Shakedown trip- 4 weeks to go!

Getting close to time to head for Banff, but first a real test ride:-). 3 days, 2 nights camping at remote sites up in the Adirondacks.  About 30-35% gravel, with 3-4,000' of climbing over 40-70 miles each day.  It should be a pretty good test of both bike & body! 
I started out about mid-day Saturday May 6 from Port Leyden on the Black River.  My route ran north along the Black River valley about 20 miles, then northeast into the Adirondacks Park to Stillwater Reservoir.  I got to the reservoir at about 5pm, and decided to catch a real dinner at the Stillwater Inn, where I enjoyed a really great burger and fries and a beer- Meier's Creek IPA even from back in Cazenovia;-)

After dinner, I rode another 3 or 4 miles until I found a great campsite on a bluff overlooking the reservoir.  Camp went together pretty easily for the first time out in the wild, and I even enjoyed a pretty nice campfire before sleeping like a log.  Sleeping bag and air mattress worked great!

After sleeping really well, I was up by 6:00am and managed to enjoy a decent hot breakfast while I packed everything back into my bags.  That seemed to take forever I'm afraid, as it's like a giant puzzle to get everything compressed and the stuffed into the right bag and balanced on the bike.  Still managed to roll out about 8:30, so not too late... Besides, it was cold, and the extra time let the day warm up a bit!

Sunday was a big day of riding, first heading south on gravel forest roads down to Eagle Bay, and some more gravel up to Raquette Lake, where I got an early lunch.  From there it was onto the main highway to Blue Mountain Lake, and the Indian Lake.  In Indian Lake I got a late second lunch of cardboard pizza at a convenience store before hitting gravel again to climb over the main hill of the day to get over to the Moose River Plains.  The road here was deserted, as it's still closed to vehicles until later in the spring.  Unfortunately, this also meant that the surface was really soft sand, so pretty slow going for miles! After a little over 70 miles, I found a great little campsite just above a small stream where I could get water to filter. 
Aftet realizing that the weather was not going to cooperate as planned, I managed to get camp set up and eat a quick dinner before a steady rain moved in.  Fortunately, my Garmin InReach gets weather forecasts via satellite, so I was able get ready- and my new Nemo Hornet tent worked great!

In the morning, I managed to get camp broken down a bit more quickly and was on the road by 7:00.  I had another 20 miles of hills and soft sand to get back to the main highway at Inlet.  On a Monday morning, all the restaurants were still closed for the season, so it wasn't till I got to Old Forge before I got a good meal. I had a huge second breakfast at a great little diner. I think I surprised the waitress with how much I ate- didn't leave a spec on my plate ;-)

After that great meal, I headed down NY Rt. 28 and  Moose River Road to get back to Leyden- roughly 60 miles for the day. No flats, no mechanicals, and everything worked pretty much as planned:-). 
4 more weeks, and we'll be on the GDMBR!

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