Day #8: Albany to Amsterdam (38 miles)

Today was a big day because I was meeting up with Mark Greenberg, who will be my riding buddy for the rest of the trip. I posted my route on a site called crazyguywithabike.com, and Mark replied that he'd be interested in joining me. My uncle, Peter is also riding with us for two days. They are both lawyers working around Albany and it turns out they know a bunch of people in common! We all enjoyed riding together along the Mohawk river and the Erie canal. The ride was essentially flat, but we battled a 13 mph headwind a lot of the way.

My aunt Peggy made a great scrambled egg and sausage breakfast and then Mark arrived at 10am, since he had to ride 20 miles before he met up with us. In short order we were off:

The scenery along the Mohawk river alternated between beautifully pastoral and gritty industrial. The Erie canal was really the key to New York state's economic power in the 1800's...

We passed a few old locks from the original canal:

And a new, working lock:

Some action shots:

A few food pics:

And the snapshot: 38 miles in 4.25 hours, starting at 10am and finishing at 3pm. Of course for Mark it was actually a 58 mile day... very impressive!