July 3, 2005

A visit with Tim and Anne

Last night was a late night for me (12:30) by the time I crawled in my sleeping bag after typing my log, sending a bunch of logs and pictures to Jason, and taking a shower before I hit the sack. At 5:45 AM Nick has already had about nine hours sleep so I got my wake up call. It’s OK, as the night before I had about eight hours sleep and I was sluggish in the morning. I attributed it to too much sleep. I must have been right as today I had plenty of power and endurance in me. Perhaps it’s because tonight’s stop is at my daughter Anne and her husband Tim’s as I am anxious to see them.

A New York Farm

The weather is picture perfect for cycling; clear skies, with temps in the low to mid 80’s, The winds were somewhat against us at 5 to 10 miles an hour. At times they were variable. On one half-mile pull I had a cross right, head, cross left and tail wind; very unusual. The roads were fairly flat but we’re in New York and even along the Erie Canal there are some ups and downs, but nothing really hard. It was a good day cycling wise as we rode the 90 miles in just over six hours of saddle time. As we get farther east the drivers are more radical and for a while it caused us to ride less cautiously until we talked about it. Nick took a minor spill in Rochester when he hit my rear wheel and went down. I should have called out that I was turning in. Nick shouldn’t have overlapped wheels. We won’t let it happen again. We’ll talk again tomorrow.

Lifting the road in Brockport

While the route follows the Erie Canal we only see it when we hit one of the “Ports”: Brockport, Spencerport, Gas Port, Middleport, etc. It is interesting that the only boats using the Canal that we saw were pleasure boats however it is Sunday of 4th of July weekend. In Brockport we were treated to a bridge lifting to let a pleasure boat pass underneath the road. There is a bike trail that follows the Canal but it has a crushed stone surface and is not suitable for our touring bikes. We stay on NY Bike Route 5, which we will follow almost all the way out of New York.

Anne and Tim Meet Us

Tim (my son in law) and Anne met us in Rochester and showed us the way to their house on their bikes. A portion of the route was a paved bike trail along the Canal. It avoids the city traffic and is much more scenic. Rochester has quite a network of bike trails along the Canal and the Genesee River, which goes downtown. The trails in the city are well paved and well used.

We arrived at their home late in the afternoon and spent an hour or so doing some bike maintenance which mostly consisted of cleaning off the grit and sand that has accumulated over many miles, lubing movable parts, and looking for wear. The bikes needed it badly.

Tim bites it on the grass in front of Sally's

Tim prepared us a good cyclist’s meal of spaghetti and for desert it was zucchini bread with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, or cookies and cream ice cream. It really hit the spot. We also had an opportunity to have our laundry done. It needed it also. I will stay with Anne and Tim. Nick and Tim will stay next door at Sally’s (Anne and Tim’s neighbor). Thanks Sally for allowing them to stay there while you are away. You are the greatest!!

It was great to spend some time with Anne and Tim.