I had trouble getting started because of a missing screw. After hearing some clicking sounds from the back, ignoring them for a while, and then stopping over for a diagnosis, I found that the screw that was supposed to fasten my rack to the frame on the right-hand side was missing, and that the loose rack was clanging against the wheel. Recalling that the rack was holding about 30kg of Assaf's junk, I immediately got off and looked for a hardware store (I wasn't about to tour Schenectady with a ticking bomb in search of a bike shop). I found something better - an auto shop, which sold all things car-related. It turned out (get it?) that they had the perfect screw! Lesson learned: garages and car stores are good substitutes for bike shops.
The whole day I was terrified of what laid ahead. Mountains. To all of you more experienced bikers who point and laugh at how small these mountains are compared to what you did with more gear, less sleep, a flat, and no seat, go write your own blog, and link to mine as an example of unnecessary whining. Anyway, what scared me was a continuous climb of 250m at 5% incline on the stretch from New Lebanon, NY to Pittsfield, MA.
So I spent most of my day fighting smaller hills on the way to the big one at the end. At first, I dreaded every downhill. I thought of trying to knit a scarf from one end while a kitten unwinds it on the other. The effort I spend climbing up every hill becomes inconsequential once I go down. I felt like sisyphus, and every iteration made me hotter and hotter.
My dad gave me the obvious, but essential piece of advice, that on uphills, you go slower than on downhills. As always, I'm sure there's some important life lesson to be learned here, but my commute to work isn't the best time for these things.
It's strange how obvious this advice is, but every time I saw a hill, I put my bike into the lowest gear possible, and started climbing slowly. Forgive the spiritual personification, but by not trying to gain crazy momentum to race up the hill as fast as possible on high gear, I felt like I was respecting the hill a bit more, and climbed it as a friend instead of as an adversary.
This made my ride enjoyable. At some point I got lost in a very hilly area, without cell reception, and with the scorching sun heavy on my back. I had water, I was wearing sunscreen, and I was mentally at peace with going slowly up hills, so I ended up enjoying the extra time spent in the area! I could go slowly, appreciate the springs, look at fields, and know that I'm still making good time.
Anyway, to the part I really wanted to talk about - the big hill - also known as Mount Lebanon, NY. I wanted my bike to be well-tuned before the climb, so I spent a few minutes in Lebanon re-tightening gears, checking pressure, and making sure that all of my bags were packed well. I then started to climb...
Until this point, I've always had myself, and my bike in mind. I would avoid certain trails, and generally make spot-checks on my bike every few minutes to make sure that everything is where it needs to be. I've been doing that since I got my flats on Day 4. However, during this climb, it was entirely about me. I knew the bike would have no trouble, and I really spent the climb focusing on my own motivation and body. I sweat a lot, and I'm sure that tomorrow will be the first day when I'm going to be really sore, but I made it to the end, where a big downhill portion was waiting for me.
Today I went from Schenectady all the way to Pittsfield, MA. That means that I finally crossed a state line! I biked for almost exactly 100km, before finding a hotel somewhere between Lennox and Pittsfield, MA.
After my fiasco with the screw, I made a quick ride to Albany, and took some pictures of buildings idk why.
You remember how different cities had cool painted animals? Albany had dogs apparently
No visit to Albany would be complete without steamed hams (that's what they call hamburgers, despite the fact that they are obviously grilled) .
The hilly areas were nice
And then I got lost. But I saw a deer!
Am I still doing this around-the-world thing? Kinda. This is New Lebanon, NY. Lebanon, NY is actually somewhere in the center of the state.
The following picture terrfied me. Straight road leading to huge mountain. Yikes. It turned out that the big hill was actually in a different direction though.
At some point during the big climb, I left New York, and entered Massachusetts:
Finally, here's the view from the top of the mountain:
