Month: August 2017

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Start: Rochester, New York
End: Syracuse, New York
Mileage today/cumulative: 91 / 3,277
Elevation Ascended: 1,243′
Weather: Sunny, 67° at start; sunny, 84º at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)

With only six rides remaining on the tour at the start of today, New York gave us a nice one  from Rochester to Syracuse. Bev and I chose to ride by ourselves all day. We love riding with each other and it was a nice break from the pressure of a pace line and keeping a group together. The first 23 miles were on the Erie Canalway Trail, a paved or hard packed bike path that runs alongside the Erie Canal. It was a beautiful, peaceful stretch and we wished that we could have ridden it further. We’ve added it to our list of trails to return to. As we approached Syracuse, we rode on the East Shore Recreation Trail through a beautiful park on Onondaga Lake. It was a gorgeous day and there were lots of people out exercising. It looks like a nice place to live if not for the winters.

The portion of the ride spent on roads took us through some charming towns and villages that looked very “Main Street USA”. Old homes, large trees, picket fences, wide streets, and lots of American flags. We saw some agriculture but not on the scale of what we rode through from Idaho to Ontario, Canada.

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that being in New York meant more cars and more attitude. Some folks who previously lived in Rochester thought that was a bit harsh and didn’t appreciate being compared to the NYC New Yorkers.  So, I should mention that the people of Rochester NY were nice enough and their behavior bore little resemblance to anyone in NYC. They’re still not nearly as nice, though, as people in Rochester, Minnesota.

Finally, I kept my eye out for this guy so that I could give him a big hug from my friend Ruth Ross, but I never saw him. Go Big Orange!

Lots of good photos from today’s ride…

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Start: Niagara Falls, New York
End: Rochester, New York
Mileage today/cumulative: 87 / 3,186
Elevation Ascended: 1,585′
Weather: Sunny, 66° at start; sunny, 83º at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)

Q: When you’ve spent 42 days cycling across America (and part of Canada), eating in chain restaurants and hotel banquet rooms, where do you go when you get to civilization?

A. A wine bar.

And that’s how we began our 36 hours of freedom from a bike seat – with real food and a bottle of wine to celebrate arriving in Niagara Falls. The next morning, it was back to the glamorous rest day routine: Starbucks and the laundromat before sightseeing. This was our first visit to Niagara Falls, so we spent some time exploring the park and seeing each of the Falls. They’re awesome in the truest sense of the word. Unfortunately, the area around the Falls is touristy and trashy, a textbook case of mankind marring something beautiful in nature. Once we saw the Falls, we were anxious to get back on our bikes and continue eastward.

Today’s ride was pretty uneventful. The weather was nice, even if the air felt thicker than it has been. It was an easy 87 miles without much to write home about. New York State means more cars and more attitude but when we got out in the countryside, things settled down and we cruised along without much bother. The terrain will begin to change later in the week as we near the Vermont border and everyone gets challenged with the three Hs: heat, humidity, and hills. The end is in sight but we have a few more days of cool stuff to see and miles of road to conquer before we can dip our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. At this time next week, we’ll be back in our house, cuddled up on our couch, reflecting on this great adventure, and thinking about our next one.