A Century through upstate NewYork

These long adventures never end easily. However, it only makes the accomplishment of finishing that much more rewarding. Reminiscing back to my Pacific Crest Trail hike last summer.... Tired from four and a half months of walking only to be faced with the steep climbs of the Washington Cascades, some of the most rugged terrain of the trip. Thankfully I had my brother, Kona coffee breaks, and the humor of his dozen hard-boiled eggs and half gallon Pic-a-cola tote of wine strapped to his backpack to help propel me along. The past three days have reminded me of those last few weeks on the trail.  We had two days with temps in the low 90's, crazy humidity, with no breeze to speak of....perfectly still. Like riding through an oven. The kind of day when every single pore on your body is sweating. That mixed with an endless rollercoaster of huge hills. Up and down, up and down, all day. However, definitely worth the work for the scenic stretches along Lake Ontario and through the many apple orchards.

 

 

Thankfully today the roller coaster ride mellowed out quite a bit as did the heat and humidity, however, it seems we traded those for rain. We picked an odd day to do it,  but today we rode our first Century! 103 miles, half of which through the pouring rain. The rain was actually enjoyable, as it was on the warmer side and helped keep us cool. The last ten miles things got a little chilly, but thankfully unexpectedly our campground destination for the night has really cheap little rustic cabins, so we're able to get out of the rain and dry ourselves out. Now that we're in real upstate NewYork, away from the bigger towns and cities, things are pretty wild and expansive. Deer, wild turkeys, and pheasants around every corner with big beautiful rivers cutting through the rolling hills, where it appears the salmon are running as there's hordes of fisherman in some spots. The Fall colors are starting to show in a pretty big way....thinking the last ten days of this ride should be a treat. However, along with Fall comes the unexpected weather patterns.  Yesterday was in the mid 90's, tomorrow is only supposed to get up to 50 degrees with rain! You never know what's gonna happen this time of year.
 

We had a rather interesting sighting yesterday....slowly inching up a steep hill we both happened to look over the same instant to behold a fella tending his garden wearing that of only the barest essentials...a pair of silky purple bikini briefs and boots. Hey, whatever's comfortable. 

Pennsylvania, Niagara Falls, New York

Fall is fast approaching! The last 4-5 days, since our last update, the weather has been perfect for cycling....cool crisp mornings and afternoons in the low 70's. Pushing on from Cleveland we had three more days along Lake Erie, equal parts urban riding and that of country through beautiful wooded areas and also a lot of vineyards. The majority of the shoreline was either privately owned or inaccessible due to thick woods/brush, however, the handful of unobstructed shoreline views were great and the sunsets never disappointed. We crossed into Pennsylvania for a short 50 mile stretch where Sarah had a bit of a tough day.....an old time Italian deli owner losing control of himself when asked to put red peppers on her sandwich and another salty local lady yelling "Hey lady ya can't put ya bike dayr I gawts money ta make at dem tables!" We both looked around for her imaginary customers as tumbleweeds rolled by. However, we made it through Pennsylvania unscathed and our first "road score", by way of $12 blowing across the street, made up for the rather edgy people. We rolled on into New York $12 richer.

 

Shortly after crossing into New York the landscape changed to vibrant green rolling hills and huge extravagant homes along the lake. Our second day in New York, while having lunch, the skies went from clear to grey in no time at all and the rain started coming down in buckets.  Luckily there was a pavilion nearby. After two hours of waiting for the rain to let up we realized it was hopeless and pushed off to pedal the remaining 40 miles through Buffalo and over the Peace bridge into Canada to Niagara Falls, Ontario...stopping along the way at Tim Hortons for the fuel of coffee and doughnuts to get through the rain.

 

The last 20 miles into Niagara Falls were some of the most serene of our trip. Riding on a bike path along the river, the rain having let up with the sun popping out to create steam as things dried rapidly. Coming around a bend to see the city of Niagara Falls on the horizon was a complete shock, as neither of us were expecting such a large city. We rolled into town a bit past sundown and stared at the Falls for awhile, bewildered by it's immensity and power, before grabbing a hotel room to dry ourselves out and gorge on pizza. 

We decided to take the following day off, as we've been riding steady 60-70 mile days since leaving Indiana, to hang around town and enjoy the spectacle. We took a little boat tour that takes you surprisingly close to the falls....so close you have a rain poncho on for the heavy mist. Interesting history tidbit....the boats name is the "Maid of the Mist" as centuries ago the Neuter Indians would send their most beautiful maiden over the falls each year as a sacrifice. Another rather unusual bit is back in 1827 two hoteliers drew a crowd of 10,000 spectators sending a boat full of animals, including a buffalo, two bears, two raccoons, two fox, a dog, and a goose, over the falls as a publicity stunt to "see which animals would survive". The goose made it. 

 

 

 

 

Having our fill of Niagara Falls we pushed on this morning, quickly crossing back into the good 'ole USahA. We're now riding on a dirt path, the Erie Canal bicycle trail, for 100 miles of our 420 across New York. It looks a little something like this.....

 

We penciled out our remaining miles in order to figure out a date for plane tickets home. It looks like it'll be a short 13 more days on the bicycles before the celebratory lobsters in Bar Harbor, Maine......

Around third base approaching home...

Realizing that in the past four days we've cycled 1/5 of our remaining miles it's just now starting to really set in that the end of this little adventure is right around the corner. We've finally traded the corn fields for the great Lake Erie, which we'll now be riding alongside for 200+ miles, and all the shoreline communities that come along with it. A relief and breath of fresh air to say the least!

 

Last night we had a really great couple, Sam and Susan, welcome us into their home. They had a couple friends over and Sam grilled lamb chops and shrimp and also made lentils, rice, a bean salad, and corn....all washed down with some fine Belgian brews. Some of the finest food in quite awhile! Also this morning a great omelette and espresso using coffee beans Sam roasts himself. Very giving and righteous folks indeed! Leaving Sam and Susan's early this morning we had a short 40 miles to Cleveland, our destination for the night, where we had our first experience with real "urban riding". It's a really funny feeling cruising into a bustling city on a bulky loaded down bicycle. Couldn't help but feel like a cowboy coming down out of the mountains on his horse, hooves clip clopping, mustache, cowboy hat, lip bulging with chewing tobacco. 

 

Being that I've always wanted to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame we decided to spend the day/night in Cleveland. After scoring a hotel room we walked down to the hall of fame and spent three hours exploring. There's so much interesting music history it would be fairly easy to lose a whole day inside! Pretty cool looking at an instrument from a couple inches away that was in "so in sos" hands night after night all around the world, lyrics scrawled in a notebook to some of the most important songs of our time, etc. Good ole Billy Joel sums it up pretty well.....

 

After the trip through rock history we grabbed a bite to eat and strolled around the city a bit. I gotta say I'm quite fond of ya Cleveland! Until next time.....

 

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