June 3, 2021 - Pine Hill, NY, to Montgomery, NY

Start: Pine Hill, NY
End: Montgomery, NY
Miles: 72.0
Feet climbing per mile: 77
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/68512378

I rose about 7:00 and got busy packing my gear and replacing the inner tube in my rear tire. That work took longer than it would have had I been in a motel with my bike in the room with me. Instead I was staying in the guest room on the second floor and my bike was on the ground level in the garage next to the house. I started to swap my front and rear brake pads because the front pads were more worn, but decided to not do so because I saw that the front pads were adequate to get me home. As I had intended, I began my fifth of a mile walk on the rough road shortly after 9:00 and began riding at 9:15.

My route for the day would take me over Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills. Tom Reingold had told me that a ride he took up that mountain was one of the hardest he had ever done, so I considered changing my route. The night before I asked Dick Demenus what he knew about the climb, and he said I would have to walk about a quarter mile but it would be so much more scenic than Route 28 which I had ridden to Pine Hill. Based on Dick's information I decided to stick with my plan to climb Slide Mountain.

The scenery on both sides of the mountain was beautiful as Dick had said it would be, and the surface of the road was excellent, with the traffic almost non-existent. I had to walk two sections of about a tenth mile each, so Dick's estimate of a quarter mile was accurate. The 1.4-mile climb was followed by 14.4-mile descent. Wow! I think Tom Reingold told me he rode over the mountain the other direction, in which case he would have had a 14.4-mile climb.

At mile 18.2 I interrupted my descent to watch some horses. I think that horses are such majestic animals.

Frost Valley Road, about halfway down the descent of Slide Mountain

In Grahamsville, at mile 30.6, I saw the Chestnut Creek Covered Bridge which had been erected in 1976.

Chestnut Creek Covered Bridge

As I was riding along the Roundout Reservoir, another source of water for New York City, I saw a road sign that said "John George". The other side of the sign also said "John George", not "Paul Ringo".

The Roundout Reservoir is smaller than the Ashokan Reservoir but still enormous. Due to the trees along the road and there were only a few places to get a view of the reservoir.

Roundout Reservoir at mile 33.5

Roundout Reservoir at mile 34.9

Imagine having this private pond (at mile 42.3) in which you could swim every day!

At mile 51.4, south of Ellenville, I saw that the rock had been reinforced to keep it from falling onto the road.

Fallen rock zone

The traffic was heavy for a mile or so both north and south of Pine Bush, where I stopped at Hometown Ice Cream & Grill. With its half dozen or so picnic tables, this is perhaps the most interesting place I've ever had ice cream.

Hometown Ice Cream & Grill

I enjoyed their Queen of Hearts which was deep chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and raspberry swirl. I think it should be called "Queen of Spades". Note that I used the spoon from my set of stainless steel camping utensils, not a plastic spoon.

Queen of Hearts

What do you think about this idea on the wall of Hometown Ice Cream & Grill? Shall I add it to my Aphorisms and Exhortations?

I recall that early in the day I saw some chickens trying to cross the road. Unfortunately I did not stop to shoot a video of them. More importantly, I neglected to ask them why were they crossing the road. If I had we might have finally had a definitive answer to that pressing question, creating a counterpart to "Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall".

Sometime during the day I had the thought that I should carry spare cleats and brake pads on my multi-day trips. I'm going to make that a practice. I also realized that I should have replaced the tube in my rear tire the previous night rather than in the morning, and that I should have patched the tube that had the flat.

The last three quarters of a mile before my motel had substantial traffic including 18-wheel trucks. I checked in at the Super 8 in Montgomery at 5:10. When I made my reservation the night I was unable to get the best rate based on my membership in the Wyndham Rewards program because I couldn't remember my password, but the woman who checked me in was able to lower the rate for me. My room was comfortable, with a firm bed and plenty of water pressure and hot water in the shower. After a shower, shave, and change of clothes, I walked a half mile to where I would have dinner.

The Country Pride restaurant is located in a truck stop. After my steak with mixed vegetables, garlic bread, and fries, the dessert of apple fritters with caramel ice cream was perfect (I asked that the whipped cream be held). During my meal my waitress called me "Sweetie" once and "Hon" four times. I heard her call someone else "Honey". Do you think it's ok to address waitresses with such terms of endearment after they have used them? Please let me know what you think in the comments. As I left the restaurant I said "Thank you, Samantha" (her name was on the check). She didn't seem to notice that I used her name. I wonder how she would have responded to "Bye, Hon!".

Picture taken from Google street view

After returning to my motel I began to fill the sink in the bathroom in order to find the location of the leak in the tube. But filling the sink proved to be impossible because the stopper did not work. By inflating the tube with my portable pump and feeling for escaping air, I eventually discovered that there were several punctures. The punctures in addition to the one caused by the piece of metal sticking into the tire were probably the result of walking the bike more than a quarter of a mile with the flat tire. I recalled that the tube was doubled over on itself when I removed it in the morning.

I patched all the holes I could find and it seemed that the tube was now ready for use. However I understand that it is unwise to test a patched tube by filling it very full unless it's installed in a tire, because, without a tire to resist the expansion of the tube, a perfectly applied patch might be dislodged. At home my practice to test a patched tube is to install it in a tire on a wheel and bring it up to 100 psi. But with only a small hand pump, which uses many strokes to fill a tube, the last of which require a lot of force, I was not going to uninstall either of the perfectly good tubes in my tires in order to install a tube that might not hold air. So I put the patched tube in my trunk bag next to the other spare tube I was carrying and hoped that I would not get more than one flat the next day. After I arrived home I tested the tube by installing it in a tire on a wheel and it held air.

My post about the previous day: June 2, 2021 - High Falls, NY, to Pine Hill, NY
My post about the next day: June 4, 2021 - Montgomery, NY, to Garrison, NY