More rain, like last Sunday's Tour de Cure . . . in Saratoga Springs, NY
"Great idea", S-man comes up with. Including Michael, who was out of town for the ADA Tour de Cure and didn't do the century, "Let's do the northern reaches loop of the century ride." This northern bit for the 2010 ride leaves Middle Grove, NY, tools up through Porter Corners, Corinth, 9N to the cut-off to Stewart's Bridge reservoir dam route, across that and runs next to the Hudson to return to Corinth.
Great idea, everyone agrees, so we're planning like maniacs, exchanging cell numbers and it's set for 8 am at Starbucks St. James Square. I'm there at 8 but no one else in sight. Clients come and go; no one inside. Next: call Yaz. He's ready to go anywhere--apparently, the agreed-upon time and place is no good, so we reconvene at Michael's place. By 8:20 we're off. Two cars cause Yaz will detour to Saratoga Springs following the ride.
Weather report: no rain until after 11 am maybe as late as 2 pm, then it will rain for six hours thunder and lightning later.
Ha. We're not half way up Highway 50 to the route 59 (Middle Line Rd.) turn-off when the pitter patter of drops starts to add to the noise of conversation in the car. I'm taking Michale and bike, so we keep looking backward at Yaz's vehicle. No wipers.
No wipers.
Finally, at Route 29, where there is a left hand turn, quick right onto 104 to go to Middle Grove. . . wipers. It's raining. Yaz has accepted it. He says it is the first step to getting right with the idea he's going to ride in the rain some MORE this weekend.
We start well by taking the wrong turn and start to do the route backward. My fault. Then we're turned around, reoriented and off up the hill to Desolation Lake. Two miles later we're on Coy Rd. heading north north east. We're in the Daketown forest and the houses become a bit more scarce and the trees grow closer to the road. The rain is persistent but not a downpour and for the most part everything is dry.
It takes a while but Porter Corners arrives and we're still together, riding well. Michael is speeding up moments from time to time keeping an eye on his odometer trying to do what? The rain starts to pick up in this section, but the odometer works and clothing is OK . . . it's damp.
Miner Rd. comes up then a turn onto a straight slightly falling section that rolls past Brookhaven GC. No one out there swinging at any golf balls. Too damp. Too much dew, mist.
We hit Comstock, cross 9N, it's all a bit of a blur, but one recollection is not. By the time we're on Main Street south of Corinth, we are taking a pelting due to the increase in the rain. It's coming down so hard, we can't avoid puddles that are growing in length, width and depth in the ruts of the road where tire use is greatest. Bits of the shoulder that slope away and off to the grassy borders are not sloped enough and sailing through rivulets drenches everything we're wearing. My shoes begin to feel sopping and wet. Crotch of new Italian shorts is wet and cold. It's beginning to be a PAIN.
Michael calls for a cessation in hostilities and we pull into a spot underneath an awning of the local Grange building to wipe clean our glasses and riding shades. THEN we hear the thunder. I ask Yaz about the predictions on the weather. Six hours of rain. It came three hours too early.
The thunder convinces me that Hadley is out of the question. Too bad for the nice views and all that; it's getting colder, the stop has cooled us off, all three, and I'm worried that getting farther from cars is not the most intelligent thing to do. We turn around at the entrance to Corinth where the long stone fence is . . . not far from the point of realimentation that was erected for the T de C on Sunday past, no one there today!!
So we're cutting it short, but I think it's best.
It's still raining hard, but we're no longer on the well-traveled roads around Corinth. The route plunges into the surrounding area, residential and rural mostly, south of town. We cross 9N again, Porter Corners again! before coming into Middle Grove from the road I almost had us take on the way out. We don't go through the Corners itself, but the Fire Station nearby, thence on to Squashville Rd. and a look at the house someone's working on (stripped of its siding, new windows recently, pile of detritus to the left of the front door) then turn onto Route 19 that takes us down the slope into Middle Grove and the park.
I strip off my soaked clothing between open doors on the other side of the lot, Yaz in his car, Michael in the bathrooms that belong to the Greenfield town park. There was a birthday going on out of reach of the rain.
The drive back was 'heater on' de rigueur. The rain, meanwhile, had stopped!!
How's that?
