July 2001

NY and Vermont Cycling Trip Aug 2002 - page 3

Bob Schmidt & Rupa Hamal & CRES Cycling club

Lake Placid was beautiful, but somewhat crowded with summer tourist traffic. We stopped by the large olympic buildings where 1934 and 1980 winter olympic games were held. There were some short but steep hills to get out to the hotel. We showered and then rode back into town for souvenir shopping and dinner.

9 Aug 2002- Lake Placid to Ticonderoga NY

Rupa and I took a brief detour around the back side of Lake Placid and Mirror lake through the residential areas, and got some great pictures in the morning sun. Heading out of town the road passed by the Olympic ski jump, and climbed to a kind of alpine meadow full of wildflowers in bloom. Another great picture. Another few miles of climbing and there was a very long downhill where we got speeds of 40 MPH easily.

Unfortunately the rear tire on the tandem failed during that descent. At this point Rupa and I were on our own since we had started later than the rest of the group. We stopped and changed the tube, but got another failure after a few more miles. We were in a fairly remote area with no cell phone signal so we couldn't contact the Van. We fortunately found a nice couple with a pickup truck who offered to give us a ride up to the lunch stop area. We found a group of our riders who donated a spare tire and tube (thanks Marvin and Patty) and got us going on the road again.

Although this day was advertised as primarily downhill, we found significant uphill as well throughout the day. I felt it was a much tougher day than the previous "climbing" day into Lake Placid. Just goes to show you can't always judge a course strictly by an elevation profile.

Around lunchtime we had traveled Eastbound and crossed the Northway, and rode through some small towns including "Mineville". After mispronouncing the town name as "Mini-ville" the locals directed us to a local deli. There an earnest looking 16-year-old girl offered sandwiches or "Michigan dogs". I asked her exactly what that was, and she replied "you know, hot dogs with Michigan sauce". I told her I had been born in Michigan, had never heard of Michigan sauce, could she please tell me what that was. "Well you start with a hot dog. You do know what a hot dog is, right?" At this point Rupa was elbowing me in the ribs to keep me under control. "Then you just add Michigan sauce". What's in Michigan Sauce? "Well its like...chili sauce". Oh, you mean a chili dog. "No, its a Michigan dog". OK. Just get me a turkey sandwich...

The afternoon had lots of steep uphills, with Bob Shamansky increasingly questioning the veracity of the tourguide materials ("just 2 or 3 climbs to get to Ticonderoga"). We counted about 8 to 10, and they were substantial.

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Before dinner we took the van on what was supposed to be a brief detour to see a hill overlooking Fort Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain. Turned out to be more than a mile uphill, which we had to walk because the road was chained off for the evening. We trudged up on tired legs, but the view was spectacular and well worth it. Yet another photo opportunity. Jon Schaer even had the guts the next morning to cycle up that hill, one of the steepest we had seen on the trip. Dinner was at an interesting Hungarian place.

10 Aug 2002 - Ticonderoga to Whitehall

Friday was another bright and sunny day, and we headed out of town and visited Fort Ticonderoga. Being short of both time and cash everyone opted not to tour the fort but instead tried to scale the ramparts for a better view. Failing that, we lined up the bikes near the cannons (Cannondales in front, of course) and took some group photos.

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Continuing East, we came to the ferry crossing and made it back to the Vermont side of the lake. This was another very pleasant day, warm and sunny, with plenty of hills and interesting terrain. We stopped at a woodcarver's house to see his wares, and Tricia bought a carved bird. Patty Merry and Rupa and I took a detour to Fort Independence, which involved more hills and interesting scenery. The afternoon brought us through the hills, finally getting a long descent back into Whitehall NY on the same road we had taken outbound a week before. We were tempted to turn right and do another loop, but alas real life intervened.

We met the van in Whitehall, loaded up on fruit and snacks, and got on the road for Amsterdam, about 3 hours drive. On the way we drove through Saratoga Springs, with statues of racehorses along the shopping areas of the town.

At dinner in Amsterdam, in response to a question about things to see and do in the area, our waiter recommended Saratoga springs, Lake George, and Lake Champlain. We didn't bother telling him we had been there, done that.

In summary, yet another successful CRES club trip. Thanks again to the volunteer organizers who make these things possible, and fun.

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