Bishop Bike Adventure Day 59 August 28, 2010

We had an easier time getting an earlier start this morning from the Raquette Lake Tap House Hotel. So after breakfast in the bar, we were off, ready for another big day!

We proceeded to Blue Mountain Lake and were faced with a challenging climb leaving town. This would be a day of climbs and descents, amid the beautiful lakes, forests, and mountains of the Adirondack region. Although we thought yesterday was taxing on our bodies, today was more so. Garmin indicated 3,800 feet climbed and 4,700 calories consumed. We traveled 86 miles to arrive in Ticonderoga just after sunset.

One stretch of road today was magnificently surrounded by trees and mountains. We traveled for miles without seeing any manmade structures. When we finally came to some civilization, we thought for a moment we had arrived in Buffalo, New York before realizing that we had passed that city several days ago! The photo below will help clarify our confusion!

On our ride to Ticonderoga, Debbie had a deer pass from the road to the side right in front of her. We continued on as the sun set and found ourselves just a couple of miles short of the city. A Good Samaritan, angel in disguise, pulled up as we were fumbling for our lights. They explained that we had just a very short climb to the top of a huge descent into the city. They offered to shadow us down the hill to provide light. We gladly accepted and resumed our ride. We were blown away by the grade of the descent after we had crested the hill. There were three or four “truck use low gear” type of warning signs as we descended. We were both riding the brakes to slow the bikes, which was a challenge over the stretch of perhaps one-and-a-half miles. There was concern about using too much brake and burning out the pads, and there was a significant amount of hand fatigue after a long day of riding. When we finally reached the bottom, relieved, we thanked the couple who had shepherded us down the hill and escorted us to the Super 8. We also realized that God has been and continues to help us as we continue our Trek.