The ride started with a brake problem that we initially thought would require a trip to the bike shop and a slight delay in our departure to wait for it to open, but after taking a 2nd look Keith was able to fix the issue. Despite Maya’s complete lack of physical preparation for the trip, we made good time out to the bike ferry 12 miles down the road. On the ferry we were regaled about the benefits of e-bikes. We stopped for lunch at a place in Plattsburgh NY promising “Texas Red Hots”. The specialty was hot dogs with “Michigan sauce,” which seems to be what the locals call a chili dog. After lunch Maya struggled but maintained good spirits: “slow and steady wins the race.” On one particularly steep climb that required me to stand on my pedals for a while, one of Maya’s cleats came loose. She lost one of the two screws holding it on. I resecured it with the one remaining screw and checked for where the closest hardware store was. It was down the road about 15 miles and would be closed by the time we got there. After stopping for groceries we made it to our campsite for the night. The memories of the struggles with the hills and mechanical issues diminished as we scarfed down some Korean dumplings cooked on our trusty camp stove. After a few hands of Monopoly Deal we were both ready to crawl into our sleeping bags and call it a day.