August 26 Day 56 REST DAY Saratoga Springs NY

On rest day we spend a lot of time getting things cleaned up and ready for, are you ready our last 5 days of this awesome journey. We rode  hard packed bike trails for two days. The bikes were real dusty and drive trains were dry. Laundry to do and pups to wash. Here is Jim and his brother, Mike who is supervising Jim. Can you believe that.

I don't know how this happened. Here is Mike wearing Pete's helmet which has a brim on it. That is Pete's recumbent in the photo as well.

After we got all of our chores done. We went off to the horse races at the famous Saratoga Race Track. There is every kind of way to watch the races. There is a huge picnic table area where people bring their stuff in to watch the races. This Is a photo of that area. Under the canopy are screens where you can see the races. Everywhere there are places where you can place your bets.

The grand stands have different tiers. The top Is where a dress code is enforced and nice dining. That is where the fancy people go. We went to the second tier. Once in the Resturant and we sat down, That was our table till we closed our tab. We could come and go as we pleased.

There are all kinds of walk ways. The one below is where they bring the horses to the jockeys. The jockeys have their own saddles and they put them on, saddle up and ride out onto the track. All this time people are watching and using whatever techniques to figure out which horse to bet on. It was fascinating to walk around and watch people study and commiserate with each other on how to place their bets. When we sat down at the table Jim asked the waitress which horses are the best to bet on. She was great, she said if she knew that she would not have been waiting tables there for 37 years.

Spent about 3 hours there and decided we had donated enough money to the track. Paul was the only one who walked out of there ahead. Only $12.00 but he was ahead of the rest of us. As we were leaving I overheard a lady telling her young son she was going to go and "vote" for one of the horses.Back  at the hotel a few last minute things to do like EAT! The next 5 days will not have long mileage. What it lacks in distance it will make up in hills. We start the rest of this trip with 3100 miles.