My alarm went off this morning with NPR very clearly reporting the news about the theater shooting in Colorado that occurred during the night. It was one of those things that hits you hard and there is no chance that I could go back to sleep after hearing it. Kind of like when I heard Princess Diana was killed. Not sure why that one always sticks clearly in my mind as I really didn’t have any real association to her, but it does. The other thing that was odd was that normally my alarm clock-radio just blasts radio static in the morning despite my precise tuning to NPR the night before. I think we live in some weird radio wave area as my cell phone has issues too. Felt bad for those poor people innocently enjoying a movie.
Anyway, I was up and about made my smoothie and then off to the pool for my normal 30 min Friday LSD swim. I banged out 1500 yards and then headed home to complete packing up for Lake Placid. We always shoot for leaving at a certain time, which ends up being an hour later. This time was no different. We were shooting for 9am and were on the road at 10am. I racked the bikes on top of the CRV and loaded up the gear in the back. I thought we would be at maximum density, but it turned out to be a lighter load than I thought. I think summer time packing is just much less than winter.
The ride up was pretty uneventful really except for the heavy rain coming down. My wife usually drives now since the CRV driver seat is very adjustable and it suits her back issues. I don’t mind as I can read, surf the web, and sleep the trip away. Traffic was a bit more congested than we are typically used to for our winter trips, so that hindered our progress a bit. We decided to stop in New Paltz, New York to stop at Karma Road Organic Café for lunch. 
This is the same place I stopped on my way to the Troy Jacobson Ironman Lake Placid Camp last month. I had one of the “affordables” plates which consisted of rice, beans and another dish of my choice. I went with the Sweet Potato Curry which was excellent. I wanted to get a picture of it, but I was so hungry by now(it was 1PM)that I was chowing it down before I thought about it. My wife had a Avocado Wrap which was good as well. I enjoyed my Curry Sweet Potato so much I bought a pound of it to go. After our feed, we were back on I-87 for the 2nd half of our journey.
Traffic eventually mellowed out as it usually does after the Lake George area. We reached the town of Keene around 5PM so we decided to stop at the ADK Café for dinner. First order of business was a Lake Placid IPA which confirms my entry into the Lake Placid/Adirondack area. We had a Sweet Potato Chili and their Vegetable Plate which was very good. Of particular note was the Coconut Quinoa which was to do for! Our waiter, Andy, was a very friendly guy who had spent some time backcountry skiing out west so we had lost to talk about with him. I think he was the first person to notice the Machu Picchu picture on my credit card ever.
I really wasn’t sure what it would be like up here with the Ironman Lake Placid event. I anticipated that it would be jammed packed everywhere, but it really didn’t seem all that bad. My wife seemed particularly observant of the amount of dudes with shaved legs in town, which was originally pointed out by our awesome hosts at the house we stay. It raised the question “why does all these triathletes shave their legs?” I have heard many reasons such as reducing wind resistance and road rash, but I really think those are just excuses to really show off your triathlon-toned legs. Regardless, my wife reminded me multiple times that “you are not shaving your legs!” I guess that will be my excuse for not qualifying for Kona!
We walked around town to check out the scene and then it was back to the house. Looking forward to a nice IMLP loop ride and then hanging out in town. Hope to get out in the woods for a hike in the afternoon though.
