Lake Placid to Platttsburgh August 15, 2022

Lake Placid to Platttsburgh

August 15, 2022

This morning breakfast was being held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Lake Placid.  This was the official tour hotel. It was $400/night and I can see why it was a really swanky place. Of course I had to cycle up to it which was no small feat as the road up to the hotel was over 16%.  Once again I am glad for the 34 tooth rear cassette.  It was well worth the climb as the breakfast buffet was totally over the top.  Made to order omelets, tons of bacon, fresh pancakes, French toast with strawberries and whipped cream, and tons of great pastries.

After breakfast I rolled out with Ed W and Aussie Bob.  I think this is only about the third or four time Ed has been on his bike. The first 13 miles of the route were all downhill. Not really steep but a good 3-5%  so you could get going pretty fast.  As the sun was quite low there were a lot of sun and shady spots on the road making it hard to determine the road condition, so I was doing a lot of braking.  Ed and Bob promptly dropped me as they were just flying down the road. 

They were stopped at first water which was 18.2 miles and I caught them there.  Right after first water we crossed a covered wooden bridge.  It was really neat.  The road after the covered bridge was a very winding country road which had no traffic what so ever.  The three of us were rolling along chatting until some sectional rider came past us and Ed jumped on his wheel and rode off and left Bob and I.

Just before picnic we came to the Ausable Chasm.  It is a totally amazing chasm. The river we have been following all morning turns suddenly it has cut this 300 Ft deep chasm.  There is a huge bridge across the chasm, but the chasm itself is all fenced off and you have to pay a fee to take a guided tour. 

When Bob and I rolled into picnic Ed was there but he was getting ready to take off.  I wasn’t going to miss picnic so Ed took off with his new best friend.  There was some talk of riding straight down the highway into Plattsburgh as it was only 8 miles from picnic and the route was 20 miles.  However as it was a beautiful riding day I said I was riding the route and Bob agreed. 

The rest of the route wasn’t quite as nice as the first half but it wasn’t a hard route and we had all morning to get in.  About half we into town we caught up with Ken T. 

Bob and I rolled in about 1:00 PM and the luggage wasn’t unloaded so Bob and Ken wanted coffee and they rode off.  I needed to do some photo printing so I went up to Walgreen’s.  Got the last three pictures printed and rolled back.

Tonight we are staying in the Suny Plattsburgh University dorm. It is a very nice facility. 

What a beautiful day sunny and warm with just a hint of a breeze under brilliant blue sky with puffy white clouds.  The ride was only 58 miles and although there was 2200 feet of climb we lost 1558 feet of elevation. 

Terry