When in doubt, #alwaysbringthebike.

I was reminded this afternoon that it's always a good idea to have the bike close by in case an opportunity opens up for a serendipitous ride. Today I made the trip to Cooperstown to visit a school and found myself with a little extra time on my hands in the early afternoon.

Since I am not a baseball fan and the thought of walking through the Fenimore Art Museum on a lovely September afternoon did not really appeal to me, I was grateful to have had the foresight to throw my bike into the back of the car along with a bag of my gear before heading out the door this morning. After my meeting, I simply popped into a local supermarket bathroom to change my clothes and fill my water bottles and I was off.

Cooperstown is an amazing little town on the banks of Otsego Lake in upstate New York pretty far from just about everything. The architecture is simply stunning and the 20 mile loop around Otsego Lake was both beautiful and exhilarating. I really must read Alan Tayor's book William Cooper's Town to figure out how this frontier outpost from the early national period came to be. 

The Federalist homes that line the lake and fill the town are simply breathtaking. In fact, since so many of the houses are in such fine shape, it feels a bit like stepping back in time. The photo above was taken of a home built in 1803. 

Up next: the Princeton 200K on Saturday.

Of Roundels and Recovery

There's nothing quite like getting a trinket in the mail to commemorate past suffering, so I was very pleased to see the small telltale black envelope from London when I returned from vacation earlier this week. My roundel (this one in the form of a patch) brings me a warm feeling of pride and serves as a symbol of both the persistence and determination I brought to the #rapharising challenge.

After this concentrated bout of climbing, my rides have been of the recovery sort: decidedly flat and short. Two weeks on Block Island reunited me with some wonderful roads and delicious views. After returning, I immediately took off for a week of work based at the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. The campus is straight out of Harry Potter and the surrounding countryside is pretty easy on the eyes as well. I nearly left the bike at home in my haste, but sure am glad I didn't. Starting each day with a concentrated ride just after dawn was another reminder to #alwaysbringthebike.