Day 38- Utica, NY > Troy, NY (102 miles)

June 18 

Proof that orange is a bad color...(Florida's orange, Tennessee's orange, Clemson's orange, and Auburn's orange); once a Dawg always a Dawg. We have been so fortunate this entire trip with the weather, and if we have to deal with heat, we can handle it.

The route:

Gradient:

I was a little worried about the day because we are all a little tired, ready to be in Boston, and 100+ miles in serious heat is tough. We actually had a great day. It was a hot, thick air day, but we left at 6:45 to beat the heat, and we had 20 miles at the end that was on a path with pretty good shade. The only wrinkle was a flat tire about 5 miles in, so we spent the next 30 miles slowly catching back up to larger group. The route today was excellent as far as good right of ways to ride in and a flat course for the most part; we did a 14% climb on the bike path that was a surprise and a little ugly after 85 miles. We rode along the Mohawk River for much of the ride today, and it is a great river to ride alongside because it does not rise or fall much, which makes for flat pedaling most of the day.  A few photos from the day below:

I tried to be artistic and include my bike and kind of failed. This was a beautiful view from mile 56 at one of the SAGs. I'll get a proper picture of my bike before the trip is done...amazing how the bikes have held up on this trip because you really beat the crap out of them.

If you are ever in Troy, NY, go to Dinasaur BBQ...wow is all I can say. We ate there immediately upon arrival. Top photo is their artwork inside, and the bottom one has the bridge in the background as you come into Troy.

One of the guys in our group (Rich) posted this photo of the sticker on his top tube, which is classic:

A great photo of the larger group at SAG # 2 today:

This photo is along the Mohawk River that we rode next to at the end of the route...photo pirated from Tanny:

We have 2 tough days in the hills/mountains, and then, we are done...hard to fathom. The math says that we have less than day 1 of the SGI ride left. We will go one day at a time...thanks for the texts today and prayers. Talk tomorrow!