Day 3

Tuesday, July 27th: Catskill/Cairo NY -> Gilboa NY
Dist 46.20
Ride Time: 5:31h
Avg Speed 8.3
Max Speed 37.9
Trip 172

It turned out that Catskill Campground was actually quite nice! This was as I was packing up my bicycle and getting ready to start riding again:

In the first few miles today heading south on County 32, two cyclists passed by me and after hearing my plans of taking 23A across Catskill park warned me to head further south, take 212 and 28. I thanked them for their advice and once they had turned off to continue their ride, stopped to look at the map. Taking 28 would add 30-40 miles to my trip, it curved and snaked so much - no thanks! At the time I felt I would gladly take 5 miles of steep uphill over so many additional miles - now after having ridden it, I'm not so sure!

It took 2 1/2 hours of riding time - not including the times I stopped to lean my bike against the guard rail and look back at the steep climb I had just rode or pushed up! - to cover those first 13 miles of the day. It was a truly spectacular climb, and all the moments I had to get off the bike and push it were worth it when I looked around:

Looking back at the 6-8% grade that the road went up for 4 miles (below):

This continent and county has such a wealth of forests and life! When I think about when these roads eventually sit untended, quiet except for the occasional walker and cyclist, I imagine how in 20 years weeds and scrub bushes will be growing in their cracks and pot holds. In 40 years small trees filling the roadsides and moving in.

When I reached Tannersville I felt pooped, and only had gone 16 miles so for! I stopped at a restaurant tavern for lunch and had a mediocre burger, I asked for medium and it came well done, overcooked without a sight of pink. Let's not even talk about the coleslaw or breadsticks that would serve as canes for corporal punishment, mkay?

I pushed on and did manage to get a respectably 45 miles for the day. It flattened out - even some downhill! I passed a sign for "Such and Such Ukranian Methodist Church" and then about a half mile later this appeared to one side of the road:

Nearing Gilboa, where I was planning to camp, there were some beautiful open fields too:

Rode 6 miles off the highway to get to a campground for the night, once I arrived they informed me that their was camping fee was an outrageous $27 a night! They were reluctant to negotiate - they knew they had the upper hand since I wasn't likely to leave and keep bicycling until I reached somewhere else - so I reluctantly paid. At least the showers were included in the banditry and I didn't have to shell quarters out to get hot water. The shower building was up near the RV campsites where folks have semi-permanent summer "homes" that they rent the space for the season - some pop song played four times in a row, I imagine some tweenie-bopper thought it was really hip. Apparently camping is the new venue to display your pimped car stereo system?

My campground neighbors pulled in around 9:30pm and proceeded to move vehicles around for the next hour, shining their headlights to help them put up their tents. One of them had a young infant, whom I could hear fussing while the fan for their air bed inflator whined away like a nest of upset hornets. What kind of world are we bringing our children into with obnoxious noises like this?