Miles to date: 3,592.5
Andy Beck and his far better half Annie showed up this morning with homemade breakfast burritos. What a great way to start the day; why did I forget to get a photo?! We had a nice visit but we were anxious to get moving as we wanted to finish our short 42 miles before the rain prediction arrived around noon. Andy was riding with us and Annie picking him up at the castle in Amsterdam; though it was already an easy day we took advantage of another opportunity to unload some baggage and ride light for the day. We left Little Falls fully fueled and with some fond memories.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Andy brought along a speaker and planned a playlist just for us for today’s ride. It was nice to have some music, and I enjoyed Andy’s selection, though it was mostly Neil Diamond’s greatest hits with “City of New Orleans” thrown in a few times. He also played “Alice’s Restaurant” which was an appropriate foreboding as tomorrow we plan to ride to (West) Stockbridge Massachusetts.
It was clear early in our ride that Andy must’ve talked with prior Kling-Ons before joining us today. His pace was perfect for our three-man train: he didn’t fly off the front or drag us down; he knew not to make any suggestions for stops, or route, or provisions. And, his playlist ensured that we had a Goo Goo Free Sunday. Andy Beck worked hard to secure his spot atop the podium as #1 Kling-On.
Andy gave us a small scare to start the day as it appeared his bike was missing half of the front fork. I had never seen a bike with a single front fork; I don’t think you can even call it a fork if there’s only one prong. We had a few jokes on the trail today about Andy being a stupid forker; it added to the joviality of the day and helped to keep up our spirits on a rather chilly and dreary autumn ride.
We rolled up to the Amsterdam Castle around noon to complete our ride. Unsurprisingly, we were told our room may not be ready until 3pm (though the rather curmudgeonly man at the desk didn’t actually look at the computer or talk with housekeeping to confirm), so we left the bikes behind and walked a few blocks for lunch at Shorty’s. The food was not memorable, and bartender Jules steered us away from our desire for Bloody Mary’s since she had no horseradish, but we had a nice time visiting with Andy for a couple hours before we tried our luck again at check-in.
At 2:45 we decided to hike back in the drizzle. Unfortunately Annie had my other shoes, so the hike back up the slick steep blacktop in my biking shoes was a little exasperating. And Geeto walking in the road carrying his clothes bag looked a little homeless, but he seemed right in place in this rather derelict and downtrodden town that has become more the norm along this former Erie Canal route.
We checked in without much drama, probably because the earlier curmudgeon was nowhere to be found; the house-keeping manager said he was not in the building, so he went above and beyond to check us in to what he said was his favorite room at the hotel. This property was originally an armory and we speculated that our suite must’ve once housed the ranking general: it has two adjoining rooms each with king size beds. After Annie picked up our #1 Kling-On, we showered, napped and ordered some pizza to eat in front of an NFL game.
We have about 280 miles to cover in our final 4 days. We’re planning to capture some extra ground over the next few days in order to ensure we have more control of our final arrival to Bailey Beach on Thursday. So tomorrow our plan is 82 miles to Massachusetts; we head into the Berkshire Mountains towards the end of the day, so full enjoyment of today’s rest will be necessary: Day 51: Amsterdam to West Stockbridge
For today’s addition to the Pedaling Pilgrims! playlist…
When sharing logistics for our ride, we told Andy Beck that we like to get on the road around 7:30-8:00; we were especially concerned about today in order to finish before the rain started. So, when Andy texted around 7:15 to say he could meet us at 8:22 with hot burritos, or 8:12 with cold ones, we told him to put the hammer down and bring breakfast as-is ASAP. They were delicious, but I imagined how much better they could’ve been: Hot Burrito #1
We’re hopeful that today is the last of the 40 degree days we see. Without any sunshine today, the morning chill never really left. Even after sitting at Shorty’s for a very long lunch, it took a long hot shower before I was feeling warm again. Cold, Cold, Cold
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