Long ride on Saturday. Finally! After me being gone at BOW and then weather playing a factor the last couple weekends, we were finally able to get in a long cupcake ride. Pretty much a perfect day for biking. Hardly any wind, sunny and low 80s. We decided to head down after lunch.
We started off with a bit of a mishap. I checked my tires and inflated them a bit more than usual. Well, I was just standing by my bike in the driveway and *blam* – the front tube blew. Scared the carp out of both John and I LOL! Not totally sure if this is due to my narrow tires or cheap tubes (probably the latter). I have 25 mm tires on my bike, which are very narrow for a hybrid. I may go back to 28 mm with the puncture proof. Anyway, we had to swap out a tube and then get on our way.
We scooted along at a pretty good pace. John mapped out a bit of a different route for us to take to Saratoga. Basically, we avoided the route 9 bike lane and skirted it on each side. It was a nice traffic free ride.
Could the day be more perfect? This was around mile 13.
This was a newly paved road, too, which is always nice to ride on.
We met up with another cyclist a few miles later. He asked to borrow a wrench if we had one to fix his seat. Since we are prepared riders, John did have his little tool kit.
Hooray for good karma! We had a bit of dried pineapple here as well since we were stopped.
At mile 24, we got into Saratoga and it was opening day of the track. I was expecting it to be really crowded, but then I realized that everyone would be at the track, so downtown was lighter with the people today. Yay! First stop was to check out a new bike shop that opened up. How cute is this?
That is not a person sitting there, but a mannequin. There is a secret garden courtyard on the side to rest in.
They are supposed to be having a cafe here, which would be pretty cool. Plus, there is some fun artwork.
Okay, now for the real reason to come down!
First, we had stopped to get some iced lattes because as much as I like Bettie’s, their drinks are very pedestrian.
We sat outside since we brought our own beverages. My cupcake? Samosa – like the Girl Scout cookie! Plus something called an Oreo bomb. It was like a cake ball made with Oreos.
This cupcake was so good! The Oreo bomb was pretty intense. Really like Oreo fudge. I think I will stick with cupcakes!
We filled up the water bottles and headed home. We took our River road route back. This route was shadier and just such a nice ride.
Around mile 36 we stopped for some refreshments. I had frozen this so that it was nice and slushy by this time.
Plus we did some stretching, especially the hammies.
River road is really nice. There is actually a house on the road for sale that we keep looking at. John has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about it, even though we aren’t really ready to move yet.
This is a few miles from home. They are working on dredging the river. GE polluted the Hudson with PCBs and finally after years of foot dragging, they are now cleaning it up. About frigging time, too. Our little town is a Superfund site. 🙄
They dredge up the soil and then cart it away for disposal. They were actually working on a Saturday evening, too.
I was ready to be finished with the ride today. It felt good, but a bit tiring.
Ride stats:
52.4 miles
Average speed 13.3 mph
Top speed: 32.6 mph (wheeeeee!!!)
Ride time: 3 hours 55 minutes
Calories burned: 1605
We got back pretty late for us. After getting home, stretching and showering it was around 7 and we didn’t feel like cooking, so we walked up the street for some carbz!!
Yum. It was such a nice day and a really enjoyable ride 😀 It’s nice to have a typical Adirondack summer day – and why we put up with those winters!
What fabulous pictures you have in this post! Glad you enjoyed such a nice day! As for the cupcake…what can I say…well worth the ride!
Nice ride! One of the neighbors brought what he called “Oreo Truffles” (which looked exactly like the Oreo bomb) to a community party earlier this year and they were very tasty but after the second one I had sugar shock.
Now that looks like a fabulous ride. The cupcake looks so good, as does the iced latte.
The pizza looks like the perfect end to a perfect day…minus the “blam” of course! 😉
Woohoo! Good to see the return of the cupcake ride!! Love that you got a freshly-paved road to ride on…sounds like the ride was smooth sailing since you got it started off with a bang!
What a perfectly awesome day!
What gorgeous scenery!! That is the kind of riding I want to do. No worrying about traffic, not too hot, and great scenery. Oh, and an oreo bomb and a piece of cheese pizza to end the day!
Nice! Love the scenery. And the stop for iced lattes and cupcakes! And the pizza at the end of the day. Thanks for taking us along. I’m very impressed with the mileage, too. Wowzers!
Looks like a great day, all the way around!
Woohoo: cupcakes! What a great day for a ride Lori, the first pics are so beautiful. I can totally understand why you are happy to live there.
The bike shop looks great, very original.
and Ive still not ever ever tried coconutwater!!
The weekend was spectacular here too! But I’d still like to go away for the snow and nastiness then come back for the good weather 😀
Glad you guys got in such a nice ride – nice to get your mishaps out of the way before you even start!
What a beautiful day & fun ride once you got past the tire thing! 😉 YIKES! Such beautiful scenery & that cupcake – YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad you had a perfect day Lori! 🙂
I agree – a PERFECT day for a long bike ride. As much as a blow-out is never fun, pretty good that it happened before you got started and not in the middle of the ride.
What a fun ride! And your pictures are beautiful. That cupcake looks well worth the mileage 🙂 Glad you both had a wonderful time!
Great ride, Lori! Way to go.
Love that little bike shop. It doesn’t look like a bike shop at all. And those tasty cakes?! Awesome. I’m drooling. 🙂
Are you having Tour withdrawal? I am bummed the tour is over.
I am having tour withdrawal! Both John and I said “what do we do now??” LOL
HI Lori. WOW….what a beautiful ride. Your pictures are GORGEOUS!!!! Damn about the blowout, thank goodness it happened before you left and you could fix before you set out. Hope your Monday is a great one.
All I can say is…wonderful! Love your bike rides. 🙂