Day 85 - Blue Mountain Lake, NY to North Hudson, NY

Aug 30 blog

51 miles

3,709 miles so far

We decided to have breakfast at the Corner Store and waited out the morning rain before starting our ride. Today was another day of Adirondack hills! The first climb started immediately as we pulled out of Blue Mountain Lake with a gradient of 10%.

Dark clouds seemed to follow us most of the day, but the rain held off for the most part. We did have a little light rain at one point.

As there were no places along our route today for lunch, we decided to stop at the Newcomb HS to eat our lunch in the back parking lot. While school wasn’t yet in session, judging from the number of cars in the lot, it looked like the teachers were back.

We stopped at a gas station for water and other supplies when Sharon spotted a solo bike tourer riding by. She called out to him, and he was happy to pull off to share stories. His name was Caleb Meer,and he was about 20 years old. He was from Orlando, FL and was riding the Northern Tier route. He mentioned that he had to bypass about 600 miles due excessive smoke from the Canadian wildfires. He also told us that he was quite envious of our bikes, because while he had a used Surly Disc Trucker like ours, his did not have a third chain ring or as many low gears. We could appreciate how much harder he had been working on those mountain climbs!!

He rode with us for the last few miles to the Blue Ridge Motel. Caleb, who was wild-camping most of the way, said he had plenty of daylight left, and planned on riding another 20-30 miles. We exchanged contact information, and wished each other safe travels.

We had a special visitor today! Scott Shaw, the CEO of Lincoln Educational Services, whose board I serve on, drove several hours to take us out for a nice dinner. We had a wonderful dinner at the Cafe Adirondack in Pottersville, NY. After dropping us off, I believe he turned around and drove several hours home where he had a busy day ahead of him. Good Samaritan of the day, for sure!! Thank you Scott.

Cloudy day riding to North Hudson