June 4, 2024 - The Gunks to Peekskill, NY
End: Peekskill, NY
Miles: 53.9
Feet climbing per mile: 58
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/186467937
I mentioned in yesterday’s post what an excellent surface the tent pad is. In the picture below you can see one of my stakes driven into it.
The road to New Paltz was beautiful but also hilly. I thought how lucky I was that I didn’t have to ride to New Paltz for dinner the previous night.
Michael Alcamo’s suggestions for my route around New Paltz were a big improvement over what I had initially planned. I usually avoid trails, but the Hudson Valley Rail Trail was outstanding.
I stopped at Pomodoro Pizza in Highland and asked Benny, the owner, to make my slice plenty hot but not so hot I would burn my mouth. He got it just right.
Route 376, which I had taken in order to avoid route 9, had much more traffic than I had expected. Route 9 from mile 33.9 to 39.3 was quite unpleasant with four lanes of heavy traffic. I wish I could have avoided it. Fishkill Road, after I left route 9, was beautiful but smelled of dead fish.
After spending an hour at Homestyle Creamery in Nelsonville talking with two cyclists, I wondered whether I would be able to get to Peekskill in time to catch the 5:32 train to Grand Central. I had the option of catching a train at Garrison, but decided to head to Peekskill. I got there in time.
At Grand Central I heard a trumpet player with great tone and swing playing a wide variety of music.
I caught the S train to Times Square and then the 1 train to 28th Street. After a short walk I was home.
* * *
On this three-day trip I rode a total of 138.1 miles and climbed an average of 72 feet per mile. Although the long first day exhausted me, overall I felt strong. I recall lying in bed the first night of my trip to Honesdale in April, wondering whether I would be ready for my cross-country trip this summer. I've gotten stronger and stronger through the trips I've taken in April, May and June, and now feel ready to ride across the country.
If you've noticed that my blog posts for this trip are shorter than usual and contain few links, that's because I've written all three posts following the time constraint (one hour per post) and the protocol I will use when on my trip this summer. I write a draft in a google doc using an html template, the contents of which I then copy into a new post at blogger.com. After that I add photos from google photos and make the URLs into live links. I will do all of this using my iPhone 12 mini and a Bluetooth keyboard. It's a lot harder doing it on my phone rather than on a computer but I wrote a blog post every day of my 4,500-mile trip in 2019 and I will do so again this summer.
Previous day:
June 3, 2024 - Gunks Loop
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I recently ate at Pomodora Pizza in Highland. It was good enough. (Sorry if that sounds like faint praise.)
ReplyDeleteI laughed upon reading that Fishkill smelled like dead fish. Funny coincidence even though we know that kill is a Dutch word that does not mean kill.
I'm glad all of your conditioning seems to have paid off. I'm sure you are as ready as possible for all the miles you are about to take on. If you need more conditioning, you will get it along the way. I'm listening to Lael Wilcox's daily podcast as she rides around the world. It's amazing how many miles she does every day, and she makes it sound as if it isn't taxing her. Her podcast is not as dramatic as Jenny Graham's audiobook, but maybe it's her writing style that makes the difference. I loved listening to Graham.
Next time try Pomodoro's Italian soup.
Deletehttps://johnlinkbikingadventures.blogspot.com/2022/10/october-13-2020-hudson-ny-to.html