Lake Placid Winter 2013-Day 2-Acclimatization

The first day of our Winter trip usually consists more of acclimatization to our environment than activity. This year was no different. We started off the day heading into town for breakfast at the Breakfast Club. As we headed out the door, Denise noticed that it was raining out in addition to being extremely windy. We turned around and went back in to get our rain jackets. By the time we came back out again it had turned to snow. Heavy, blowing snow.

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As we wound our way down River Rd., the snow continued to fall. The road was re-covered again by the time we go out to RT. 86, a distance of 2-3 miles. By the time we got into town it was really dumping and it continued most of the morning. We had a nice breakfast and I switched from being plant-based to a vegetarian for a bit since I ordered a big stack of pancakes with maple syrup. Mmmmm. Not planning on making a habit of that, but for vacation I guess I can splurge a bit.

After breakfast we headed over to Placid Planet Bike Shop to drop our skate skis off to get waxed. Usually deciding what type of temperature wax to get for the week is a major decision. You need to assess the forecasted temperatures and conditions for the week and then decide which was will work best with those conditions. Sometimes you put one temperature wax on top of another so that the one wears off as the temps change. This year was fairly simple, since they were expecting single-digit to below zero temps most of the week. We chatted with the shop owner for a bit and did some window shopping.

We cruised around town a bit looking for any changes that happened since our last trip in July. We noticed that several places had moved buildings which seemed to be a trend. We stopped in the local Eastern Mountain Sports(EMS) shop to do some shopping there. There was a 30% North Face stuff going on so we had to check that out.

I picked up a EMS wind barrier top I had been looking at for the last year for 50% off. It was usually $80 and I just could never justify that price. $40 and its mine….sweet. It pays to be patient! We headed back to the apartment for a while and did some reading and relaxation. Vacation rules!
For lunch we headed down to Saranac Lake. We ate at the Blue Moon Cafe. I had their Nadaburger which was comprised of beans, grains and veggies which was awesome. I also had a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA. I don’t usually have beer at lunch, but hey…I’m on vacation. Denise got the Curry Bowl, which is usually a dinner item, but they were out of the two things she ordered so they conceded on that. We stopped in the sporting goods/outdoor shop down the street after lunch and I scored a new pair of Madshus carbon skate ski poles for $40. I was pretty stoked about that. I was still using my first pair cheesy pair of steel poles and I think these will speed my up a ton. Yeah right. We checked out the local health food store and picked up a few items.

We made our way back to Lake Placid and picked up our freshly waxed

Tri Phone Bike Bento Box

skiis. I also picked up a cool bike bento box that has a smartphone holder on the top. I thought this would be great for following mapped bike routes on my iPhone. You can actually use the phone through the cover. The other benefit is that that compartment is huge and I can fit a ton of grub in there. I would not use it for races, but for long Saturday rides it should be perfect.

We headed back to the apartment and did some more reading and napping a little. Shopping and eating wear me out. 🙂 The snow had continued to fall off and on throughout the afternoon. The temperatures continued to fall during the day. It was 36 deg F when we left the apartment in the morning and it was around 9 deg F when I went to bed. We ended up staying in for dinner since we weren’t all that hungry when dinner time rolled around. Give it hell tomorrow I guess.