New territory
Stockport >> Saratoga Springs | 127km | 668m | 5h29m
September 4, 2024 | 26ºC, clear skies
50 familiar kilometers
It was another cool morning on an otherwise very sunny day when we started our way north to complete the last 50 kilometers of known territory. The choice of clothing we decided to bring on our trip was pretty good – mostly warm weather outfits, but those long sleeve cycling jackets did their jobs during the chilly morning hours. I’m not a cold weather cyclist and was dreading the temperatures to fall, but seems like anything above freezing is manageable even in shorts, as long as you keep your core warm.
We started at around 8:30 again today and decided to ride the first 35 kilometers, all of which uphill, before breakfast. We found another Stewart’s shop for donuts and coffee and soon enough entered the northern part of Empire State Trail – the section that we had not ridden before. We heard from local cyclists that the route towards Montreal wouldn’t be too enjoyable and received different opinions about which roads to take, and which to avoid. We’d have to find out ourselves!
Once we made our way through Albany, we entered more remote bike paths again, and some of the gravel paths returned, too. We passed the town of Troy, to make our way along the Old Erie Canal Trail towards Waterford where we found Don & Paul’s Coffee Shop: a local restaurant on the busiest truck route imaginable, in the middle of the small town. After the first 75 kilometers of today we enjoyed our burgers and fries while anxiously looking at the huge vehicles that we hopefully wouldn’t have to deal with on our way further north.
Somehow we are drawn towards these urban environments as our places of choice for food. The burgers were quite good, though!
A reason why I don’t like trafficked roads
After lunch we continued on mostly bike paths and calm roads, just up until we were closer to today’s final destination – the city of Saratoga Springs. To navigate our ways through that town we were back on some of the more busy roads. Wide shoulders did allow for enough space between our bikes and the cars, but shoulders sometimes don’t have the cleanest and smoothest surfaces. I always dread the sharp-edge pieces of plastic or glas or metal, or whatever else may be a threat to your tires. And then suddenly I started hearing some faint noise coming from my rear wheel that sounded as if I picked up a piece of plastic that was sticking to my tires. The tire didn’t seem to leak any air, though, so I kept going for a bit almost trying to ignore the possibility of something more severe than just a random synthetic fragment of garbage.
It was a piece of metal that punctured my tire. Not much air was coming out but I felt the urge to remove right away. My wheels are setup tubeless, which means that instead of a rubber tube the tire is filled with a few sips of fluid sealant which is supposed to instantly close small punctures without the rider even noticing it. This puncture was rather big though. I removed the metal piece (which turned out to be a big, rusty nail) and instantly got sprayed with the white, sticky juice. After a second of panic I turned the wheel so that the puncture would be facing the asphalt, hoping gravity and sealant would collaborate effectively, closing the hole eventually.
Quite a bit of the liquid came out of the tire but it seemed like the air loss stopped. About half of the air left the tire and I decided to pump it back up to 60psi hoping that would do the job. It stopped bleeding for the moment, but not for long – while cycling, every now and then I’d hear air and sealant spitting out of the puncture, forcing me to stop. What an annoyance and I didn’t really know what to do. Tubeless setups are great against small punctures. But when there’s a big one, it’s a mess to fix. We found a bike shop about 10 kilometers and a bit off route and luckily made it without loosing too much air. A mechanic assessed the damage, which at that time seemed to be holding air even after pumping some more in. All his advise was hoping that the sealant will do it’s job after a while. I bought a bottle of sealant though.
Once we arrived in our motel in Saratoga Springs, everything seems to be holding up well. No air loss, no sealant puddles. We were just happy this happened close to town, and in case things would look different tomorrow we could go back to the shop.
Back to top | Previous Day | Next Day
South-bound: Day 01 | Day 02 | Day 03 | Day 04 | Day 05 | Day 06 | Day 07 | Day 08
North-bound: Day 09 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15