Songdog.net

Last year I rode fifty miles in the Golden Apple Tour, an organized bicycle tour which starts in Goldens Bridge, New York. This year I decided to tackle the seventy-five mile route, which I completed yesterday, extending my personal distance record.

The weather was less pretty than last year; no colorful leaves falling in the sunlight. Well, maybe it was sunny (and leafy) on the bike path, but the seventy-five mile route never took me on the path, and it was overcast all day long. This made for comfortable temperatures once I warmed up, and the ride really was nicely routed, around horse farms and several large reservoirs and lakes.

There was one heart-stoppingly spectacular moment crossing the Croton Dam. The road across was closed to automotive traffic due to ongoing repaving and refurbishing work. I rode across behind two other cyclists, bouncing over fresh black patches of asphalt which rose like molehills all along the dam. I became aware halfway across that there was water on my right and an immediate drop of nearly two hundred feet down to dry countryside on my left, but I had to pay attention to avoid hitting too many jarring asphalt mounds and I was taken by surprise when the water suddenly fell away on my right as the dam curved away from under the roadway revealing a steep, stair-stepped cascade down to the valley below. I only had time to gasp "wow" before I had to carefully slip through a narrow part in a row of car-stopping road barriers as I reached solid ground once again, then it was off up the hill to the first rest stop.

All in all it was a very good ride, leaving me achy and sore, and looking forward to attempting an even longer ride this coming Sunday. Wish me luck!