Another Day at the Carnival — Conversations Across America

If Sunday was the day for playing whack-a-mole, Monday was the day for roller coasters. Monday’s ride had fewer big long climbs (though it had its share of those too), but it had lots of quick up and downs. Often there was enough momentum from a descent to get well up the following ascent before having to dig in.

That didn’t make the ride any easier Monday, and it felt like the hardest ride of the trip. It was nearly 100 miles long and included 6,200 feet of climbing. It involved the longest day in the saddle (if only by 3 minutes), 20% more climbing than any other day, and more feet of climbing per mile than any other day except the Black Hills.

But there was also plenty of beautiful riding to go with the effort. We started out with more beautiful views of the Mohawk Valley.

We eventually descended into the Schenectady/Albany/Area. There was a bit of mostly suburban riding, but then I was able to join the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail as it wound along the Mohawk River .

After exiting the trail, there was a relatively brief ride through the heart of Troy before we were back in the country again. About halfway between Troy and the Massachusetts border we passed beautiful Burden Lake. It was late enough in a hard, warm day that I was tempted to go for a swim.

As we neared the Massachusetts line, the mountains came closer together than they were Sunday and earlier Monday. This is in far eastern New York looking into Massachusetts.

Finally, in the midst of a long, last climb for the day, we crossed the Massachusetts border, entering the last of 13 states on the trip (including Wyoming and Colorado, in each of which I rode at least 20 miles).