Have you ever woke up and been excited for the day?
That is what this morning felt like. At least for me.
After a good night's sleep, and sunshine in the sky...we all were excited for today.
You see, we only had 24 miles to ride today, and the town of Little Falls just seemed so cute and calling our name to explore.
Unfortunately, we were all hurting.
Two of us had sore knees...and they weren't getting better. I was worried about my friends. I didn't want them to permanently hurt themselves. The other had numb hands.
My only issue was my butt. You see, I had started to develop saddle sores.
It was completely my fault. I should have used chamois cream from the start...not wait until there was some discomfort on day 3.
But we only had 3 days left...3 shorter days. We were just over 100 miles from our destination.
We headed out, and onto the road. From Utica, we had to be on the road for the first half of the ride. But they were not busy roads, and there was a fairly good shoulder. That didn't mean we didn't have some close calls. Unlike the ride from Clyde, we were much closer to populated areas.
I was second in line, about 500 yards behind, and watched as my friend was almost taken out by a driver that decided to pass on a curve and double yellow line. She was very lucky, but just another reminder that cycling can be dangerous. We all had our lights on, and wearing bright colors, but sometimes, it doesn't matter. We had enjoyed the luxury of being off the road for the majority of this ride. It almost went sideways.
We stopped in the town of Frankfort, 10 miles in, keeping with our every 10 miles stopping rule. There we talked about the close call, and made sure everyone was ok. I took this moment to say a silent prayer, and asked for continued protection as we finished this ride.
It seemed like the perfect place to do this, next to a wishing well in the center of town.
We left Frankfort, and fortunately back on the trail, following the Mohawk River. We made quick work of those last 13 miles into Little Falls. We made it to our hotel around 1 pm.
And what a cute place it was. The Inn at Stone Hill is located in an old mill building, right on the river. The inn takes up a floor of the multi-floor mill. The first floor had a couple of restaurants, and a “do-it yourself bike shop”. Businesses occupied the other floors.
The inn let us check in early, and we had a huge room that accommodated our bikes and stuff. Even though 2 of us had to sleep on a hid-a-bed sofa, the room was so large, that I took the cushions and slept on the floor.
And quite comfortably even.
After showers, we hit the elevator and tried the pizza place on the first floor. Mangia Macrina’s had amazing wood fired pizza. In fact we scarfed down 2 of them with our beer. Then we decided to hit the town!
We checked out several antique shops, and hit the White Rose Bakery. We practically ran up the hill to get there before they closed at 4pm. This was another trail rider suggestion, and it did not disappoint. Huge cookies for $1. And they were so good!!!
As we walked back down the hill from Main Street to the Mill, we stopped into the Little Falls Historical Society and Museum. Located in an old bank building, the place was jam packed full of history! They were getting ready to close for the day, but happily encouraged us to stick around and check the place out.
I had a great conversation with the President and his wife, the curator. I asked them, “What is the one object or collection item, that you have on display, that I must see?” They immediately went over to a wall, and uncovered a letter from Susan B. Anthony. And it was very cool.
But I must admit, they had a lot of really interesting things. From the early town baseball teams, to Little Falls Diamonds, to a great collection of Slovakia memorabilia, it was the kind of historical society you might find in any small town in America. It was a labor of love, and it showed.
We thanked them for keeping the doors open for us after hours and continued down the hill chatting about how lovely this town is. The sun was shining, and it was nice and warm, about 65. We stopped in a few more stores, including a great shop that had homemade pickles—which were given to us for free.
We continued to explore...eventually ended up at the river, where along the edge was 4 adirondack chairs, just begging for us to sit and watch the sunset.
It was almost dinner time, so we wandered across the street from the inn to the Rock Valley Brewing. They had really good beer, and the pizza place delivered!
While there, we met fellow travelers on the ECT. We had watched them ride across the river as we headed to dinner. They just happened to come over to the brewery while we were there. We began to share stories, compare journies, and even talk about what our next adventures may be. They had some great suggestions.
It was a great evening, and the perfect way to end the day. We made new friends, and enjoyed Little Falls. The hard day we experienced the day before was forgotten.
This short day was exactly what we needed--physically and mentally. We had 2 days to go; about 80 miles, and tomorrow we were heading to a castle!
Stats for the ride so far:
Miles for the day: 23.1
Hours in the saddle: 1:49
Total Daily Hours: 2:18
Miles total: 285.8
Hours in the saddle total: 24:55
Total hours on the trail: 39:20
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