Teen Treks

Today was probably the most vertically challenging yet. We’ve seen both sides of many hills now. The downhills are sweet but the wind in your hair can only last so long before you’re back in that lowest gear. Additionally, the great ball of fire was almost as unforgiving as the rolling curves of Mother Earth (it was quite warm today as well.) However, we managed to stay hydrated and were able to go for a dip in Lake Lauderdale to cap off the ride. The most significant detail of the day though, is that Wednesday night is game night at the Lake Lauderdale Campsite in Cambridge, NY. Close to 50 miles up and down hills just becomes a distant memory when you have those mahjong tiles in hand.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.

This morning we all woke up fresh and clean in the Holiday Inn Express. We fueled up at the continental breakfast and were off to see the New York’s state capital building. The intricate stone carvings on the Million Dollar Staircase were exceptional. Shortly after we went to the new York State Museum and learned all about the state of New York and it’s vibrant history. We all had salad and pizzas for lunch near the local bike shop where we bought some supplies and tuned up some bikes. While we waited we played and walked in Washington Park, walked the town, and visited shops. No cooking or cleaning for dinner tonight. Instead we feasted on a delicious family style Thai meal with dumplings and spring roll appetizers and different curry and rice as main dishes. We tucked into beds early to prepare for a long ride tomorrow.

After an early morning swim in the Hudson River we were off! We put twenty quick miles behind us by noon and were greeted by the glistening and somewhat strange Albany skyline in the early afternoon. Today’s lunch was enjoyed in the shade on the lawn of the State University of New York Headquarters. From there, we headed up into the observation deck of the tallest building in the city, the Corning tower. The view was magnificent and really contextualized all of the progress that we’ve made in the last five days. We followed that up by exploring the capital plaza a bit and happened to stumble upon some old family artwork. We were walking down in the concourse under the main plaza when Trekker Andre pointed out a giant piece of artwork and made the bold claim that it was made by his grandfather. A look at the placard and a quick google search verified that we do indeed have a descendent of a famous artist among us (see picture above). From there we headed back to our hotel, hit the pool for a bit, cooked dinner, and are hitting the hay now. Hope all is well back in the real world.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.