May 23 -- Amsterdam NY to Keene NH

We're back. It was a very tough day -- tough riding that is -- 125 miles and over 7000 feet of climbing, according to Geoff's computer.

The weather was great -- cool to start but high 70's later in the day -- and the scenery was the best that NY, VT and NH have to offer -- rolling hills, very green, pretty lakes, small towns ... and more hills

There were some major climbs today -- one at 1800 feet and a couple at 600. The grade was not too bad, but we have a lot of miles accumulated on our legs and we are tired. Jeff Dodd-o rode with us today as well and all four of us were struggling on the last hills.

Ride stats -- 125 miles; 9 hours elapsed time; 7:48 rolling time.

As soon as we got back we went over to Chili's for dinner. The luggage was not in yet and RAP is at 6pm (in 5 minutes). We will probably go out for desert after RAP.

If you read this blog and it ends here .... check back later for pictures and other thoughts and the plan for tomorrow.

........

Well, Mike is now saying that tomorrow's climbing is not as bad as today's -- but he is always an optomist. He is also trying to get this to work out that we are at the beach by 4pm -- today, leaving 1/2 hour later than tomorrow's expected departure, only the first riders -- the hammers -- got in before 4pm -- we got in at 4:10 -- at 6pm two riders were still not in. hmmm.

We are having breakfast tomorrow a mile or so down the road. We'll be loading at 5:40 and breakfast is served at 6am. As usual, I'll have my mini-breakfast here in the hotel before heading out, and then have some oatmeal etc. at the breakfast stop. Assuming that we are out of there by 6:30 or so that puts us about 40 minutes ahead of today.

The worst climbs tomorrow are in the first 20 miles. We start at 500 feet, climb to 1500, drop to 1000, then climb to 1900. I wish that I could say that it is all downhill from there ... but it ain't !. Obviously the net elevation change tomorrow will be in our favor, since we end up at the ocean (more on that later) but there will be a lot of ups and downs before then.

The route tomorrow takes us through NH, crossing into MA basically right at the ocean, at Salisbury Beach. We ride a couple of miles down the beach for the ceremonial wheel dip. At that point, we will have accomplished our goal -- riding from coast to coast. Neither I nor Jerry nor Geoff needs to "notch our belts" that we have ridden 10 miles from the ocean to the hotel .... so Sandy will go to the hotel first, drop off the luggage, so that we have room for Geoff and Jerry in our car. Oh -- did I forget to mention that Sandy is meeting us at the beach ? -- yes, so that we can have pictures taken with a good camera.

Tomorrow there won't be any point in getting ahead of the crowd -- other than it will be nice to take our time. Included in the climbs are a couple of really steep sections -- one with an AVERAGE grade of 13% -- but it's only 3/4 mile long. That could be a punishing 3/4 mile, but it too will end.

About 5 miles from the end we will have a gathering point so that we all get to the beach around the same time so that we can take group pictures. Mike doesn't know the area and was looking for some indication from his boss regarding convenience stores etc. in the area -- I volunteered that knowing if there was a Starbucks there might be good ... I have not had a double capuchino, dry, non-fat for at least a month !!

This hotel, again a Super-8, is again one of the best hotels that we have had -- clean, well appointed and furnished, modern, close to restaurants -- Chilis, Olive Garden, Longhorn -- grocery store (Price Chopper with a deli section and an olive bar to rival Wegmans) Home Depot, you name it -- all in this small area. After RAP we walked over to the grocery store and I got POM (I have some catching up to do in my anti-oxidant intake since I've not been drinking as much coffee or red wine), a container of Sorbet which I ate, a chocolate milk and two yogurts (for breakfast). What will I do tomorrow night after dinner -- how will my body know that it doesn't need to stock up to sit in the boat on Friday or sit in the car on Saturday and Sunday ...).

Pictures, pretty self-explanatory. Someone also took a picture of me at the Vermont state line, or at least thought that they had taken a picture -- oh well.