Watertown to Star Lake August 12, 2022

 

Watertown to Star Lake

August 12, 2022

Yesterday Ken T went down on his bike and fortunately he was not seriously injured.  However he did wind up with a 6 inch diameter road rash on right hip and a nasty bang on his right elbow.  I was not sure if he was going to ride or not this morning, so I was pleased to see him dressed for riding this morning.  I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be alright so I offered to pull him along. Ken took me up on the offer so we rolled out together.

It wasn’t a particularly long day at only 63 miles however there were quite a few nasty steep stretches.  The best way to beat the nasty steep stretches was to stay on the main highway.  It is a state bike route and is very nicely paved with 12 foot wide shoulders.  The traffic is exceedingly light so it is a great  choice.  Off we went down highway 3 but what we didn’t realize was that there was a hwy 3a.  Highway 3 took us south down to Carthage long a large lake formed by a dam.  This ultimately added 4 miles to picnic.

The route along the lake was absolutely stunning.  The sun was reflecting off the lake and it was so pretty.  The town of Carthage was founded in the early 1800’s to take advantage of the logging industry and the water power from the dam.  However most of the industries seem to be closed and the town is looking kind of tired.  The former wealth of the town is reflected in the large number huge Victorian homes and beautiful parks. The homes are in need of paint and some TLC.  At one point we rode past huge old brick factory which must have been a half mile long all shuttered. Across the street was a half mile of now very shabby row houses. All 15 feet wide and 2 stories high.

The last few miles into picnic Ken was getting pretty slow on even the slightest grades and I noticed his head was down.  So when we rolled into picnic and the sag wagon was there I encouraged Ken to get in. It didn’t take a lot of convincing.  It was really the right choice.

With only 20 miles to go down the main highway I headed off. There was no way I was taking any of the back roads on the official route.  When I rolled in there was only a couple of other riders everyone else had gone on into town.  Greg had not arrived with the luggage yet.

I rolled down to the Dollar store which is only 0.3 miles away and found that you could buy a set of three spoons for $1.00 and a pint of ice cream for $2.50.  It was delicious.

The school is being renovated and it a total disaster. Canada Geese have taken over the yard, which Bob and I chased.   What a gong show. I have always said that Star Lake is the worst stop on the tour. All in I wound up with 61 miles and 2785 feet of climb.

Terry