Continuing saga of the bike....

First a brief update on the bike...We do have serious problems. Not only is the derailleur shot but also the hanger that is critical to attaching the derailleur to the bike. And while the derailleur is available in almost any good bike store the hanger is part of the Cannondale (my bike) manufacturing process and so is available only in a Cannondale dealership. And given the route we have been taking there were no Cannondale dealers within a reasonable distance. And so as we approached New Jersey I called my own dealer near Princeton. Fortunately he did have the part and by a remarkably lucky coincidence he is coming to his aunt's house in Somerset (tomorrow's destination and will deliver the parts to the hotel tonight. With just a little bit of luck I may get my bike back tomorrow night. In the meantime the news was not all bad. I missed most of one day of riding but did acquire loaner bikes yesterday and today. The ride mechanic offered me his bike yesterday and today one of the support folks gave me his. This may seem like kind of a nice gesture but actually in both cases it was extremely generous. For most serious cyclists a bike is not only a major expenditure but is a very personal kind of possession. These two guys, who both had duties that kept them from riding, really went above and beyond in trusting me with their bikes. And both days were rides that I would have been most disappointed to miss - no, "disappointed" is too weak a word - more like extremely depressed and angry. Yesterday was another near century, 97 miles from Windsor Locks Connecticut to Fishkill New York. Included in the fun was something like 6300 feet of climbing - lots of rolling up-and-down but also 3 or 4 serious climbs ranging from a mile and a half to one four miler. And along the way we went in and out any number of pretty little New England towns and villages. Some of these are straight out of Currier and Ives - you can just picture the beautiful old tall-spired white churches with candles lit and the snow covering the evergreen trees on the front lawn. Virtually every town has its town square with the memorials to the war heroes of the past and the cannon that may date to the civil war or perhaps a tank from one of the more recent times. And for the most part we were on nice country roads with decent shoulders and passed through some lovely country - not a lot of fall color yet but occasionally we get a little cluster of sumac and would see this brilliant red patch shining through the green forest. And, of course, the really good news was that we finally saw the sun again - the day started overcast but about 11 AM or thereabouts the sun actually came out and we had light and blue skies for the rest of the day. For the day we did 97 miles (another "almost" century) with over 6000 feet of climbing and a 14.4 mph average. And maybe because I had the enforced day off I felt good and had a great day. Today was a sleep-in morning. We started out at 8:30 instead of our usual 7:3o because we had only a 52 mile day, albeit one that again promised lots of climbing. We left Fishkill and headed in the general direction of the Hudson River and the first view was beautiful. We were on a bridge high over a little stream feeding the river and the Hudson appeared in the distance just over the tops of the trees on each side of the stream. The sun was out again and it was a true photo opportunity moment. Shortly thereafter we came to the Bear Mountain bridge and crossed over the Hudson and into Harriman state park, one of the true jewels of the state of New York. It is in the northern area of the Ramapao mountains and we started at the top and made our way south through forests, an occasional campground, and maybe 8 or 10 beautiful lakes. All of these lakes were the true mountain lakes - still and calm and perfect mirrors of the surrounding tall trees. And as spectacular as our view was today you know that within a couple weeks when the leaves turn it will be even better. The roads at this time of year were pretty much devoid of automobiles and they twist and turn and rise and fall with the mountain contours. This means a lot of climbing but for every uphill there is a following downhill and so with all the S-curves and descents of up to a couple of miles we had some pretty exciting riding for a good part of the day. We finally left the park and traveled briefly through an area called Sterling Forest - it is mostly private land but still very park-like and so was like and extension of Harriman park. We finally started coming into the area around Suffern and the scenery changed radically. Suddenly we were ugly roads with lots of heavy traffic - the adrenalin level goes up immediately and every rider is focused on getting everybody safely through the traffic and into town. Suffern is a gritty little town with huge railroad yards which are the only legacy of the iron mining that went on here a hundred or so years ago. The town brings make lots of memories since Mahwah, where we lived several years ago is just over the border in New Jersey - which is the perfect segue to tomorrow since we will be heading through Mahwah on our way the Somerset tomorrow night. Today's effort - 53 miles with about 34oo feet of climbing. Again, a great day. And by the way...sorry about the lack of photos. I have been more than a little distracted by the lack of my own bike and the need to pack stuff onto the borrowed bike every morning. And the result was that I discovered today that I had left my memory card in the computer which was of course packed away in my luggage on the way to the hotel...will try not let that happen again.