad with bananas, donuts and coffee.  It was our earliest morning yet and we were feeling ambitious since comfortable beds and a rest day were only ~120 miles ahead of us, at the Hogue cottage on Lake Cayuga.

It was exciting to be out of the mountains and have gotten an early start, because we covered 44 miles before noon; our best morning yet.  We enjoyed a quiet back country road to Osceola, NY where the majority of the noise came from birds chirping as we passed by.


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Ralph (8)

Ralph
[ralf] verb (used without object)
1. What I did last night outside of the tent; right outside of the tent, as in between the tent and the rain fly.

noun
1. What Chris now calls me.

Chris didn’t handle it very well; he could be heard muttering, “You’re safe now, helmet,” as he moved it away from the splash zone the following morning. Not to mention the fact that we had locked our food up in the campsite garage to dissuade bears from visiting us, and I then provided a nice incentive for them to stop on by. Chris said I was snoring at one point after the incident, and he was sure it was a bear right outside our tent.

We’re not sure why I got sick, but our theories include: bad hot chocolate and four consecutive bug bites on the back of my neck (unfortunately, I haven’t gotten any super powers yet).

Before we left the campground, another camper came by our site and gifted us a bunch of snacks for our trip! He must have sensed that I’d had a rough night.

From the campsite, we rode past a bunch of numbered lakes: Eighth Lake, Seventh Lake, etc. Apparently they got tired of naming them.


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Adirondack Adventures (7)

Last night was the coldest yet, and this morning had us looking forward to summer when it wouldn’t be so difficult to leave our sleeping bags.  Eventually, we made it out, though, and heated up some coffee and oatmeal before saying goodbye to Jellystone.

On our way out, we seized the opportunity for a picture in the Yogi Bear Express. Shortly after the picture was taken I was politely asked to disembark.

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Burlington, VT (5)

Today, we took the first major detour from the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route, but with good reason: the promise of good company and a soft bed on which to rest our weary bodies.

We started our day in Rochester, VT with coffee and huge donuts. A sweet woman pulled up in her car as we were munching on our treats to ask about our trip and provide encouragement based on her own experience riding across the country a few years prior. She said that up ahead, while crossing Breadloaf Mountain, “It feels like you might tip over backwards, but it’s not bad at all!”

Later, when we were huffing and puffing at that very spot, she happened to pass by in her car and gave us a round of honks for additional encouragement.


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