The Big Finish!

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[Guido at Grant's tomb]

[Tim and Ike, our volunteer guides through Manhattan]

[The U.S.S. Intrepid - WWII Aircraft Carrier]

[The Statue of Liberty as seen from the Staten Island Ferry]

[The Big Finish at the Atlantic Ocean - South Beach, Staten Island]

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Today we decided that there was not use wasting time, we were going to shoot for the big finish in New York City. NYC was only 73 miles from Highland and we had a lovely Sunday morning. We didn't expect the kind of hills we were going to encounter. The first 50 miles of the day seemed very reminiscent of our days in Washington climbing the Cascades. The first few hills were difficult, but not terribly long. Then we hit the big one. I'm not sure what its name is, but it was about three miles long climbing over 1000 ft in elevation and was absolutely brutal. When we finally got to the top and had coasted to the bottom on the other side we stopped in at a gas station to see if they had a map of the region that could show us a way around the next big mountain. We had been warned by a passing bicyclist that Bear Mountain was as bad as the one we had just gone over. The gas station did have a map, but to our dismay there was no road that went around Bear Mountain, only roads that went over it. Resigned to the fate of yet another excruciating climb we continued on to the base of Bear Mountain only to find that the Bike 9 signs suddenly took us off the road and on to a bike path....sorry, I'm really tired so I'm going to bed. I'll finish tomorrow.

Another Really Long Short Day

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[Albany, NY]

[Flat tire # 3, not bad for a 46 day trip]

[The Vanderbilt Mansion and our guide for a day]

[Kevin and Ben on the pedestrian walkway]

[The room - yuck!]

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Yesterday (Saturday) we began our day riding through Albany, NY. Our plan was to ride about 75 miles (or so our map told us) south to Poughkeepsie. We easily found our way through downtown Albany and across the bridge over the Hudson River despite a lack of signs indicating the way. We made quite a few lucky guesses and they all panned out. Once we had crossed the Hudson our lucky guessing well ran dry. In New York they don't like to have roads with names that are too different. For example, today we saw signs for Hwy 9, 9J, 9W, and 9H. This is in addition to the fact that once in Albany we were planning on taking Bike 9 south to New York City. Once across the Hudson, we saw a sign for Bike 9 and followed it onto Hwy 9. Shortly thereafter we saw a sign for 9J leading down into an industrial area. This same road was not identified in any other way. So we continued on Hwy 9 until 5 miles later we realized we were on the wrong 9. 9J was also apparently Bike 9. Luckily, it was not difficult to find our way back to Bike 9 and we really only ended up biking about 2 or 3 miles extra, including one very large hill. Once we were back on track, Kevin found a piece of wire in his tire that was quickly letting air escape. So once again we stopped to fix a flat tire. At that point we were finally able to start putting some miles behind us. The weather was fantastic (high 70's) and the riding was pleasant, although we were beginning to have quite a few large rolling hills. A few hours passed and we arrived in Rhinebeck where we encountered huge crowds of people lining the streets and wandering all about with cameras. Thinking this was just some sort of festival we rode on through town and continued towards Poughkeepsie. Just outside of Rhinebeck a young man rode up along side of us and began to question us about our journey. After telling him of our trip, its beginning, and our destination we asked what all the commotion in town was for. As it turned out, Chelsea Clinton and her now husband Matt had just gotten married. I guess we should have stopped for a picture. Our new riding companion was very friendly and eventually offered to show us how to get in to see the Vanderbilt Mansion and how to cross the Hudson on the longest pedestrian only bridge in the world (according to him - I haven't looked that up yet to confirm). Unfortunately, he had his tire go flat before he could get us to the bridge, but he gave us great directions to it and we thanked him and parted ways. Once we had crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Hudson, which was very crowded with pedestrians and difficult to bike on, we found ourselves in the town of Highland 93 miles from where we had started in Albany. This was no longer the short 75 mile day we had envisioned. Tired and hungry, we were in no mood to go riding all around town searching for the best price on a room. Big mistake. We stopped at the first one we came to, the Highland Inn, and did get a very cheap rate for our room. Unfortunately, as inexpensive as it was, it still wasn't worth what we paid for it. In the picture above I would like to point out the classy garbage can, the awesome wall decorations, and the dresser missing its top drawer. What you can't see is a full sized refrigerator partially blocking the front door, but also holding the door to the adjacent room closed, the moldy pink (sorry Mike, salmon) bathroom, and the absolutlely disgusting, stained carpet. It was really gross, even for us. It's location happened to somewhat make up for what it lacked in cleanliness and room decor. There was a laundromat right across the street where we were able to do our last load of laundry for the trip (yeah!). There was also the Gateway Diner about 2 blocks down the street where we ate an absolutely fantastic supper. Stomachs full and eyes already droopy, we were easily able to fall asleep to the sound of the scurrying roaches in our room (okay, I'm exaggerating, there weren't really any roaches).