LIVERPOOL, NY to AMSTERDAM, NY

Weather:
AM cloudy, PM partly sunny, humid
Starting temp 65, finishing temp 85
Mild cross/tail winds

Ride stats:
Today’s mileage: 119 mi
Today’s climbing: 3,166 ft
Total miles ridden: 3,117 mi
Approx miles to go: 240 mi

Following breakfast, one of the riders was walking up and down the motel hallway rather aimlessly, mumbling to himself. I finally heard what he said…”I can’t remember my room number…I can’t remember my room number…” I had to laugh. It had happened to me one morning as well. After 31 straight days in motel rooms sometimes you just draw a mental blank; or you get today’s room number confused with yesterday’s or the day before’s. Let’s see, room 249. Hmm, that doesn’t look right, must have been yesterday’s. No, I think it was 202 today. You finally realize that you need to carry that little card jacket with the room number written on it when you go out!

Today I was riding with Jan (pronounced Jon) and he got two flat tires within the first 10 miles. 5 miles later my rear flatted. We have not had a problem with flats since riding the interstate back in the Southwest. Don’t know what was going on today. After that start we were both feeling deflated and our riding was rather flat for a while.

We lucked out again with rain. Showers passed through the area last night, so the roads were a little wet this morning. There was a chance for thunderstorms, but nothing materialized. Our route today paralleled I-90, but on small roads in the area. Quite a bit more traffic today, but very good, wide shoulders to ride on.

We are starting to hit more hills. Today and yesterday were fairly long days, each about 120 miles and the next two days are the same distance, but they’ve warned us that there is over twice as much climbing tomorrow as today. Everyone is feeling some fatigue at this point. Nothing terrible, but you know that you’ve been stretched.

Jeanne and her sister, Jan, are driving out for our final arrival at the beach on Thursday, then we’ll put the bike in the van and drive home. They’ll do a little sight seeing on the way out, then we’ll all stop at Niagara Falls on the way home (I’ve never seen the Falls). Only two days left…

Photos from today. Click on any photo to open in a slideshow view.