Day 51- Manchester, NH

We entered New Hampshire this morning within 3 miles of leaving the hotel. It was cold this morning and the forecast called for rain, so we all had our jackets on.  Today we had 86 miles to bike, and 6100 feet to climb. That is the most climbing we’ve had since the 4th day of the trip in Truckee. We rode through some very pretty back roads today, though there were some very steep hills to get over. I caught up with Rocket, Greg, and Mike at lunch and rode with them for a little bit. This is them below–speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil…

When we arrived at the hotel, we cleaned our bikes, and then got ready for the banquet. Tomorrow is our last day of riding…i can’t believe it!

At the banquet, we had dinner, and then our staff recapped the entire trip for us, all the way from San Francisco up until tonight in New Hampshire. Everyone was given a chance to speak and say some final words about the trip. David Woodsfellow, from Atlanta, said that what he took from this trip that he rarely noticed the tailwinds–he always knew when there was a headwind, but that he often mistook a tailwind for him riding really well that day– he said that we should always be aware of the tailwinds in life, and be thankful for them. Everyone mentioned how much they would miss the fellow riders and the staff- we really have become a family. Herb, our oldest rider at 75, said that this trip was a birthday present to himself, and said “what a wonderful collection of guests showed up to the party.” It was a wonderful evening of reflection on the trip. Tomorrow is our last day-67 miles into Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Day 50- Brattleboro, VT

Today we were back to climbing! We entered Vermont, and we climbed two mountain passes. Vermont is absolutely gorgeous. This was one of my favorite days of the trip. We rode through a few small little towns that were just decked with cafes and coffee shops everywhere. I really didn’t want to climb any mountains today, so I was sure to stop in every little town on the way to waste time and drink coffee. This pic is the view from the top of the 2nd climb– absolutely beautiful.

Below is one of my favorite signs to see along the road–it has a truck on a downwards slant– a warning to them that a big downhill is coming and to slow down. These are almost always at the top of our tough climbs and we know that our downhill reward is coming soon!

Day 49- Troy, NY

Last night at dinner, Rick, one of our fastest riders, came to me and said–”ok, tomorrow is the day– you’ve said that you would try to ride with me one day out of the trip, and tomorrow is it”…Rick is super fast–he keeps a very strong steady pace all day long, everyday, and is always among the  first people to get to the hotel. He gets there hours before everyone else. So, I told him that I would try to keep up with him.. I was able to stay strong and hard with him all day, which was an accomplishment for me. I had to work so hard to keep up with him. I was drafting him for a good bit, which was still really hard just to stay on his back tire. Mike and Tom joined us from the first SAG on, and we got lost, so we decided to stop in at Dunkin Donuts to get some coffee. Rick was ready to leave after about 5 minutes…stopping is not his thing. We found our way back to the correct route, and continued on at a fairly strong pace. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the ride was so much fun. We rode along the Mohawk River, and towards the end of the ride, we had about 20 miles of bike path which was really nice. We stopped at Lock 8 to watch them raise a few boats from one water level to the next. This was very interesting. You can see in the pic, that one side is much lower than the other. So, we saw a few boats come up into the Lock, and then they would fill it up with enough water to raise the boat to the next level, then open the door and let the boat out. It was neat. The pic below is Tom and Rick when we stopped at the lock. We got to the hotel super early which gave me some time to do some homework.

Day 48- Little Falls, NY

Today was a very cold and rainy 84 mile day into Little Falls, NY. I can remember just being miserable–wet spandex rubbing against your bike seat is not pleasant. On the way, we passed through the town of Sullivan which was neat. This is a pic of Little Falls– very cute little town. We did have a great tailwind for the last 20 miles; we barely had to pedal and we were flying. That did make the day a little better. The hotel had a complimentary social hour for our group, so we all went down to dinner a little early and hung out. Fun times!

Day 47- Liverpool, NY

This morning, before we took off, I rode across the street from the hotel to enjoy the lovely lake..it was beautiful. Once we left the lake, it started raining, and continued to rain for the remainder of the day. We only had 69 miles to ride, so it wasn’t terrible, but there is nothing enjoyable about riding in the rain. We rode right through Seneca Falls today, which is famous for the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention held in the U.S. It was a very pretty area, but would have been more enjoyable if it weren’t raining. Because of the rain today, our group had 29 flats in total! Somehow I didn’t get one, but almost everyone did. When we reached Liverpool, which is a suburb of Syracuse, we cleaned our bikes like good cyclists, and got ourselves cleaned up for dinner. Robert bought wine for everyone to celebrate his 74th birthday- here we all are in the lobby of the hotel enjoying the wine—yes, out of styrofoam cups.

 Below is me with Rocket drinking wine out of his rocket sippee cup that I got him from Denny’s–