Conclusion: Saturday, August 24 Staten Island

August 24, Saturday

59 miles: New City, NY to Mt. Loretto, Staten Island        

The final day of the tour has arrived, and there is a sense of finality, accomplishment, thankfulness and weariness plus a pending sense of loss for the richness of community and shared goal which is nearing completion.  There is also an eagerness for return to the comforts of loved ones and simple daily comforts and conveniences.   No one will miss the lines for food and bathrooms, sleeping on the ground and having to walk so far for everything when in camp!  Today is a wonderful mixture of the emotions which go with finalities.   

Up a bit before 5:30.   The usual morning chaos around the food truck ensues as large pans of porridge are consumed and pocket and saddle bags are filled with various snack and lunch foods. 

 At yesterday’s noon deli stop I was brilliant enough to also buy a beautiful large square of crumb coffee cake (a classic east coast breakfast staple) and enjoyed it immensely as a reward for having reached this day.  Remarkably, this morning - of all mornings - as people will be packing up tents today for shipping and traveling, there is a dry breeze and there is no dew!   In the three weeks I have been on the tour I think this is the first morning I have not packed up a wet tent.  This is a wonderful gift for those whose tents will not be set up to dry out this afternoon.    

Leaving Congers before 7 AM we ride up some nice hills of deeply wooded roads and through some lovely old Hudson River towns such as Nyack and Piedmont.   We see a deer crossing the road and a flock of turkeys.  We pass the Tappan Zee Bridge and follow route 9W along the Palisades.   It is obviously a favorite road for bicyclists as there are scads of riders, bike clubs, and groups of friends out riding on this beautiful Saturday morning.  Doug Haan has a sag stop for us at mile 15 with Dunkin Donut holes and we continue on to my native state of New Jersey.   

The Palisades provide peaceful wooded passage all the way down the river until we get to the famous George Washington Bridge.  We take the upper level which has a dedicated bike and pedestrian path on the south side which allows for a great view towards NYC.

Riding across this bridge is pretty exciting and very busy with lots of other bicyclists. 

We follow down the entire west side of Manhattan, first on surface streets such as Riverside Drive.  I stop at Riverside Church (Harry Emerson Fosdick, William Sloane Coffin) and take a look at the sanctuary. 

 

Soon after we get on the Hudson River Greenway all the way to the southern tip and Battery Park.  The Greenway goes along the Hudson and features a crowded bike path and pedestrian paths, shops, gardens, parks, and piers

A couple of huge cruise ships are docked here as is the Intrepid Museum.

 The One World Trade Center towers over the 9/11 ground zero.

Arriving at the Staten Island ferry along with tour buses on busy streets

 they herd us into a staging area for bicyclists for our 11:30 departure. 

The 20 minute Staten Island Ferry ride offers wonderful views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. 

 We get a police escort for the busy mile to Project Hospitality where we re-gather and are served water and fruit. 

Shortly we are escorted south along the east side of Staten Island with a stop at Fort Wadsworth near the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.   

A few more miles south get us to Middle Beach for the official tire-dipping where we are greeted by many family (including Cathy!) and friends for the celebration.

 We gathered in a circle for a group prayer and singing the doxology.

 We have an official police escort (fore, aft, and at intersections) for the final 9-10 miles along very busy (six lanes in places) Hylan Blvd

to the south end of the Island at Mt. Loretto at 3:30.   It has been nearly 60 miles of exciting riding for our last day and now the odyssey has reached is conclusion.  There are lots of congratulations.  The trucks arrive.

We unload the truck and repack belongings and begin to tear down our bikes and box them up for shipping home.   I take my last cold public shower (sorry, no pictures) and I have my weekly shave (Cathy condones the effort)  before our closing banquet, program and farewells.   Good friendships built around shared experiences make the farewells bittersweet.  

I've ridden 1278 miles, but only a third of the entire journey.  I can hardly imagine having done the entire route, but then again I can hardly believe I've ridden as far as I have.  It is really good to see and be with Cathy again and to return to the securing routines of life.  The daily devotional aspect of riding will be a loss but when I think of how much of life is a never ending struggle and frustration for those enmeshed in poverty, I am glad that I could do something  -- with the blessed assistance of so many contributors (150 donors and over $20,000 for the cause).  I give thanks to God for the blessings of my life as I have a new realization that no one becomes poor by giving.  

Friday, August 23, Hyde Park to New City

August 23, Friday

55.8 miles: Hyde Park to New City, NY       

Up at 5:30 again.  The rain has stopped and it is fairly nice out but everything is very wet.  I leave a bit after 7 with George and Albert who are very fast riders and I hop in their train to get to the Walkway Over the Hudson at 7:30 to meet Cathy and Karen.

In crossing the bridge between 7:30 and 8:30 we see two NB CSX on the Riverline.

 I ride with Stan Baker after the bridge as we stay on 9W all the way to Congers / New City.   We stop at a Dunkin Donuts in Newburg (27 miles, 10 AM) and I have the usual.   Then begins the huge climb over Storm King Mountain.

 This is a grinding 3 mile climb and we meet  up with Peter and Elly.  After the equally long descent (40 mph) we go by West Point and stop at a bagel/deli in Fort Montgomery (mile 37 and noon) and I get a hot pastrami and Swiss cheese on a fresh onion bagel which easily trumped the PB&J I was carrying on the bike.   We go past the Bear Mt Bridge

and we climb up Bear Mt which is quite another climb although not as long or high as Storm King but still offers a nice view of the Hudson Valley

We make it into camp by a lake in Congers at 2:10 after nearly 56 miles.  It is another city park that doesn't have camping facilities but it does have pool and cold showers (3) and will let us stay the night.  The bath house and its bathrooms are open during the day when the pool is open but closed at night and won’t reopen until 9 tomorrow.  So there is one bathroom that is open overnight and for 140 of us in the morning.  We’ll see how well that works out.   I get the tent set up and dried, the kitchen truck serves little pizzas on English muffins and some left over egg rolls.  I shower and get a good wifi connection to upload some pictures to the blog, but after an hour I get kicked off for some reason, loose a bunch of my work and cannot reconnect.  It has been very frustrating and time consuming these weeks having such infrequent, limited, and problematic access to wifi on this trip when I am trying to keep a blog.

The park is across the lake from the CSX Riverline and there are a nice number of CSX freights that please the campers greatly.

Grilled chicken for dinner.  Rod and Karen and Cathy arrive at 7 and they stay for the last peloton before leaving at 8:45 to go get something to eat and drive back home.    Asleep by 9;30.

Thursday, August 22, Albany to Hyde Park, NY

August 22, Thursday

65.4 miles: Albany to Hyde Park                  

Sleep until 5:40!  Call Julie at Amtrak to find out about Cathy’s overnight progress.   Very heavy dew and pack up a soaking wet tent, but it is sunny, humid and warming quickly.   Call Cathy before I leave and ready to leave at 7:10.  Peter and Elly are ready to go too, so I ride with them.   Lovely quiet early ride southward along very deeply wooded and hilly roads.  First sag at 8:30 and then more hills.  

Around 9:50 outside of Hudson (mile 28) we stop at a Dunkin Donuts for coffee and the obligatory Boston Crème.   These are particularly good for fueling biker thighs.  Lots of riders are already here.    There are several more DD along the route – is this a great state or what?   Sag at 31 miles at a farm stand where the farmer has donated a bushel of peaches for the riders!   Excellent fruit.  We see loads of apple orchards, vineyards, blueberries, etc and farm stands selling all kinds of local fruits and vegetables.   We ride the hills until we get to Redhook (12:15, mile 48) where I go off route to have lunch with Bob and Angie Haan at their house.  Paul and his family is there too, as is Beth. 

Nice visit and back on the road at 1:30 for the last 17 miles.  Riding by myself into headwinds there is a little thundershower that I ride in for about 10 miles through Rhinebeck.  I stop in Hyde Park at the iconic Beekman Arms for a picture (the oldest operating Inn in America -- since 1766)

and at the Vanderbilt Estate for a view over the Hudson Valley. 

I make it to the camp at Hackett Hill park (a city park, not a campground) at 2:50 all dried out from the rain, but with a cramped right calf again – it tightened up after the lunch stop.  Pretty warm, sunny and humid – mid 80’s.  When you arrive in camp, it is a good idea to not arrive too early lest you gain the responsibility of helping to unload the gear truck.  Arriving after the truck is unloaded you find a scene such as this where you must find your gear to setting up you camp: 

Call Cathy on the train for a progress report, set up camp.

I smell that the kitchen crew is baking us fresh cinnamon rolls for the afternoon snack.  No wonder all of our cooks are already happily married. 

Cold lemonade and the rolls are just what I needed.  Very cold showers are also very helpful (and of course the only option).  Again there is no wifi but there is a picnic shelter to eat under.  Call Cathy, who should be arriving in Poughkeepsie around 5:40 and R&K will pick her up and come up to the camp around 6.  We go out for dinner at the Hyde Park Brewery and I have a very good lamb burger.  Back at camp at 9:30 with some lightning to the west.  I put my bike in my tent to keep it dry and it does rain a few times during the night. 

Ausable to Albany (Tuesday and Wednesday, August 20-21

August 20, Tuesday

82 miles  Ausable Chasm  to Whitehall, NY                        

The day of my greatest anticipation and trepidation on the tour has arrived.  Today’s ride in the Adirondacks has the greatest rise of any single day of the entire tour: 6700 feet  (one day in Arizona would have had over 10,000 but they were bused that day).  Sunrise, just after 6, is beautiful.

 Peter Kempe and Elly Torsius and I will ride together all day.  We leave at 7:15 and stop to take pictures of the Ausable chasm.

We immediately begin climbing covering only about 7 miles in the first hour.  Down to Willsboro (15 miles and first sag) and more steep climbing and coasting descent (39.9 mph top speed) gets us to Westport (30 miles) at 10.  Expecting to enjoy some baked goods at “Me and My Gals” we find that it is no longer a bakery, but just a diner.  We have coffee and rolls/pie/muffin anyway.   The day is getting hot.  We press on already tired from the steep hills and I am aware of the very steep climb that lays ahead entering the village of Port Henry.  I foresee us walking up this ridiculous hill, but we will not be deterred.  We victoriously make this climb, rest and then make our way down to the train depot area for some pictures (about 45 miles).

 Another sag just south of Port Henry and then on to Crown Point.  I am glad to stop at Gunnison’s for a cinnamon cider doughnut and catch up to Peter and Elly in Crown Point resting in the shade of the Catholic church.  Elly is getting tired, it is 1:00 and we still have a long and very hilly 30 miles or so to go.  On to Ticonderoga, and on the way I stop at a roadside stand and buy a tomato to eat while I ride.  My tomatoes are ripening at home so this is a little taste of home.   In Ti we stop at the McD’s to cool off and get some ice and water.  Elly is looking very red and the temperature is near 90. I also get a large fry and soda.  It is after 2 and we still have 22 miles and some rather big hills to climb, but we make a little detour and visit the Ti falls first.

Back on the road and we pass (the closed Fort View Inn where I had imagined us stopping for a beer carbohydrate re-hydration therapy

across from a view of Fort Ticonderoga

 but it would not have been a good idea anyway since by now we and 2 others are the last riders.  Big long hills heading south of TI and a sag after the first hill is very welcomed and then at mile 67 I get my first flat of the tour.  Peter is ahead but Elly stops with me while I fix it.  At the end of the last long climb (mile 74) there is a sag and they make us wait while they get Elly cooled down.

  She is really overheated and dehydrated.  After a bit they let us go, as all of the longest climbs are now done and only 8 more miles to go.


We make it to Whitehall at 5:30.  It has been a long, hot, very hilly day but we did it – there were a few riders who did not make it and were sagged into camp.   It is at a dilapidated RV park past the marina surrounded by swamp and ponds – very buggy and muggy.  Set up camp and shower while supper starts at 6:  meatloaf, corm and roasted potatoes, cherry cheesecake all very good.  Phil Westra and family and some folks from the Vergennes CRC join us for supper.  3 trains go by on the other side of the swamp during supper: 1 SB CPR, one NB CPR and one NB NS.

  A call to Cathy, Peloton at 7:30, and a beer with Peter and others at the marina tavern.  The day began with a lovely sun rise ends with a full moon rising, warm night, log in the tent with the tent  fan on until 9:50.

August 21, Wednesday

75 miles:  Whitehall to Albany (East Greenbush)          

Up at 5:30 as seems to be the habit these days which may seem early but I am getting 8 hours of sleep as 9:30 is a standard time to go to sleep, although you can hear people snoring by 9!  Many people nap when they get to camp -- every day I see people who just lay down with their biking clothes still on and just collapse into sleep.

Even a picnic table is a perfectly good napping spot.

I get 8 hours of deep sleep each night - and even though I am sleeping on the ground by myself in a tent I am sleeping wonderfully -- don't mention this to Cathy.

Anyway, this is a soaking wet dewy morning and packing up the tent is a very wet job.  Call Cathy at 6:30 to be the first to wish her happy birthday.  I am on the road before 7 in part because the wait at the only two bathrooms were very long and I knew that just south of Whitehall there was a McD (across from MacLeod Lumber).

 There was no line at McD’s and I was glad to know the area well enough to not wait in line at camp while swatting mosquitoes.    I ride in a good pace line with Dave and Al for the first couple of hours with a sag stop in Kingsbury.

 When we get to Fort Edward I tell them I am going off route to stop at the train station as I know the southbound Amtrak Ethan Allen is due at the station at 9:22.  I arrive at 9 and have a cup of coffee to go with some cookies I brought along.  The gift shop has been converted to a deli but the coffee is good.  The train is on time and I am back on to the route at 9:30.

 I see a three person pace line going by so I jump on the end.  It is a good team and for the next 30 miles we keep a good rotation to maintain about 17 mph as the road is pretty flat paralleling the canal – we pass a lot of folks.  Once we hit Mechanicsville (I spot a PanAm train on the bridge) and soon Troy the pace is interrupted but we continue to make good time.  We catch up to a number of riders on the city streets in Troy and have a rather large group through town.  We get on a nice riverside bike trail for 6 miles into Albany before having to stop and walk our bikes up and down the ramps for the bridge over the Hudson to Rensselaer.  This picture looks back at Albany.

  After we cross the bridge over the tracks just south of the station there are several miles of climbing to get up out of the valley to the YMCA in East Greenbush.  The RCA from Delmar is there to greet and welcome our arrival.  Yesterday was tiring in part because we went so slowly.  Today’s pace was more to my liking and today I needed to have some time off the bike in the afternoon.  I set up the wet tent to dry (it is sunny and near 90) and sit in the shade to have some lemonade, yogurt and cottage cheese.  The YMCA has nice locker rooms, showers and for the first time since Sunday: wifi and internet access!  After a nice shower I sit in their air-conditioned lobby and try to update the blog but with the flood of riders all using the same pubic wifi none of us can get enough band-width to do much and updating the blog with pictures  is futile.