- Ian Paterson Kawasaki Concours 14 (GTR1400)
- Joe Schaus Honda VT1100 Shadow
After
a couple of weeks of hot, muggy weather, hard work and persistent
illness, I finally got out for a ride with my brother-in-law Joe a few
days before I flew home from the USA. Joe is married to Sally’s sister
Holly and they live near the village of Charlton in upstate New York.
Fortuitously, he has two bikes and serendipitously, he lets me ride
them.
We
did a loop north out of Charlton on beautiful back roads with almost no
traffic until we hit the south shore of Great Sacandaga Lake at a tiny
outpost called Fayville. This lake is at the southern edge of the
spectacular Adirondack Park, an enormous area of forests, mountain
peaks, lakes and streams – and the source of the mighty Hudson River,
which meets the ocean at New York City.
We
followed a tip truck (a fast one!) along South Shore Road as it wound
its way along – yes – the south shore until we ran out of lake and ran
into Hadley, where we stopped for an iced tea. We didn’t see much
wildlife, apart from the odd squashed chipmunk on the smooth blacktop
and the occasional eagle or vulture circling overhead, keeping a hopeful
eye on us.
From
Hadley we crossed the Hudson River into the town of Lake Luzerne,
turned right, crossed the Hudson again and headed south on 9N. Even this
far upstream the Hudson is so wide I thought we were riding beside a
lake. Route 9N goes to the horse racing centre of Saratoga Springs
(You’re So Vain – “I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse
naturally won . . .”) but we turned off well before that and followed
another assortment of back roads back to Charlton.
The
whole trip was only 90km but the roads were a lot of fun, the scenery
was magnificent and it was a great way to spend a few hours. Meanwhile,
Holly, assisted by Sally, was cooking up one of my favourite meals of
all time, Mexican Lasagne, which contributed mightily to the 3kg I put
on during my stay – but that’s another story.
Despite
the incredibly harsh winters (snow, ice, -30C) and hot summers, most of
the roads in the north-eastern US are well-maintained and smooth. The
food is good, plentiful and cheap but there are no meat pies and the
coffee is awful. Be sure to ride on the right hand side of the road and
learn how to use the four-way stop signs at crossroads.*
Ian Paterson
*you can practice on the three way stop signed intersections in Queanbeyan (Webmonkey)
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| More forest than you can poke a stick at! |
