Bike Across America – Day 47

Friday, August 4, 2017

Start: Little Falls, New York
End: Latham, New York
Mileage today/cumulative: 75 / 3,432
Elevation Ascended: 2,657′
Weather: Cloudy, 68° at start; partly cloudy, 83º at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)

Ninja Mike, a New Hampshire resident and appropriately nicknamed because he always appears out of the distance to ride miles and miles with Team Pea, commented today that the terrain was starting to look like home. What that really meant was that we got a little reacquainted with our climbing legs today. It started with a healthy incline at the start and a few kickers in the middle. Add some double-digit headwinds and an easy day became more challenging. It’s been so long since we had a true tailwind that we’re now convinced that the jet stream actually blows from east to west, and not the reverse. Any other  version is fake news. The staff keep reminding us that anyone can ride across America with nice temperatures and a tailwind. We keep saying “SO WHAT?”

Over the past 47 days, we’ve ridden on interstates, state highways, county roads, farm roads, country roads, residential streets, and bike paths. We’re always happy when we see a bike path on our route sheets and today we got two of them – jackpot! Combined, they were nearly twenty miles and ran alongside the Mohawk River. It was a nice respite from automobiles and city noise. We also rode through some more towns that looked like they belonged in a Norman Rockwell painting, where time has stood still since post-WWII.

Tomorrow we head into Vermont for some serious climbing. The forecast calls for rain all day, so after 47 days we may have to break out some of the wet weather gear we’ve been hauling all of the way from Oregon. Three days to go on this crazy journey and the ocean keeps calling our names.