October 2, 2025 - Ticonderoga, NY, to Queensbury, NY
End: Queensbury, NY
Miles: 52.0
Feet climbing per mile: 55
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/338848751
When I woke I remembered two dreams: practicing headstands, and reforming the septet (trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, guitar, bass, and drums) that I attempted to create between August of 2012 and January of 2014.
Before starting my ride this day I installed a new heel pad on my left shoe after moving the heel pad on my left shoe to my right shoe.
In Ticonderoga there is the Star Trek: Original Series Set Tour. I forwent taking the tour.
The beginning of this day's ride was eastbound through Ticonderoga. In contrast to the western part of the town I had seen the night before, the eastern part was much more attractive, mainly due to Bicentennial Park.
I considered riding to see Fort Ticonderoga, but I decided not to add the few extra miles to my day which I thought would already be long enough. Maybe that was a mistake. At Rick's Bike Shop the previous morning, Randy recommended I ride up to Mount Defiance from where I would be able to see Fort Ticonderoga. Again I decided to forgo the extra miles.
At mile 6.6 I saw a rock formation with vertical cuts that I presume were made by machines.
At mile 7.4 the log chapel caught my attention.
At mile 9.6 I was concerned that I might have to ride on a milled surface.
Unlike how it appears in the video, the sign did not appear to be flashing. I suspect the video has it flashing because of the interaction of the fast flashing of the lights and the frame rate of my phone's video camera. I think I also saw a sign saying something about a rough surface for eight miles.
What beautiful hills at mile 10.5!
At mile 10.9 I was relieved to see new asphalt, and thought maybe I would not have to ride on a milled surface.
At mile 11.7 one of the horses seemed curious about me.
In the new asphalt I saw several red tokens. Be sure to call before you dig, but it would help if the token included a phone number.
At mile 13.4 the red color caught my attention. Note again the vertical cuts made by machines.
After taking the picture above I saw and heard two fighter jets fly overhead, making what I think was a sonic boom.
I'm pretty sure I came to the beginning of the milled surface at mile 16.2. It was rough, but not as rough as the milled surfaces I've ridden in Manhattan.
At mile 20.1 a rock formation caught my attention. Note the milled surface.
After studying the record of my ride I have not been able to determine how many miles I was on a milled surface. But I do know that it stopped before mile 23.4 when I crossed the Old South Bay Bridge. Too bad I didn't make notes as I rode.
At mile 25.6 I turned off route 22 and came to Whitehall. But no bells did ring and no choirs did sing and no torches did light them all. (I presume only Mike Macewich will get my reference, so I've provided the video below, which will be clear starting at 1:55.)
I arrived at the Skenesborough Museum at 1:20 on Wednesday, so the museum should have been open.
But it was closed!
From near the museum I could see the Skene Manor across the Champlain Canal.
Just a little south of the museum were the remnants of the hull of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga. The picture below refers to 1812, which I presume was the year the ship was built. If that's right, then according to the wikipedia article USS Ticonderoga, this was the first of several ships called "Ticonderoga".
At mile 26.6 I stopped at a Dollar General.
Back on route 22 after leaving Dollar General, the shoulder was narrow and the trucks were big and numerous. I remembered that the previous morning someone at Rick's Bike Shop had said something about route 22 south of Whitehall, and that Gregg Burdo, whom I met in front of my hotel the first day of this trip, and had told me to avoid 22 because of the big trucks.
At about mile 31.5 the shoulder became wider, and I wondered how long that would continue. I considered taking the route in purple shown below. At a stop light at mile 33.3 I asked a truck driver about the shoulder. He told me it would continue wide until about a half mile before Fort Ann, so I decided to stay on 22.
The shoulder again became narrow about a mile and a half before Fort Ann, not a half mile. For a little more than a quarter mile I rode against traffic in order to be safe from the big trucks, and as I approached the main intersection of Fort Ann I rode on the sidewalk for a quarter mile.
At mile 37.5 I stopped at another Dollar General. I needed another Monster after dealing with the big trucks for ten miles.
After Fort Ann the shoulder was adequate the the traffic moderate, with few big trucks.
As I arrived at the Sleep Inn, the same hotel where I stayed two nights ago, I had the feeling of returning to somewhere familiar. I realized that this four-day trip was similar to my three-day trips on which I ride a loop on the second day, only in this case the loop lasted two days.
During the first two days of this trip I rode into a headwind caused by two tropical storms in the Atlantic. I had hoped the wind from the north would continue for my two days of riding south, but that didn't happen. This day the wind was now out of the south, but not as strong as it had been the two previous days.
In the hotel I saw the sign shown below, and thought what a good idea it is to have quiet hours. That's usual at campgrounds, but I had never before encountered it in a hotel.
I had dinner at the German restaurant Spargel on Nine a short walk from my hotel.
I usually don't post pictures of my dinners, but I'm making an exception because the chanterelle mushroom soup, the schweinebraten, and the apple strudel were all outstanding, and of course a huge improvement over my dinner the previous night at the House of Pizza.
All three portions were large, so I took with me to my hotel about a third of the schweinebraten and half the apple strudel for consumption the next morning.
Previous day:
October 1, 2025 - Queensbury, NY, to Ticonderoga, NY
Next day: October 3, 2025 - Queensbury, NY, to Albany, NY
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