Day 4 and 5: Flats, wrong directions, and rain

2 flats. Wrong directions quite a few times. More rain. Muddy paths. Attempts to detour off the muddy Canal Trail. It's been a crazy 2 days.

Day 4 to Green Lakes State Park was the most straight forward day yet. Only needed to ask for directions a couple of time. Was kind of funny in Syracuse. The homeless guy on the bench gave better directions than Mr. Suit with the cell phone. Once I got to the State Park the biking came in handy again. Park was full except for 2 'emergency' spots for people like me. Awesome...except they gave me wrong info on the spot and I ended up riding an extra very hilly 5k to get it straightened out. And then I rode another 10k on even a hillier route to get to a spot that was suppose to have Internet...but didn't!!! I'm starting to get the idea of how to do this. Expect a lot of blips. Schedule the day with lots of spare time and just relax. I've decided 6 or 7 hours of pedalling is enough each day. I always think I can do more after sitting around the campsite for a while. I forget how glad I was to get to the campsite.

So day 5 was planned with all that in mind.....short day,relax, take some pictures....just follow the directions and cruise. Didn't plan on the nice Canal Trail to be muddy from all the rain. I tried to adjust the route and ended up having no idea what direction I was going. Added about 30k to the planned 103k day. Maybe I just didn't calibrate my new bike computer correctly.....
But made it to Herkimer still muddy but happy and only an hour or so behind my 'take it easy' plan.
Tomorrow night is still NY and then Vermont and New Hampshire. Still wondering what the heck I'm doing!! This is crazy....but it's starting to grow on me. Portland Maine is kind of a target for me now. Once there I'll see how things are working and decide.

My scorecard now is:

• Bike.....8/10.  A couple of flats didn't help. Bit of gear issues that I try to tweak using some special cables installed by my favourite bike mechanic at MEC, Jay.
• Trailer....10/10.  It's very cool. Carrys lots. And just follows me around. I've even looked back over my shoulder a couple of times just to make sure it was there. Hit about 55 down one hill....no problem.
• The body...6/10. Continues to let me down, Nothing major. Burning nerves in the neck/shoulder. Left tricep wrist and shoulder. Back starting to talk to me. Knee issues disappeared. Frig, I sound like an old fart!!! Still a passing grade though. Hopefully a swim in the pool and an early night will keep things in check.