Auburn to Cooperstown

Know your limits. "Today was the hardest day of riding for me this year." That's what I commented to Pat Reardon as we were recovering from one of the hills. He replied, this year? How about of all time? I thought about that for awhile and agree.  It may have been my toughest effort ever. 105 miles, 8,786 feet of elevation gain in 7 hrs of actual riding into the western edge of the Appalachian mountains. Needless to stay everyone worked extremely hard and are exhausted after today. All riders deserve great respect and congratulations for making it the distance. What puzzles me is why do we this to ourselves and what are our limits?  When you are in the upper threshold of a physical effort and feel like there is nothing left to give you're presented with two options. Keep going or stop. I typically keep going, though not always the smartest decision. Pushing the limits, sometimes blindly, in uncharted waters, brings up new discoveries, on what we can achieve. I like that about cycling and especially the Wrigley to Fenway. This ride is taking me to places I never imagined in more ways than one.

Our stay this evening, the beautiful OteSaga Resort Hotel

Pictures from our ride into Cooperstown

I was wondering if Genesse beer came from around here.

Cliff taking the hill by storm.

Skaneateles Lake

Jason Soo, Enjoying the early hills.

Steady Pat Brennan

Rich green throughout the Saracuse area

Caught it...Cliff takes a break.

Brennan shows his cards.

Tony Snyder a top one of the climbs

 Matt "Pistons" Schueler powers to the top in style.

Cherry Valley

Pat Reardon

And its Pat's Birthday! Congrats buddy!

The hills go on forever. And they're getting bigger.....

Johnny Appleseed

Fancy Barn. I think its their house

The route that caused all the climbing rutcus today.

There were lots of farms and ranches along the green mountainside today. I caught this lumber mill along the way. They mill mostly local fallen hardwood.

Just when you finish with one hill another is waiting to greet you.

 Sam Kamberis rescues a snapping turtle from the roadway. At least we think it was a snapper. It really did not like to be moved off the roadway.

Jim Boyle with screaming legs.

Greg Piszkiewicz shows us how its done.

Matt and Jason waiting out the rainstorm in the van

Rain delay face

Orange Salamander

Rider of the day and Red Jersey holder. Sean Butler. I didn't see him much today. Just during breaks and lunch. He was ahead all day. Hanks Jersey was in good hands.

I put fenders on the bike today with the threat of rain. Thought they might slow me down some. Yet on one downhill I topped out at 51 mph.

Carlos and I contemplating a change in hobbies. Golf.

We did a quick tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in the evening.

Interesting fact reveiled. Good friend Karl Tabor commented to my curiousity about how many gallons of water pass over the Niagara Falls. He looked it up and here's what he found out. "Apparently 3.24 billion gallons go over the falls each day. Not get this; The City of Chicago takes about 1 billion gallons out of Lake Michigan every day- and is allowed up to 2 billion!"