Two Hills and a Flat

.

.

.

.

.

[Check out those rides]

[A unique stoplight]

[The park that does not exist in Amsterdam]

[Pretty amazing story]

[Gunnery Sergeant Guido standing guard]

.

.

Our easy day today was not quite what we expected. It started out nice enough. The weather was great all day. It never got above 80 degrees and the wind was at our backs. The ride down Bike 5 was great until we reached the hills. We knew they were coming. Two large climbs just past the town of Herkimer were waiting. Not only did our map of Bike 5 list them, a friendly local cyclist also rode with us for about two miles leading up to them. Compared to the North Cascades of Washington these were just babies. 700 feet of eleveation change for each one, compared to the 3000-4000 feet required to go over a Rocky Mountain pass. The hard thing about these hills was that switchbacks were not used. The road went straight up and over the hill. No winding and gradual climbs. The difficulty was compounded by the fact that we haven't had any serious hills since Iowa. Luckily our legs remembered how to climb and we completed the hills with minimal pain. We were looking forward to a nice easy ride into Schenectady where we knew there was a campground. Only 10 miles out Ben rode over a staple that mischievously let all the air out of his tire. Once Kevin and I were certain that Ben could no longer use any assistance, we laid down in the grass for a quick cat nap while Ben attempted to patch his tire. A short while later we were back on the road. Half a mile down I spotted both a bike trail and the fact that Ben's tire was once again flat. Apparently the patch had not worked. So while Ben changed his tire for a second time (this time putting in a brand new tube), I decided to call the campground to get directions. To our surprise the directions I was given took us 7 miles out of our way, 2 miles of which could supposedly only be ridden on the interstate. No longer sounding like a very great option, we decided to skip the campground and continue an extra 15 miles to Albany where hotels abound. So our "easy" day turned into a 95 mile day with 2 very large hills (mini mountains) and one persistent flat tire. Sitting here at the Days Inn (where we got a great deal on a room using a RoomSavers coupon we found at Denny's) we are looking forward to the last three days and only 150 or so miles. For those of you that choose not to use your math skills now that high school is over, that averages out to a mere 50 miles per day. We're not quite sure what we'll do with ourselves with all of that extra time. Perhaps we can put in a few more leisure miles after dinner every night. (Yeah right.) New York City here we come!