We started the day with a buffet from the hotel. Where we all had lots of hot chocolate and cereal. We then went off to New London which took us longer than expected due to all of the hills on our route. Once in New London we had lunch then explored the area before going to the beach. After we all played tag near the play ground. We finished our last miles to get to our campground where we quickly set up our stuff so we could hit the beach again. We stayed there until dinner time then we cooked and ate at camp. We finished the day by relaxing, playing games and climbing trees before calling it a night.-Everyone
Wow. Wow. Wow. Today was a rejuvenating rest day in Albany! We started out our day by having a nice warm breakfast at the hotel buffet, next we went to the NYS Museum where we saw rocks, big bones, fire trucks, and more! The group decided to split up and explore the city in smaller groups but we got back together around 1:00 for lunch. Evie and Ben had found a lovely street with a cool vintage store and Ben & Jerry’s on it so obviously the rest of the group had to go back and check it out. We then headed to a park with some live music playing in the distance and tossed a frisbee in the sun until we were all smelly and sweaty. We slowly walked home to regroup for dinner and then headed out to find cornmeal that we ultimately ended up not using. We climbed up a staircase with at least 1,000,000 stairs and walked in a giant circle around the city. We’re getting our steps in! We had wraps for dinner and cookies for dessert and ended the day with our nightly meeting. Now we are resting up for our big day tomorrow!
We woke up this morning and hung out by the library until the ferry left. After the ferry we looked for a bike shop to fix my back wheel which tire exploded for no reason the night before. After that we had lunch. Then we started riding but stopped after five miles to swim in the lake because it was so hot. We had to ride thirty miles but everyone finished just at 6:00 and we had time to shower at the hotel and watch the Breakfast Club before we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant which was really fancy. For dessert we went to McDonald’s for ice cream. We finished the night by going to the movies and then sleepily walked home.
Today was an amazingly short and sweet day. We woke up early in the morning and were excited to get to Albany. We got ready quickly and were on our way. We were in fine timing, however we made a long stop and then stopped for lunch so ended up getting to the hotel around 3. We had a bit of trouble with our bikes in the hotel, but we were allowed to keep them in a room. After settling down we went to the New York State Capitol for a tour and various other museums, which were quite beautiful. We then detoured around Albany for a bit before going to a pizzeria with Alex’s brother. Later we had a delicious Mediterranean dinner and then settled back into our hotel. — Beautifully crafted by Isaiah
This was the longest day so far. Alex falsely told us it was gonna be 32 miles which turned into 50 grueling, windy and ultimately beautiful hills with the strawberry red sun peaking through the New York mountains. Starting with 2 flat tires and the dewey smell of the woods. Riding up to Bard College in the morning sun we found ourselves at a fruit stand. Conversation and free ice pops followed the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables. Long hills and broken water bottle cages on the Bard College Bike Trail were followed by good (but expensive) pizza and ice cream in the town of Tivoli. Might we mention again the sun and it’s heat, in the early afternoon before it was tinted red over the clouds, a short stop and a vineyards quick refusal to hose down 11 sweaty bikers. We rode forward and found a rocky river, flowing under the highways of Dutches county. Algae covered rocks stuck in the mud and trees smoothed by the water cooled us down under the midday sun. Destroying a bag of Lays in the parking lot of a nameless gas station along the road. We kept trekking forward and found ourselves in the middle of a calm road with a huge orange ball of sun aligning itself perfectly between the trees on the sides. We are now at our campsite for the night with an amazing porta potty and Jaron’s stellar hamburgers.
We woke up at 7:30 and made breakfast at our campsite. Big Max and I discussed a route for our century (100 miles). Then we did the route at a slow pace to learn it. Then, we did the 17 mile route twice more and went to the grocery store for lunch. I ate a bunch of carbs and protein to prepare for the last 3 laps. The first laps were very fast at a 15 mile pace and I passed 2 mopeds at 30 mph uphill. After lunch, the first 2 laps were a little slowed down and things began to ache. The last lap was very very slow and the hills were horrible. After 7 hours, we were done. It turns out we did 4,200 ft of elevation at 14.4 mph with headwinds. Big Max finished soon after and we celebrated are first 100 mile bike ride with burgers.
-Ammi
First thing in the morning Ammi and big Max left on their Century. The rest of us rode our bikes over to the library to hang out in the air conditioning. The library was closed to Max, Zac, and I walked along the boardwalk, where I jumped in the water. Then we walked along the rocks. We went back to the library for a few hours to read and relax before lunch. For lunch we had sandwiches and a tub of ice cream which most of us ate with sticks but Ammi thought it would be an amazing idea to take fistfuls directly out of the tub Winnie-the-Pooh style and eat directly from his hand. After lunch we went for a short ride out to the point of the island where we got off our bikes and walked along the sand to go see a lighthouse and got ten feet from some seals hanging out in the water. When we went back to the town we hung out at the library again and met up with big Max and Ammi to get burgers and fried rice, then to walk along the rocks and watch the sunset.
-Calliope
Total mileage for century: 102 miles Total mileage for normals: 10 miles
We woke up in our hotel room at 5am. We then ate a quick hotel breakfast and got started on our 35 mile trek to the ferry. We only had a couple hours to bike or we would miss our ferry. So we pushed hard through the very hilly riverside towns.
We were hit by a very strong unexpected rainstorm on our way so we got soaked. But we still arrived 30 minutes early and boarded the ferry! The ferry pushed through bad waters and a lot of us got a little sea sick. We then arrived at Block Island and bought some lunch, then explored the island a bit. We rested a bit before heading to a fun bingo game. We won a lot of candy and some other stuff. Then we headed back and went to bed.-Little Max
The views were breathtaking today. The hotel was refreshing and about half the kids did laundry. Some kids went swimming in the pool and everyone enjoyed an amazing shower. The beds and A/C was a change of pace from camping. We woke up pretty early around 6 am to get a good head-start before the rain. The breakfast got everyone fueled up and ready for a great day.
The day started out on a very nice suburban road that was nice, quiet and mellow. Only one major bike issue today. Everyone was following all the traffic laws and being great. Not long after starting, we went to the ‘Walkway Over the Hudson” bike trail. We had a great few miles on this trail. Around 10:30 we made it to the bridge over the Hudson River. We got to over the river and started taking photos for the blog and for fun. We all were all just hanging around and taking photos on digital cameras. Jaron spotted rain in the distance and we made our way to the grocery store for lunch. Lunch was a large assortment of foods for everyone from turkey and chicken wraps to buffalo chicken.
After getting all fueled up we made it back to riding to go have some fun exploring Franklyn D Rosevelt’s house. The house was beautiful but the weather was a different story. By the time we got to the FDR house we were all soaked from a lot of rain. As we rolled up to the house the weather started getting really rainy so we all just hung out under the overhang of the porch. A lot of people took naps while others played games. We continued on to the Vanderbilt mansion next. It had a similar art and view as the Rosevelt house but it was in a different location and more open layout. We had a short bike to get to the campsite where Evie found a nice hiking trail for the sunset and just a nice chill location.
We enjoyed sloppy joes chefed up by Anderson, Matthew, and Jacob. The hungry kids ate all of the food. After dinner we all went exploring around the little trail to watch the sunset. It was amazing and a lot of fun. Some kids started going down to see if they could go swimming. About half the kids find a nice spot to go swim, while the other half of kids were just hanging around looking out at the views. After that we had our nice meeting after everyone took a much needed shower shower. Then we rounded out the day with some cookies and stories around the table where this was written.
Today was a long day! We woke up at 6:30 am and hit the road around 8:30. Once we hit the road we were making good pace. However as these long treks start off, bike problems will occur… Started the morning with fixing Ben’s brakes. We started off navigating along the Hudson River and seeing amazing views of the water and nature. Next we stopped briefly at a supermarket to get breakfast after a little raccoon incident left us without food. The whole day was a battle with a 1,400 foot elevation differential! We made our way through Westchester County seeing towns like Downtown Peekskill and eventually Cold Springs. There, we stopped at another grocery store for lunch and dinner where we dined on chicken Caesar salad wraps and two tubs of ice cream! From there, we made our way through the beautiful downtown of Cold Springs and went to the water with this beautiful view in the photo. We ate ice cream, stretched, played games, and explored the city. It was a beautiful experience with so many good sights. After that we tiredly made our way to the hotel in Fishkill, NY where we washed clothes and slept in air conditioning for the first time this trip! Shout out Leo for being a good sweep and good stretches. And shoutout Mathew for good drops on the way 🙂
Today we explored around town after saying a sad good bye to the Cape Cod Trekkers. We spent a few final moments chilling in the hotel and then we went shopping at random stores. Ammi bought a watch and a battery for it and also a bike cap from Trek. And the gang bought matching South Park underwear. Lil Max bought some stuff and big Max bought shoes bc his shoes fell apart. Grace bought cool biking glasses. After that we got burritos. Then we raced to Petco to look at animals. After Ammi gave a lighting fast tour of his favorite store Harbor Freight. After we played a quick game of tag in Stop-N-Shop. Grace and Zac are doing a bet of who would take a tourist shirt off first. It’s been five days.
