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Adirondack cycling – July 2008
Michael Sharkey and Howie participated in a weeklong bicycle ride between July 26 and August 2, 2008. The ride, entitled “An Amazing Adirondack Adventure”, was organized by In Motion Events. It began in Indian Lake NY where we tented at the Central School.
Our cycling started on Sunday, July 27 with optional rides to Blue Mountain and the Adirondack Museum and/or Speculator. The museum and views of Blue Mountain Lake were the day’s highlights. We returned to Indian Lake at day’s end for a second night.
On Monday the group (about 125 including In Motion staff) struck out for Saranac Lake snacking and passing by Long Lake and Tupper Lake enroute and arriving at North Country Community College at the end of 68 miles.
Tuesday took us from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid the long way which included a stop at the Six Nations Museum and a climb up the back side of Whiteface Mountain and a scenic ride along River Road into Lake Placid.. Dinner and live music was provided at our campsite on the Lake Placid horseshow grounds. The mileage that day totaled 54.
We remained in Lake Placid on Wednesday as there was much to see including the freestyle skiing practice facility where we saw the spectacular “Wet & Wild Wednesday” show. We also rode the elevator to the top of the 120 meter ski jump for the view that faces jumpers before they push off. Our campsite was visible about a quarter mile below. Skiers practiced on the plastic matted 18m, 48m and 90m jumps as we watched.
Following a night punctuated with heavy thundershowers we departed on Thursday on a 58 mile ride to Elizabethtown. The ride included a stop at an excellent bakery where mini danish rolls were coming out of the oven. A restored covered bridge at Jay provided a photo op. Following a PM rest stop we pedaled on to Elizabethtown where tented in front of the school.
Our Friday morning rest stop was at Port Henry just South of Westport on Lake Champlain with the scenery along the way a little more Vermont-like. 18 miles and many hills later we reached our PM stop at North Hudson. Additional climbing over the next 23 miles brought us to our last night’s campsite at Olmstead School after a total of 60 hard earned miles.
The trip concluded with a 24 mile ride back to Indian Lake which we reached by 10 AM, tired but happy. A view of the entire route is marked in green on this map with the camping locations marked in red.
