T1 Day 59 (Liz)

 8/4/23

This morning we were eager to leave the unfurnished basement apartment that smelled like cat pee. I shouldn’t complain about free lodging, especially when it poured all night, but it was a pretty weird scene. We were immediately biking through busy Albany roads which is a tough way to start the day. We made our way to the pedestrian ramp that would take us across the highway bridge, but when we got there we were met with a gate and signs saying “do not enter” and “walkway does not continue”. Luckily the detour was short and we biked between concrete barriers across the bridge. I have to say, Albany has not been my favorite stop!

Since we left the apartment without eating, we stopped at Dunkin for breakfast. Not our first choice, but it worked out well. We ended up sitting there for about an hour eating and trying to differentiate the types of racquet sports. 

We then spent another hour outside of the Dunkin trying to fix Kayla’s derailleur. After some heavy duty hosing down a few days ago, the derailleur has seemed to struggle getting into the easiest gears. Today we had lots of climbing, so easy gears are important. We learned a lot about L and H limits and cable tension, but we didn’t seem to fix the issue much. (Although we did get some tips from Graham which helped.) 

Since we couldn’t really fix it, Kayla had to crank that soulja boy up the hills (cue the dance moves). And there were a lot of hills! By lunch time I was feeling nauseous and on the verge of tears, probably due to the combination of the hills, the busy roads, and the end of this trip looming nearby. I was struggling to process the end of this trip pretty much all day. This has been my life for two months now, how will it feel when it is suddenly over?

Luckily, we had a wonderful surprise. Keelin and I were pulling in to our designated lunch spot, the Random Market, and noticed a girl waving at us! I waved back of course, but I had no idea who she was. She asked if Kayla was behind us. I said yes, and then, too delirious to form a more polite question, I asked “I’m sorry, who are you?” It was Kayla’s old friend, Ky! She lives nearby, and treated us to a wonderful lunch. 

After she left, we sat there very disoriented. We were all staring into space as it rained on our bikes. To be honest I don’t even remember what happened, I just remember Kayla saying, “I feel like I need adult supervision.” That sums it up pretty well!

We decided to change plans and stay somewhere closer due to the impending thunderstorms. As a result, we ended up on a beautiful rails to trails bike path for the rest of the day. We saw wildlife and mountains around us, while riding on a flat, paved trail. 

At this point, I was feeling so many emotions about the end of our trip, especially since I decided to get a ride to Farmington tonight. Our updated schedule had us getting to Farmington the same day as a friend reunion I desperately wanted to go to. Med school keeps me busy, and seeing these friends means a lot to me. Ultimately, I decided to miss this 40 or so miles to Farmington, get home a day early, and make it to the reunion. As we were nearing the campsite for the night, my dad met up with us and picked me up. It was hard to say goodbye, and some tears were shed, but we’ll be back together for our last day!

As for the rest of our trip, Kayla and Keelin will get to Farmington tomorrow where we will take some rest days until the 7th when group 2 is planning to arrive. Then, on the 8th, the 8 of us will all bike together down to the coastline where we’ll celebrate our trip on Hammonasset beach. 

I was so excited to finish, to no longer have to wake up and bike day after day, but as the end creeps into sight, I’m sad to say goodbye to this adventure. Mixed into the sadness is a feeling of love for my fellow bikers and pride for what we’ve accomplished. We are so much stronger than we ever could’ve imagined. 

Now for a review of New York:

Bikeability:

Kayla 8.75

Keelin 8.5 (Erie canal way/Empire state trail rocked !!!! but Albany and Rochester city biking and crossing the hudson river was busy

Liz 8 (Erie Canal trail was great but I hate city biking)

Scenery:

Kayla 7.75

Keelin 9.5 (I am obsessed with the locks on the Erie Canal … google Erie Canal Lock 17 for more details if you need. They are so cool)

Liz 7.75 

Weather:

Kayla 8

Keelin 7 (mostly good, some rain per usual, nothing that really delayed us)

Liz 8

Lodging:

Kayla 9 (it was so fun to stay with friends and family!)

Keelin 9 (we had an amazing string of nights spent in beds and especially with friends and family and campsites were good too but the warmshowers in the basement apartment of albany is keeping this from being a 10)

Liz 9.25 (what they said)

Favorite meal:

Kayla: veggie riggis with the grandparents

Keelin: dinner with my college friends’ parents and siblings….an amazing spread of fruits veggies and pasta and her younger sister &friends played guitar and sang for us

Liz: salmon tacos with Kayla’s friends, shoutout chef David!

Favorite gear:

Kayla: probably still just my gel saddle cover, but for the sake of saying something new I’ll go with my flat pedals because if I was clipped in on this trip I think I probably would have fallen at a least 25 times. 

Keelin: my tire boot and spare tube… were living undisturbed in my repair kit until I ran over glass and gashed my tire. 

Liz: my mirror, I biked without it for a few miles and missed it dearly

Something new we learned:

Kayla: if you get on a bike every day and make forward progress, after 2 months you can get from Washington state to New York State, and if you just think of it as one day at a time, one day you wake up and you’re almost home! 

Keelin: I learned how locks operate… turns out there’s tunnels underneath that move the water and use guillotine like doors!!!!!!!! Also I learned how to repair a tubeless tire puncture with rubber plugs! 

Liz: the Erie Canal locks are super cool, mules pulled barges up the Erie Canal, my ancestors traveled on the Erie Canal, and if you bike with 2 people for 60 days, its pretty hard to say goodbye.