Crew’s Log…
Cycling Date: Wednesday 29-July-15
Mileage: 91 miles
Climbing: 1600’
Weather: Upper 60s to start. Lower 90s to end. Winds out of the west.
Highlights of the day:
We started today’s ride along the Erie Canal on the Canalway Trail, a bike path that runs along the canal banks. It’s paved for the first 5 miles and then turns to hard packed dirt for our remaining 19 miles. Along the way, we went through several small villages and passed by several locks. These are waterway locks that are used to raise and lower boats between stretches of water of different levels on a river or canal. Perusing WikiPedia, locks are used to allow a canal to take a more direct line across land that has changes in elevation. Thus endeth our lesson du jour. :) If anyone missed taking pictures of locks, there will be more opportunities as our route will touch the Erie Canal and Mohawk River several times over the next two days.
Leaving the Canalway Trail, we ventured on to New York State Bicycle Route 5. It isn’t a separate bike trail, these roads are designate and sign posted by the Department of Transportation as particularly bike friendly with wide shoulders and (generally) good pavement. There are several in this state. This one runs from Niagara Falls to the Massachusetts border. It was another great stretch of road, taking us through small towns and rolling farmland.
We had a guest at our first SAG stop. Joan rode with us in 2012 on the Cross Country Challenge. She lives about 2 hours from our route but she has driven up each year since to say hi and bring us home baked goodies. We enjoyed catching up, eating her delicious cookies and talking about the Fall Foliage Tour she will be joining us on later this year.
Riding day after day requires a fair amount of fuel. Riders eat. Riders eat a lot. Riders eat frequently. As discussed previously in this blog, they are like hobbits. Breakfast. 2nd breakfast. Elevenses. Luncheon. Afternoon tea. Etc... At this point in the ride, we start talking about tapering back. Fuel up as needed but start thinking about what you’re eating. So to be totally unfair, we continue to point out all the local ice cream and fast food eateries. Today was a good one. Heid’s of Liverpool is one of the oldest drive-ins. There is no car-side service but they have great hot dogs, kielbasa, and all the other deep fried goodies one would expect. Heid’s is very conveniently located on route, just a few miles from the hotel. We also pointed out Antonio’s Ice Cream. Along with the Dunkin Donuts and Tim Horton’s right next to the hotel. Perhaps the riders can start cutting back tomorrow??
