Upstate NY — Riding near Lake Placid in Monsoon
Growing up in CO, I have respect for mountain weather. I know it changes quickly. I’m also not afraid of riding in it, most of the time (hail is really no fun). I came prepared for anything, but what I got was mostly perfect weather. You are welcome NY.
On the first day, I found myself in upstate NY, Lake Saranac to be exact (near Lake Placid), and it was monsoon season. I’m pretty sure we’d had enough rain. I was not looking forward to a week of this, but it was peaceful and you’ll get another amazing riding story here which definitely will inspire you to take part in riding race near you.
We were in a town called Lake Saranac which is not on lake Saranac the lake, but on Lake Flower. There are, however, Lower, Middle and Upper Saranac Lakes. Upper Saranac Lake has a bay called, “Square Bay,” which is not square and neither is Little Square Bay, which may in fact be bigger than Square Bay. Also, Main Street of Lake Placid is on Mirror Lake and a continuation of Saranac Avenue. I’m sure all of this makes sense to somebody, but not to me.
The day before, I picked up the best loaner bike ever from my friends Scott and Bill in Saratoga Springs, had a beer and headed to the lake places. To make sure the legs were still spinning well, I did a little out and back to Bloomingdale (no lake) and found a nice little hill up to Mt Pisgah on the way back. I passed a herd of tandems on the way out who looked to be having a great time. They continued on where I turned around — I was going to have to figure out where that road went the next day.
The sun was threatening to come out, so I stopped back at the house for some sunscreen (further ensuring the rain), and then set of for Lake Placid (the town). It was a great ride, but I felt I had a headwind the whole way there. Turns out it is uphill, but I didn’t figure that out until I came back.
I found a great little coffee shop called Coffee Bean that had a cool little deck looking over Mirror lake. I sat sipping good coffee and watching the triathletes swim in the lake.
Then I hopped on the bike to find my Garmin had crashed, so the ride to Placid was gone. It was really fast. Super fast in fact. I popped in to Placid Planet for a multitool and found they had the gloves I’d been hunting for a while — double score (it’s tough being a life sized cyclist and needing XXL gloves in a M world).
As I left PP, it started to sprinkle (damn sunscreen), but I carried on. The sprinkle became rain, and I learned that what I was experiencing on the way to lake Placid was not a headwind, but uphill riding. It was a blast cruising along downhill in the rain back to Lake Saranac. I got wet, but I still had a smile on my face! Here are my wheels for the week — pretty sweet!
