Day 17, Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Norwich, NY to Saratoga Springs, NY
121 Miles, 5000 feet of climbing
by Roger Pierce
The mornings have been getting cooler as we head north, but today it was actually a bit warmer at 65 degrees. This forebode the approaching cold front, which, according to the local forecast, would bring no rain. So we set out through the bucolic New York countryside for the hilly part of the ride, the first 40 miles.
A number of riders chose to explore the town of Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, though most of the exploring seems to have been done inside a particular pastry shop. After our second stop, the road turned downhill, and a severe tailwind developed, allowing the fast pacelines to average 30 mph into lunch. One such line arrived at lunch with just a minute to spare before the “benign” cold front let loose with a torrent of wind and rain. So much for the Weather Channel. But it was over as quickly as it came, and provided a continuing 25 mph tail wind, making the last half century a quick one.
Since ESPN2 was only available in the bar, it got very crowded in there about 7:30 pm as we watched Richard Virenque uphold the glory of France and Marco Pantani get spit out the back of the Tour de France.