Week 7 - July 19 to July 26 - Niles, OH to Albany, NY - 484 miles

Day 43 - July 20 - Niles, OH to Erie, PA - 90 miles

I was feeling frisky today.

In the morning, I played tag with Julie. It started innocently enough, when I pulled out ahead of a paceline that was forming. I don't really like riding in pacelines, because you spend the whole time staring at the wheel ahead of you, trying to match the speed and the line of the rider ahead of you. You're always worrying about what the riders ahead and behind are doing, and you can still end up going down like Lois and Topper yesterday. Yes, when it works well, it's poetry in motion. But it's not my thing.

Anyway, I pulled ahead of the paceline to get some breathing room, and Julie (who is training for the Paris-Brest race in August) took this as the signal to attack. So I passed her again. And so it continued for the next 15 miles, at 24-26 mph. I even held back a couple times to invite her to pass, so I could blow by her again. Rob turned out to be following us the whole way, and he attacked shortly before the sag stop. I countered, and rolled in right ahead of him, totally spent. I'm not competitive; I just wasn't going to let him get there first.

After the first sag, I was riding with Jim and Dutch John, two of the strongest riders. We were cruising along and chatting, at 21-24 mph. It just felt really comfortable. Dan was right with us, but Andy fell behind. Second time today that I dropped him. Sorry, Andy. But it just felt so effortless; we ate up 30 miles like it was nothing.

This is Amish country. We passed a couple of buggies on their way to Sunday meeting. Back in the field where the meeting hall was, there were about 10 buggies lined up - Amish parking lot.

The second sag stop was at the White Turkey Drive-In, about a mile from the state line. To make up for last night's problems, Bruce bought us all root beer floats. I also had a really good - and inexpensive - cheeseburger.

Stayed with Andy and Dan for the rest of the day, and just coasted in.

Against expectations, and in direct contrast with last night, the hotel is really nice, probably second only to the first hotel, in Millbrae. It's also right in the heart of downtown, which the Millbrae hotel wasn't.

Lois limped in to dinner, two hours late and with the help of Vicodin, but walking on her own.

Day 44 - July 21 - Erie, PA - Rest Day

My dad and brother hooked me up with my third cousin Bill Klauk. Bill's an amateur genealogist, and both my dad and my brother Doug have been continuing my grandfather's genealogical work. Bill and Doug connected online a few years ago, and my parents met my dad's second cousin Helen on the occasion of her 60th wedding anniversary two years ago. Herman and Helen run the Benedictine nuns' soup kitchen on Monday, when the Sisters are off, and Bill works there as well. They get a lot of donations from the supermarkets, Sam's Club, and the local college, as well as leftovers from parties and receptions, and garden surplus. So we had lunch at the soup kitchen, and chatted about family affairs.

Afterwards, Bill gave me the quick (wet) tour of Erie. It seems like a town that's seen better times, and is struggling to renew itself. The Hammermill paper plant where Herman used to work was closed a couple years ago, and is slated for demolition. The remaining large industry is the GE locomotive plant, the only one in the US.

It's been raining on and off all day, sometimes heavily. This is the third rest day on which it's rained. I'm hoping it clears up by tomorrow morning, because it's no fun riding in the rain.

Day 45 - July 22 - Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY - 82 miles

I didn't feel much like riding today. I noticed this after the last rest day as well. There's only a week left, and I'm really going to miss it when it's over, but I'm really ready for it to be done.

The ride itself was really quite nice, along the shore of Lake Erie, often within sight of the water. Some parts of it are built up, but it's mostly pretty rural still. There are a lot of vineyards here. New York is unfortunately not known for fine wines, but it produces some good cheap wines; I use New York wine for sangria.

Normally, there would be two sag stops on a day of this length, but there was only one today, and it wasn't until mile 47, more than halfway. On the other hand, it was right next to a cheerleading camp for 9-12 year old girls. Let's just say they varied widely in their abilities. A couple (including the littlest) were very athletic, doing backflips, while others had trouble with cartwheels. Still, they were having fun, and we were having fun watching them. Although it was a bit disturbing seeing little girls doing bump-and-grind stuff.

Lois rode today. Not only that, but she rode the whole way, albeit slower than usual. Just two days ago, she was on crutches. She's an amazing woman. Maybe not too bright, but amazing.

We have three new riders. One of them, Paulo, had a series of flight delays, and didn't get to the hotel until 3AM. Furthermore, his bike was damaged in shipment. Bruce and Brantley spent the morning fixing it, and he didn't get on the road until 11:00. He's got a sense of humor, though, and a really positive attitude. He said, "Blessed are the flexible, for they will never get bent out of shape."

After the ride, most of us took a side trip up to Niagra Falls. I've been there a couple times, but only on the American side. This time, we were on the Canadian side, which has the more spectacular of the two falls, and a better view of both falls. We had dinner in the rotating restaurant on top of the Skylon (think Space Needle or CN Tower), then went down for the close-up view. That's a lot of water.

While we were at Niagra, it started drizzling, to the degree that I might have gotten wet if I'd stayed out in it for an hour. Back at the motel in Hamburg, it poured, to the extent that Dan reports seeing the motel maid get soaked to the skin crossing the parking lot. Of course, it had all stopped by the time we got back.

Day 46 - July 23 - Hamburg, NY to Canandaigua, NY - 94 miles

Q: What do you do when it rains?
A: You get wet.

After 45 days, with less than a week to go, we got wet. The first cloudburst happened while we were at lunch, so we thought we'd ducked the bullet again, like we did a few days ago. But less than half an hour later, it started up again, and rained on and off, heavier and lighter, for the last 25 miles. I kept the sunglasses on, because they kept the rain out of my eyes. Except for the last 5 miles or so, when the rain was driving past the glasses. The weather system was apparently localized, and centered over us, because it didn't catch up to Dan and Pat until about 4 miles from the end.

Of course, I had packed my rain gear into my luggage this morning, because it didn't look like it was going to rain again. More fool me.

Before that was pretty good. We spent most of the day (and will spend half of tomorrow) on US-20, which my cow-orker Mark wants to drive coast to coast next summer. It's a good assortment of little towns and corn fields.

One of the roadside attractions was an art car in East Aurora. "Art car" is a general term for cars that are decorated in some non-traditional way. I've seen one with action figures glued all over it, and one with quotes written all over it. But this one is Art.

This ride brings us to the western edge of the Finger Lakes, although I didn't go across the road to check out Canadandaigua Lake when I got in. I just wanted to wash myself, my clothes, and my bike.

Paulo's bad luck continued today. He had 5 flats and a broken spoke. He's now riding on two new tires.

Day 47 - July 24 - Canandaigua, NY to Syracuse, NY - 63 miles

First, an apology to my devoted fans. It's been four days since I've posted anything, which is longer than I've let it go since I started this website. Nothing's wrong, just a bunch of little things that got in the way. e.g. The trip to Niagra Falls kept us out really late, and we went straight to bed. Or yesterday's rain meant I had to do laundry and clean my bike, and then I spent over an hour on the phone. No one has enough free time, even when they're on vacation.

Now back to the travelogue...

This was a really leisurely day. It was raining when we got up, so luggage load was pushed back until after breakfast, which was itself at the unusually late hour of 7:00. Andy and I didn't get on the road until 8:00, by which point the rain had stopped.

We were in the Finger Lakes region, which is really pretty, and Bruce had warned us that the hotel was in the middle of nowhere, with no food around, so we were in no hurry to get there.

It did rain on us a couple times, but it was no big deal. For one thing, it wasn't all that heavy; for another, we were prepared.

Between the wet roads and the road-grinding project (the first 7 miles of the trip), there were a lot of flat tires. Simply, you pick up a lot more stuff when your tires are wet. Andy and I got a flat apiece within two miles of each other, on the way into Geneva.

In Geneva, we followed a bike path through a park along the shore of Seneca Lake, but there wasn't an exit from the park at the other end. Rather than go back, we found a foot-path that went beside the railroad track, around the chain-link fence, and out under the underpass. It was there that Andy's tire exploded, while he was just standing there. I have to guess that it wasn't seated properly on the rim, because the tire itself was okay, but the tube had a foot-long gash.

The luggage truck was passing just at that time, so we flagged them down, and had an impromptu sag stop/tire changing party. Because we were in no hurry to get to the hotel.

With all the delays, we didn't get to Mac's Drive-In (at mile 20) until 11:00, when they opened. This and the White Turkey Drive-In (see day 43) seem to be the only surviving Richardson's Root Beer stands. Mac's didn't do quite as artful a presentation on the root beer float, but it was still good.

Waterloo was marked on the cue sheet as "birthplace of Memorial Day," but I didn't see anything about that in the town.

Seneca Falls is the "birthplace of women's rights," and there was a National Park right on the main street, so it was pretty hard to miss. The first Women's Rights Convention, held there in 1848, passed a Declaration of Sentiments modeled on the Declaration of Independence, which declared that "all men and women are created equal," and which enumerated specific rights, including the right to vote.

Seneca Falls is also a neat little town, with lots of other historical buildings.

Past Skaneateles Lake, we were more out on country roads in farm country. Bruce had warned us that there wouldn't be any food along there, but you just have to know what to look for, like a "Restaurant" sign. There weren't a lot, but they were there.

After I got in, I hosed down my bike for the first time since Winnemucca. The wet roads, and especially the dirty wet roads at the beginning, kicked up a lot of mud and stuff all over the bike.

Day 48 - July 25 - Syracuse, NY to Little Falls, NY - 85 miles

This was another pleasant ride.

About 6 miles out, I caught a 1½" drywall screw in my back tire. Buried itself up to the end of the threads. That was kind of a bummer. Later in the day, Andy got a flat tire while going 30 mph down a hill. That wasn't too cool either.

But most of the day, we rode with Sandy and Julie. Picture two guys on the prowl, chasing a couple of fast women. Julie's the one I raced a few days ago, and Sandy stays right on her tail. They usually like to "smell the flowers, not the sweat," but they can really fly when they want to.

We were in Erie Canal country today. We went ever so slightly off route to follow the bike path along the canal for about 5 miles. Very pretty.

The Roadside Attraction of the day was the "world's smallest church," which seats 2, and is on a platform in the middle of a pond.

Little Falls seems like a pleasant enough little town, but it's not anywhere I've heard of before, and I'm from the next state over. The nearest town I've heard of is Utica, 20 miles back up the road. The hotel is right next to an active railroad bed, and just beyond that is the Mohawk River. Can't tell you much more about it.

I'm going to be going off route after tomorrow, to visit my parents in Northampton, MA (waypoint 50A on the weekly map), so I've been spending a lot of time with the mapping program to get a proper route both from Albany to Northampton, and back to the regular route in Lowell the next day.

Day 49 - July 26 - Little Falls, NY to Albany, NY - 70 miles

This was not just a leisurely day. This was a Lazy Day. This was a screw-around day. I've noticed this similarity between Jim and Julie: both will screw around all day, or haul ass, and you never know which one you're going to get when you ride with them. Sometimes both in the same ride.

I had to change my rear tire this morning, so Andy and I didn't get on the road until 8:00. We were sure we wouldn't see anyone, but we ran into Julie/Sandy/Michael at Fort Klock, a revolutionary-era fortified farmhouse. At the sag stop, we ran into Jim and John, and we ended up staying there for an hour.

Four miles down the road, we ran into a revolutionary-era re-enactment site at Old Fort Johnson, and spent two hours there. Among other things, this site boasts the oldest privy (outhouse) north of the Mason-Dixon Line. "George Washington sat here." According to the tourist brochure (yes, there is a brochure for the privy), "It is a very high style structure with a French mansard-style roof and interior paneling that matches paneling inside the Fort. Construction is believed to be around 1749. A 1770 renovation was undertaken by John Johnson to welcome his new bride, Polly Watts of New York City, and this is still how the privy appears today." The brochure goes on to say that, according to Rich Strunk of Windy Hill Restorations, "It is probably one of the top five outhouses in America." Heady stuff...

As a tangent, I always set out in the morning knowing that I'm going to get enought pictures for the web site, but never knowing what they're going to be. "Blessed are the flexible, for they will never get bent out of shape."

After that (modulo some wandering around downtown Schenectady), Jim moved into hauling-ass mode, and we were cruising for ice cream. We finally found it a quarter mile from the hotel, and I got to introduce Jim (from Oregon), John (from the Netherlands), and Andy (from England) to Friendly's, a local chain of ice cream restaurants.

I'm going off the route tomorrow, to visit my parents in Northampton, MA (waypoint 50A on the weekly map). I'm not planning to bring the laptop with me, so this is the last update until after the trip ends. (Check back on Wednesday 7/30.)