My biking partner is out of town this weekend and I wanted to go to the lake, so it was solo riding for me!

When I told John that I was going, he said, “Please be careful.”   Now, anyone who knows me IRL (and even on the blog) knows that I am about safety first.  I might actually be a little too cautious sometimes.  I trust no one when I am on my bike.  Not even the squirrels darting about.  So, I laughed and said back to John, “I am always careful.”   His response? “I know, but it makes me feel better to say it to you.”  <3

I ate an early lunch and checked over the bike, filled the tires, checked the chain and brakes and headed out.  It was wonderfully sunny and warm – in the low 70s!  I did have a lightweight jacket on at first because I wasn’t sure if it would be cooler at the lake (it usually is), plus the wooded part of the path can be cooler as well.  Except I forgot there were barely any leaves on the trees and the wooded parts were pretty sunny!  The first 6 miles or so were on city roads until I got into Glens Falls and got onto the bikeway.

I ditched my jacket at this crossover of a road from the path.  I always feel like there should be donut and candy shops on this road, but there aren’t.

 

Starting to sweat!

 

A couple miles later, I realized I had better put on sunscreen.  I probably was blinding anybody I went past since my pasty white arms have hardly seen the light of day since last fall.  So I pulled over to put that on.

 

I’m a ghost in this.  I didn’t see my own reflection until I downloaded this 😀

This is the marsh.  It’s still pretty brown.

I was curious as to how my hill legs would be for the first lake ride of the year.  I  made it up all the climbs pretty easily and I am totally thrilled at how good my legs are already.  I don’t know why that is or how to duplicate it next off season, but I’ll take it now!  This is the wooded part of the path.  No leaves!

 

This was cut through rock in some parts.  Not sure why people feel the need for graffiti, but they do.  There are a lot of flags painted on this rock for whatever reason.

 

I was happy to reach the lake at mile 16.  It was particularly blue today.

 

All of the shops on Beach St. are closed right now.  They only open up for tourist season.  Not to mention the road is being repaved right now.

 

The main street has a fair number of open businesses.  Those ones run by locals and not people from downstate who only come up for summer.  There were not a lot of people around, but some.  The stores were having sidewalk sales and 2 new stores opened that sell only purses – the same store with one location on each side of the street.  Really? I own 1 purse (and I hardly ever use it), so that business won’t make it with my support.  I stopped at the Lake George Baking Company for my treat and Cafe Vero for my latte to go with and sat in Shepard Park.

 

I love Cafe Vero. They roast their own coffee and the baristas are well trained.  They always do latte art.  It’s a bit pricey, but worth it.

My view while nomming:

I texted John to let him know what he was missing!   😈

Then it was time to say goodbye to the lake and head on up the mountain.

 

It’s a 2 mile climb for a while and so I didn’t stop to take any pictures.  I did stop more on this trip in general just to enjoy, though.  By myself – I can do whatever I want and stop whenever I want!  After the 2 mile climb, you are greeted by Santa and Uncle Sam.

Ah yes.  Lake George, the mix of natural beauty and the tacky.

I took part of the canal path on the way home.  Some of this is being worked on, so we have to detour around it, but I got on part of it.

 

Closer look at these guys jetting away when I stopped.  Can you see them in the pic above?

 

Before I knew it – I was home!

 

33 miles today that felt great.  I am ready for Saratoga now.  I have the mind rumblings to do a 100 mile day again.  😀

 

 

Ride stats:

Total miles:  33 miles

Average speed:  12 mph

Top speed:  25 mph (Wheeeeeee!!!)

Calories burned:  959

 

Have a great rest of the weekend and I will be back with an AIM post on Monday!