Biking Breakaways 2022

Our biking group, 11 riders in all, included seven doctors. By day three of the ride, one of them said to Mackenzie: "Think we can get your Mom to pee in a cup?" Haha. 😂😜😂 That question made our whole group laugh a lot. Also, I take it as a compliment to my cycling prowess, such as it is, gained from my many careful and hearty miles through heat 😡and cold 😰 and up and down with my Riverside Riders peeps. Thanks, everybody!  By now, I've told two or three people the pee-in-a-cup comment, and they've universally responded by laughing quite a lot, so I just had to add it here for posterity and for when I'm an old lady rereading these posts. Bye, for now. See you again when Fred and I go do the BRAT ride in September. Bike Ride Across Tennessee.   

  Friday at breakfast. 🍳. I’m going to have to go with the five star rating for this trip. And we still have another ride today, trending downhill they say.  I took a photo out our hotel room window this morning of the town of Lake Saranac. Last night they had Art Walk for the people, the stores stayed open late. 🎨 Friday, 6 pm.  Today was an easy 31 miles to Ausable Chasm which seemed cool but we didn’t really get involved in visiting it. Here are a few pictures. Yes, the vacay was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I am now interested in ‘closing out a tour’ which means I work with Wilderness Voyagers to set up a private tour for the RR ladies, and friends, daughters, etc. Mackenzie and I have learned how it is done from our new doctor friends who went on this trip. 📝 I would choose our two guides, Colleen and Rachel, if possible. Now, where to go next? 🚵‍♀️

Thursday morning. 🌂Today will be our longest day and all uphill for last 20 miles. But our separate beds last night supported an amazing night of sleep for both of us.    I am standing in front of a writing center here which I should attend sometime. Thursday night, 10 pm. 🌲 The route today was the most beautiful. We did experience rain early in the ride, then again later. Unfortunately the threat of heavy storms caused us to lop off our last 10 miles. But we got to Lake Placid all the same and had more energy to eat ice cream, watch the Iron people warm up for their race, check out Mirror Lake, and decide we should come back next year for a full family  week of vacation. 🧳

Wednesday morning about 9 am. 🐓 Today, they say, will be almost like a rest day. We will see. Now we are all masked up riding the shuttle over to Tupper Lake. Kenz and I feel great!  Excitement is building for soft serve at mile 35. The temp is already 81 and the sky is wide open blue.    Wednesday afternoon about 5:30 pm. 🌅 Very scenic today, going beside lakes with lily pads, sailboats and gorgeous reflections. Some back roads were tightly framed with evergreens which helped keep things cooler and smelling like Christmas.  We loved the perfect Blue Spruces. Toward the end, after Donnelly’s ice cream, we yelled as we rolled down a miles-long descent, the longest downhill run I’ve had since Six Gaps in February with the RR peeps. Also a daisy got stuck (on its own) on my shoe today when I went to the facili-trees. 🌼

Tuesday morning, 7:30 am. ☕️  From our balcony I felt the air, and it is already quite warm out. Coming up, we have a harder climbing day than yesterday, but the lobby smells like maple syrup this morning so I guess the locals are going to pancake us up at breakfast to fuel the day’s energy needs. 🥞   Tuesday, 9:30 pm. 🌄 This day, about 40 miles and 3,000 ft elevation, was maybe our best so far. We pedaled along the Hudson River much of today while intermittently: making time for yoga, calming an unhappy pit bull dog, swimming in the river, and spinning our way slowly up never ending inclines (10-11 percent at times.)  Once, a road was out —- a detour needed around a bridge under repair. Rather than take the long way, Mackenzie took us on a rough shortcut through the woods, gravel and over a little backroads bridge. We were pretty happy with our decision. All the nine others took the long way, an extra five miles. But I’m sure it was nice for them too. We are at the Garnet Hill Inn t

Monday morning. Above is the Swift House Inn, our hotel for Sunday night. As for last night, the whole group had dinner at Two Brothers Tavern and  Kenz and I took a nice stroll all through Middlebury College campus.  The table shared poutine because we are so near the Canadians. And because of french fries. This chart for today’s ride must be out of proportion because it looks too steep for such a laid back ride as this.

The kickoff day was amazing, all smiles through all our miles. Loved our lunch break at Lake Champlain and the made to order chicken wraps. Some grouse hens ran with us for a while, saw Osprey in their pole-top nests, cute towns and many long views framed by the Adirondacks. Quite a few videos and photos are now available to my blog thanks to daughter dear. We are headed to the local brew house in Middlebury with our whole crew, 13 in all. I called Mackenzie Fred once by accident.