Slept with the heater on lowest setting. part way thru night I turned it off as it was like summer sweating season. Traffic noise abated late at night & picked up again around 5:00. Chilly out from under the covers. Fixed bfast but didn’t dally as I was concerned about being in a school parking lot with beer & Scotch out of site.

Drove down Hudson Valley to Peekskill home of Blue Mountain. I crossed the Hudson West to East. Mistake driving with the commuters as I drive slower than their harried schedule permits. Some trees still have leaves. Back in the low hills in the valley.

Found Blue. Getting ready & 3 rigs with bikes pulled in and got ready to go. I beat them and asked if I could join their ride. Guys a bit younger than me. Said yes. I was prepared to ride the Chainstretcher race course or numbered trails. They promptly took off and dove onto fun technical rocky trails. Lots of logs across the trail that are rideable if I would just get with balance. Pretty good ride, 9.27 miles & 1610′. Remember in the East, the length is shorter but the average miles per hour are lower also. Takes longer to cover less ground. Comment: this East Coast riding requires balance, legs to horse up a rock face, ability to continually thread a needle line over rock faces, ability to make tight turns, in short, way more technical than West. Elevation comes in short pieces, always climbing, descending & traversing. Much different than a big grinder climb and long downhill. To say nothing of the tree cover. Now that the leaves have dropped the forest floor is open but the tread is sometimes well hiden by fallen leaves. Sometimes a leaf gets stuck near a wheel and it makes the sound like when we put baseball cards in the spokes. Another comment: Says something about middle aged men still riding bicycles.

Interesting rider, Buzz. I asked about his name if it was a childhood nickname. He said, no, he had it from get go from a war buddy who saved his dad’s life in the big one. He is an ER doc at a Bronx hospital, one of the busiest in the country. And an accomplished mtn bike rider.

Headed West to Jersey. Climbed Bear Mtn a tight, twisty road up and over and then crossed the Hudson again. Still pretty.

Saw sign for camping as I headed down rt 94. Lost it in whatever town. Stopped at lumber store and asked for directions, just 5 mins away. I drove in and walked into office and asked for a shower. Older than me man said he didn’t know if he could allow me and owners weren’t around to give him advice. I challenged him to make the call. he said ok and pay as much as I felt was appropriate. I paid $4.00 and showered.

Continued drive into Sussex, NJ. Found bike shop right along hwy. Stopped in & learned of rides at Wawayanda back North.

Drove on & stopped at an A & P grocery store. Did some shopping. I think this was the first time since a kid in Mansfield have I been in an A & P.

Found a parking spot behind a closed bank branch just off highway which is way noisier than past. Cars with exhaust issues. Big shop guy said that only police are state so I should be secure.

World Series is on. XM Radio. ist inning Phillies up 2-0.

Chilly AM again. Should have run the heater.

Crashed about 200′ off main highway, noisy. I couldn’t live beside the roads like I have seen these houses. Imagine a B & B with your window about 40′ from a semi running the gears. Or the building shaking.

Forecast was for showers about 2:00PM. Headed back into NY over the Hudson which at RT 199 is really wide (no dimensions, just gut feel). Plan was to ride Jockey Hill near Sawkill. Poor navigation on my part left me wandering around. Back into Lake Katrine, parked at RR station to figure out where I was and how to get to where I needed to be. Guy pulls up on a cheap Walmart type bike with heavy work gloves, etc. Looked like I would be dealing with a person that should be under treatment somewhere other than on the street. Not the case. Articulate. On vaca from electrician job, raised his 3 kids after his wife dashed. A bit of a character. We chatted a while. He did wiring at original Woodstock.

He straightened me out and I headed out. I hit TH under dropping gray clouds. I dallyed for a few minutes and the clouds dumped rain. Just as well that I was lost because I would have been riding during that dump.

Wandered driving around with no goal. Pretty countryside. In NE they diverted the h2o for h2o power for mills etc. Dams blocked salmon migrating upstream.

Found Kingston. Parked in Hannaford Grocery store parking lot doing internet research. Called LBS inquiring about rides. Strike out. Then tried health clubs for a shower. Struck out also.

Tried a KOA XG and was dissed. I questioned the operator why and he told me that the county requires them to log in every person who enters the XG. In order for me to shower I would have to pay for a site: $30. I chatted with him a while wondering if he discriminates. In essence he said it depends if the person(s) would threaten the family atmosphere. I finally asked him which was my premise: Is our generation more tolerant than our parents? What sparked the question was listening to XM music of the 50’s and me looking like an old hippie. People who listened to that music when it was new would have been busting my chops all along on my odessey.

Checked out a Walmart in Kingston for possible crash site but couldn’t find a suitable level spot far away from the shopping crowd. Drove a bit further S and found a overflow school parking lot about 1/2 block off rt 9 blocked by a house and a hedge. No overnight street parking in this burg. Don’t know what their policy is about parking overnight in a school lot.

Tomorrow I plan on riding Blue Mtn reservation near Peekskill then beat feet West to NW NJ and maybe a Jersey ride.

Today is the 95th day out, I have ridden 1073 miles on 69 rides.

I am spending hours a day on computer searching rides, writing this, emailing, satisfying my Craig mind. My trip would be a heck of a lot different with out it.

That’s the state all you hopefuls. My life has changed a bit but don’t worry faithful readers, I maintain my allegiance to an internal spirit, a belief in one’s self as the end of the pipeline.

As much as I researched the IMBA epic at Borden Mtn Tannery Fals, I kept coming up with no ride data.

Way cold in AM, doubled summer down blanket & ski hat just barely kept cold sleepable. Next night will be heater on lowest setting.

Noisy sleep spot but not bothered sleeping in bank parking lot screened by a hedge from street. Left before it got busy.

Drove down to grocery store parking lot to do internet work. Beautiful day. Conversation with woman checker about my age. She said “bucket List”. Hadn’t thought of that before. My bucket at this point is lower 48. OK dancing with wolves.

Called 2 bike shops seeking ride info which got back to Bikerag.com for NE. Decided Mass needed another go. Drove back highways to West Stockbridge & Lenox Mtn. Fall colors have fallen leaving bare trees & trees that have turner but not let loose of their leaves. Ground and forest are exposed.

NE old towns are to die for. Old buildings, fallen elaves, mostly all white, old cemetaries, twisty winding narrow state highways, and whatever. Picked most beautiful desireable season to be here. Bitter cold w/ ice storms, biting black flies & stiffling humidity & heat are unknown by me. I do know the fallen colors and the bite of fall.

Found TH on shoulder of Lenox mtn. fallen leaves cover main tread in cart path. Find a ST taking off, followed for a short loop then spun off another. Twisty undulating across the mountainside thru fallen leaves. Trail finding is again like following old ski tracks, attention is placed on the ground a little in front of front wheel, the rest of the scenery is not observed. Such is mtn biking.

Elevation is getting higher like 1300′. Today’s ride climbed 1723′. Not as rocky and rooty as others. Rides are measured in successful maneuvers and time, not mileage. Today was 8.93 miles in 1 hr 40 mins riding time.

Rode the ST as an out & back because I didn’t recall menatlly what the map said the trails were like. Fun ST figuring out trail, tight, lots of turns, rideable both ways except for some of the rock faces.

The birch have not been killed off here.

Back to TH, light getting fall like flatter. Clear skies. Worked on bike at TH which had a lookout down mtn to lake below and mtns on the horizon. Replaced chain at 350 miles and it appears to have saved the cluster.

Drove into Pitsfield, Mass for high speed internet for research.

Stopped at package store for Scotch replenishment. Bought Drambue 1 hit & made rusty nail, can you tell? Research wil be addled tonight.

Parked in Doctors’ park parking lot just of rt 20. May tonight not be so noisy. No shower tonight.

Tampa Bay won the ALCS. Go Tampa. But may Jamie pitch a good game.