Adirondacks Tour (3 days, 150 miles)

Yesterday I returned from a wonderful bicycling tour in the Gore Mountain region of the southern Adirondacks. This was my first trip to this beautiful part of upstate New York, and it proved to be an ideal location for cycling. We arrived at base camp (Goose Pond Inn B&B in North Creek) late on Wednesday night and didn’t even bother to unpack our gear before crashing out for the night. I guess we were all a little beat, because we all slept right through breakfast the next morning, served promptly between zero-eight-hundred and zero-nine-hundred hours. I guess when they say bed and breakfast, they mean it. After that initial faux pas, we fell in line with the regime and got on famously with the innkeepers. Seriously though, it’s a great B&B in a great location with clean rooms and a very nice breakfast each morning. For a very affordable price. Thumbs up from the rambler. If you visit, tell ‘em Miss California sent you.

The Machine: On this trip J was kind enough to loan me his Rivendell Saluki, undoubtedly the most valuable bicycle I’ve ever had the pleasure to ride on a multi-day tour. It struck me as I was describing the bike to Crazy Cycling Boss that the setup on this thing is pretty unusual, at least from the perspective of folks riding aluminum and carbon. The Rivendell (“Jean-Pierre”) is an old-school steel frame touring bike that features a mustache handlebar with bar end friction shifters, fat 650 tires, and a newish Brooks saddle that I had a hand (so to speak) in breaking in over the course of the trip. I had a bit of trouble with the saddle at the end of each day, but all in all a very classy ride.

The Routes:
Day 1: The Lakes of Chester About 38 miles and 2600 feet of climbing.
Our first day out we all wanted to do a relatively easy ride to get a feel for the terrain, so we decided on the “lakes of Chester” loop, which goes north through Olmsteadville, over through Pottersville, past Loon Lake and Friends Lake, then back up to North Creek. Although it rained a bit this day, it was a nice introduction to the region, which is marked by small quaint hamlets (general store, church, cemetery), small lakes, and green forest. In some ways it reminded me of upper Michigan where I had visited as a wee one.

Day 2: North Creek-Schroon Lake 55 miles, 3800 feet of climbing.
We had talked about doing a couple of the longer routes outlined in the touring book, but after a day on the road I didn’t feel like I could do 80 miles with my ass in Jean-Pierre’s saddle. So we managed to piece together two other routes into a nice 55 miler out to Schroon Lake and back. The weather on this second day (July 4th) was pretty much perfect: warm, sunny, bright blue sky, very low humidity. We started out through quiet backroads to arrive at the southern end of Schroon Lake. This is one of those quintessential lake resort towns that are probably overrun with tourists most of the year, and yet you can’t really resist its charm. We stopped in the downtown area for a quick rest and a snack, and were lucky enough to catch some of the 4th of July entertainment, which consisted of a terrible choir performing in a very picturesque waterfront gazebo. Continuing north we rounded the lake and returned to quiet country roads. This portion of the route was really beautiful, and took us through marshlands and forest, with occasional views of the lake. The only downside here was the introduction of bugs and my “shock and awe” deet-based response. I hate using chemicals, but I hate bugs even more, so there you go.

Along the eastern shore of the lake, we stopped by the general store in the town of Adirondack. It seemed like a bit of a zoo inside, so we only stocked up on minimal supplies before hitting the road again. Once we completed the loop around Schroon Lake, it was a relatively quick ride down route 9, to route 8, then to route 28 back to North Creek. A really lovely ride.

Next.. day 3 and local Adirondack flavor.