“Sacandaga and Central Lakes Ride”
Sat Sept 14, 2019
(~219 miles)

Today, we joined up with our friends and long-time NERds Lisa and Bob to ride NER’s “Sacandaga Ride”. They had ridden most of this loop yesterday, but had it cut short and were eager to see the entire thing at a nice brisk pace. Once again, I was voted the lead position, and we rode south out of Lake George after fueling up at the nearby station. The weather was back to being a bit on the gloomy side, with spotty mist and sprinkles, but that wasn’t about to dampen our spirits.

Ed had documented what looks like a nice start to the ride on the western edge of Queensbury, south on West Mountain road, avoiding the congestion along US-9. However, somehow I (or Garmin) missed that turn and we ended up riding straight out to Lake Luzerne via NY 9N. I first realized something was amiss as we rode the southern shore of Great Sacandaga Lake, for I remembered that this route was supposed to take us along the northern shore. I reloaded the route in my Zumo 595 and had no further problems the rest of the day, but I’m still puzzled as to why I experienced more “fun with Garmin” moments this trip than on others.

We pulled in briefly to the Stewarts in Northville, but none of us needed anything and the pace was agreeable, so we continued on. We joined NY 30 once again, and paralleled the Sacandaga River heading northwest, passing Lake Algonquin. There was a view/comfort stop marked on the route in Speculator, at the northern tip of Lake Pleasant, so we pulled over for a stretch and to snap a few photos.

We proceeded north on 30, focused mainly on the riding today and enjoying the immediate lakes-and-woods landscape of the central Adirondacks, since the distant mountains were mostly obscured today. We stopped briefly at the Indian Lake Stewarts, then pressed on towards an early lunch, following NY 28 east to North Creek and making good time.

We pulled over across from the restaurant in North Creek, in front of a huge gorgeous tile mosaic mural that depicts some typical Adirondacks outdoor pursuits.

Lisa and Bob told us they had spoken with one of the local artists yesterday while she had been working on the piece in the nicer weather. It’s a fairly recent addition to the town to help cover up what had been a drab expanse of plain concrete wall.

Cafe Sarah is one of two suggested establishments in town for NER riders to grab lunch on this ride. Lisa and Bob had sampled the food yesterday and had no hesitation about doing a repeat. We headed inside and were greeted to a homey atmosphere with a bustling kitchen staff. Both local folk and other NER riders were seated at the handful of tables. They served up some delicious sandwich and soup options, plus some yummy-looking baked goods in the front case.

Char and I shared a grilled panini sandwich, she had soup and I got some hot coffee. That left room for pie! They only had one option by the slice, but the berry pie was quite good heated up. Lisa and Bob both ended up getting a piece as well…pie is contagious.

After a very satisfying lunch stop, with much chit-chat, we followed Route 28N north out of town to embark on the the smaller northern loop portion of this ride. We turned right by the Hudson River before Newcomb. Bits of blue sky occasionally peeked through as we zoomed east for miles on the isolated and straight Blue Ridge Road.

 

We turned south on the familiar US-9 in North Hudson for several miles, through Lake Schroon. Oh joy, we got to ride Hoffman Road for the second day in a row! It was just as much fun, though we took it a bit slower today, due to the damper pavement.

We completed the northern mini-loop of the ride at the Olmstedville Dam and retraced our steps south through North Creek onto Peaceful Valley Rd. More fun with Garmin ensued as the GPS insisted that we turn right around at North Creek and go back over the Hudson River (where there was no bridge) to make a beeline straight back the way we’d come from. I reloaded the route once more and we continued onward until the GPS caught up to our progress. We looped down through Johnsburg, Wevertown, and Athol before following the Schroon River back east to Warrensburg. We ran the Truesdale Hill Road section again, this time in the opposite direction, before cruising back into Lake George to complete the ride.

The clouds were once again heavy and low, so we skipped the optional ride up to Prospect Mountain, and instead continued south on US-9 to hit up Martha’s Dandee Cream in Queensbury. Martha’s is a local landmark to which I’d been recently introduced. The store has been around forever, though under different owners, and offers dozens of flavors of soft serve ice cream, among other food options. Though still overcast, the day had gotten warm enough to make ice cream desirable after a day’s riding.

We got our ice cream and posed for a group selfie. Unbeknownst to me, my phone was experiencing an odd but known issue with the selfie camera software, capturing only a portion of the light needed to make a good photo. I messed with some post-processing to come up with the following photo. While a bit freaky, I think it accurately captures our mood while enjoying a delicious treat at Martha’s!

Tonight’s optional group dinner was at the Adirondack Pub, a short half mile’s stroll down the road. We joined several others heading in that direction and were somewhat dismayed to find the place packed and no reserved seating held for us despite some advance notice. This appeared to be one of the hotter spots in town tonight. We’d have to all make separate reservations and wait, or else find available seats with other NER tables who were already seated.

No problem, we had a drink at the bar and hopped into a table reservation already in queue for another NER couple, Mimi and Scott. Before long, our table was ready and several other waiting riders quickly joined us to fill the spots. As usual, dinner was a blast as folks shared their stories from the day and from past trips.