Playing along the Mohawk

Today's Google Earth file: http://tomerceg.googlepages.com/AlbanyNY.kmz


Today's ride followed along the Mohawk River from Syracuse to Albany. Other than the trips through the cities, the ride was a natural delight of trees and water.

With only 69 miles to cover today, a group of us took the opportunity to goof off. We slept in for an extra hour. Terry and I took a look at an 18th century fort. I took extra pictures. We actually stopped for a sit-down lunch at an Irish pub in Scotia.


The highlight of the day was a completely unscheduled swimming stop. Terry scouted out a swimming hole in the Mohawk River, and Ray, Terry and I took a little dip. Today was another hot one, humid with a high temperature of 92 degrees. The cool water got us ready to finish off the ride.

What made the detour extra cool was that it was completely unscheduled. Terry just decided that swimming in the river was a good idea, so he scouted out a spot. It felt a little like breaking the rules, although there weren't any "no swimming" signs.


I've been meaning to spend some time writing about some of my fellow riders. Everyone has a story to tell, but there's only so much time I can spend on the blog. One group in partcular deserves mention though.

We have a group of riders affectionately known as The Captain and the Turtles, a little play on the Captain and Tenneile I've been told. From left to right, Jac, Fran (the Captain), Dave, and Richard.

These are the riders at the back of the pack. Each day we have a fixed number of miles to ride. The fast riders sometimes get to the hotel before the rooms are even ready. The Turtles works every bit as hard as the fast riders, but they do it for a much longer period of time each day, including more hours in the heat. The day into Wooster last week was just a killer for me. You saw the look on my face at the end of that ride. I looked like a puddle of goo. Richard was out in the 90 degree heat for 2 hours and 20 minutes longer than I was, and finished with a smile on his face. That's completely normal for these folks. They work harder than anyone else out here, and always with smiles on their faces. They're a wonderful group of riders. I'm in awe of their determination and of what they've accomplished on this trip.