Miraculously, we are checked out, packed up, and ready to ride by 9:00am. We are about to set off from Amsterdam, when a cursory squeeze of Becca’s rear tire makes Marty go “Nope!” #deflategate for real this time. It is almost completely flat. We can inflate a tire, sure, but if there is a puncture we feel we’re screwed. We use our new portable pump to get it as full as we can and listen for slow leaks. We hear nothing, and the air seems to hold, so we cross our fingers and sally forth.
Upon rejoining the trail, we immediately pass one of those public bike repair stations, and avail ourselves of it for first time. It has every basic tool a biker could need tethered to it by heavy metal cables: Allen keys, tire levers, screwdrivers, wrenches, and to our delight, a proper floor pump! You can scan a QR code which takes you to dero.com/bike-repair, where there are helpful YouTube video links for the basics. Marty learns the difference between Presta and Schraeder tire stems (among us we have both kinds).
After 2 hours (and 20 miles) of riding, we see a sign that says “Restrooms and Water up ahead. Blessings on your travels!” We find a delightful oasis in Sprakers Reformed Church’s community room, which serves as an outpost for us to eat “elevensies” and take a quick bathroom break. The 20 or so parishioners have set up a mini-fridge full of cold waters, a tray of granola bars, and a guestbook complete with maps for us to stick a pin in where we are from. We proudly tag Norwalk, CT. No long lunch/beer stop today; after all, we have a dinner date to make.
We eat some pretzel bites and dispose of some of our food that has not survived the journey, given the infrequency of mini-fridges in our various hotel rooms. Knowing we’ll be facing the sun and the heat, we plan to take extra breaks and be vigilant about hydration. We decide to book hotels for the next three nights just to get them done, which inspires an accounting of our expenditures so far and…<gasp>. Turns out a bike trip twice as long as our last one runs about twice as much…but we’ve been saving for this so we will be alright.
More canal locks dot our trail along the Erie as we do battle with the hot sun. A mere 10 minutes after our “lunch” (granola bars from the church), we stop for the first ice cream we’ve seen all day: Skobby’s in Little Falls, NY. It’s a great setup with Adirondack chairs, lawn games, and a giant smoker out back, no doubt working on some meat for the lunch customers. His ice cream was meh, but tasted great under the circumstances. “Skobby” himself drove by where we were sitting in the shade to do some market research: where we were riding to, how far this trail goes, etc. We encouraged him to be a part of what we hope will be a burgeoning trail-side hospitality infrastructure.
Becca attempts to meditate in a scratchy hammock on site before we head out, but during the final two hours both brain and body begin to fry. Even the magic of BPM cannot keep her completely tethered to sanity. We take “afternoon tea” in Ilion, NY, and buy a cup of what tastes like a bottle of Lipton poured over ice. In other words, it’s delicious. Becca finds a shady tree to meditate for real, a feeble attempt to ground herself and avoid freaking about the heat. A few miles later, we are riding on-road to Utica and it is HOT. AS. BALLS. We are grateful when there’s one last stretch of off-road trail that offers some waterfront views and a little bit of tree cover. Some ducks are very annoyed to have to make way for us. They hiss in displeasure. GoPro proof forthcoming.
At last we arrive at our Days Inn on the outskirts of town. We’re staying no-frills tonight so we can splurge for a swanky downtown Marriott this weekend in Syracuse (we plan to take our next day off there as well). Becca’s cousin Laura lives in nearby Clinton, so she picks us up and, given that she has been reading our entries, decides to take us to a local brewery. Of course it’s trivia night. There is one trivia guy who must do all the bars in Greater Utica, because she played this same round of questions with her family the other night. We whisper the answers to each other at the bar. The food and the hops are almost all local. The Empire State Flatbread Pizza and the Lumberjack Lager are standouts. Marty treats himself to a souvenir tank top.
Before long fatigue is catching up with your weary travelers. They head home, write this blog, and collapse. Another long day tomorrow, but after that: our second planned day off! Pray that Becca’s tire holds up for one more day till (at least until we can get help from a proper bike shop if needed)…