Day 61: the penultimate day of cycling

Friday, also known as Day 61 was our second last day of the tour, but really our very last day.

Soak it in.  We started the day crossing the Hudson on a cool bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we had one last big hike up a mountain.  In the words of cousin Bill the motor bike rider, the hill went "up a long ways, down a bit and then up a lot more."  That was accurate.  Of course, when you climb that high, you get to descend, and descend and descend.

I managed to push 68km/hr on the downhill.  That's a good day of cycling.

My favourite part of our last independent day of cycling happened next.  We'd been playing tag with Marc, Mike, Rachel and Adam, our buddies, all day.  We had agreed that we would stop some time after km 70 for lunch or something, but these things are hard to predict.

Around km 75 Julia and I happened upon Rachel standing at the edge of a parking lot.  She had taken the time to purchase ice cream, cones and a scoop, and found this beautiful spot for enjoying.

This seems as good a time as any to comment on the beautiful people in this picture.  These are my people, the ones who put up with all my moody crap all summer long, and still love me enough to enjoy ice cream in a gazebo on our second to last day of riding.  Of course there are others who have made this adventure special, but there's something about these five.  Adam (blondie, the kid, everyone loves Adam) has an incredible sense of humour but uses it with integrity and kindness.  Julia (my other half) loves people and wants everyone to be included and feel welcome.  Mike is quiet but when he speaks it's worth listening to.  Marc is incredibly loyal and gives great advice about all things Sea to Sea.  Rachel is intensely passionate about so many things, and loves to share stories with others.

We toasted our ice cream cones and then headed in to camp for our last tenting adventure.