Today's Stats:
Point of Origin: Hyde Park, NY
Destination: Middletown, NY
Trip Distance: 57.78 miles
Time: 4 hours, 23 minutes
Average Speed: 13.17 mph
After deliberating for 72 hours and obsessively checking the weather, I decided to take today off.
On my day off, I decided to take a bike ride through Shawangunk Mountain. I made my decision at the very last minute, about 5 minutes after I was supposed to check out of my hotel at the Roosevelt Inn in Hyde Park, NY. This inn was a very nice place to stay and had a wonderful "coffee shop" attached to the hotel where I might have been very content to spend an extra day to allow my legs to deflate to their normal size. The forecast was cloudy with a chance of showers, but it barely sprinkled for 20 minutes on my way down the Hudson River to Poughkeepsie.
I crossed the Mid-Huson Bridge in Poughkeepsie, which is a beautiful bridge that gives you a great view of the Hudson River. From this point on, it was another perfect fall day for biking. The terrain was much easier today, with well-paved roads and good signage (my day two of not getting lost!!).
Since it was my day off, I was considering stopping a little earlier on, and New Paltz, NY was one place I considered spending the evening. New Paltz is a very scenic town--the main street winds down the side of a hill in front of the backdrop of the Shawangunk Ridge. I stopped at a bike shop mostly to brag and to show off, but also to pick up a pair of gloves and to borrow a bike pump. The folks at the Bicycle Depot were extremely nice, and just next door, the Karma Cafe served up the most incredible vegan, organic foods and smoothies, where I had the most incredible lunch that would make many people I know gag.
Although I was in Shawangunk Mountain territory, the civil engineers who planned the roads had the foresight and compassion to locate these roads in a valley. It was a day of fast, straight, and smooth biking, and I finally got to use my neglected Eros bars. These are great for cruising but completely useless for mountains and any kind of terrain that requires the shifting of gears (unless you have bar end shifters, which I don't).
At New Paltz, although I had already put in several hours, I was feeling good and figured that another 30 miles or so wouldn't be a big deal. By the time I rolled into Middletown, I was pretty tired. I might have to take another day off...
Today's Thanks:
Thank you to Megan for teaching me how to email photos! Also, we have put up some more pictures on previous posts, so scroll down for some visuals!
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