May 31 - Dunkirk to Erie, PA

States completed:

Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
New York State - CHECK!!  

We had a good day today.  I think we rode about 55 miles on mostly nice roads and weather was very nice.  We did have a head wind, but aside from that, no complaints.  The route ran directly alongside Lake Erie for the entire day.  Interestingly, there are grape farms the full stretch from Dunkirk to Erie (very pleasant scenery makes the time go by fast) - and no towns in between.  Good think we packed our own lunch, which we've not been consistent since the rest of our team split off last week.  Anyhow, we stopped at what appeared to be a Catholic Monastery and took a bit of relief under one of their trees for lunch. 

A bit of a funny note.  This morning as we got up and ready to hit the road, at the last minute we checked our bikes over and.... damn, I had a flat back tire (I guess I was lucky to get to fix it in a hotel room rather than the side of the road).  Well, as. I was getting out my tools and spare tubes, I found the clothes that I'd thought I lost in Rochester.  I had stuffed them into one of my Salsa anything bags and had forgotten about it.  So although we started off the day late due to a flat, I now have my clothes!  A fair trade ;)

May 29 - Lockport to Grand Island

 Short day, maybe 40 miles.  

Riding conditions were good, with just a mild headwind.  We made it to Niagara Falls and it was quite busy due to the fact that we arrived on Memorial Day Weekend.  There was a ton of people, but we hopped off our bikes and visited the sites.  Niagara is just jaw dropping in regards to how much water is pouring over those cliffs.  In Idaho, we have Shoshone Falls, which is a higher drop, but is nowhere near the flow capacity of this river.

The other highlight of this segment is that we met a new friend, Tom Leonard.  Tom is a virtual friend of Steve Powell.  They both volunteer on some boards, I think for Adventure Cycling.  Anyhow, Tom was pedaling from Burlington, Vt (I think) to Chicago where he lives.  He had dropped off an old truck to a family member since he just didn't use it much any more.  We had a couple day head start on Tom when we entered NY state and he caught up to us just a few miles south of Niagara.  He recognized us by our bikes (Steve had previously told him what we were riding).  Tom joined us at our camp site at Grand Island for the evening.   He had a lot of stories to tell us, including the fact that he had been in the Marine Corps during the Iraq war.  I learned that Tom is a very kind, unassuming person.  He waves at everyone he encounters, has a lot of touring experiences, and is very consistent with his hand signals when cycling with other people.  I thought this was really a great thing, because I always knew what his intent was as he projected it with excellent signaling.

Tom has a wide network of touring/biking friends and has offered help if we need any in the future.  We are grateful to have met him.

I have a picture of Tom in the May 30 post. 

May 30 - Grand Island to Dunkirk

We had ideal riding conditions today and took advantage by riding about 75 miles - I think our longest ride yet.

Our new friend, Tom, humored us for about 35 miles or so and then decided he needed to get going in order to make it to Chicago during a certain timeline.  He is obviously a very strong rider and I highly doubt we could keep the pace that he set, seemingly at ease.

Catch you later, Tom!

 

May 28 - Rochester to Lockport

 I'm not going to lie - this was the worst day of the trip so far.  

We rode the Erie canal trail for about 50 miles today and it was about 45 degrees and raining hard the whole time.  We had a bit of a tail wind, but even with that, it was a super difficult day.  We did stop for a nice breakfast for lunch -type meal at one of the 'port' towns - I don't recall which one. But we had a nice meal and warmed up.  But the weather greeted us with bitter cold and heavy rain.  We eventually decided to get off the trail because it had become soggy and heavy to pedal.  It cost us another 5-6 miles added on to the trip to take paved roads, which was quite painful during an already miserable day.  But we made it to our Lockport hotel.

When we arrived, we had to clean all our rain gear and set it out to dry.  And the next day, we had to clean our chains, cassettes and lubricate.  I have one picture from the day and it's our messing room. 

To top the day off, I found that I accidentally left a pair of Chamois riding shorts, a long sleeve wool shirt, underwear, a T-shirt and some riding shorts at the Rochester hotel.  I was probably a bit cranky from the whole experience, but my observation was that every person we encountered in Lockport was not very friendly (opposite our experiences in every other stop on this adventure).  I'll post my one pic of this day later.

Literally, this is the only picture I took that day!

 

May 27. Brennan Beach to Wolcott

 53 Mile ride - $20 bills, takeout pizza, rain storms, Syracuse Airport

May 26 - Boonville to Pulaski

 Mostly an in-eventful day and only about 49 miles.  We stayed at a ginormous camping facility called Brennan Beach Campground.  We stayed in a trailer overlooking the lake.  While fixing dinner, we triggered the fire alarm, but Steve quickly disconnected it to save us from angry campers around us (kidding, nobody complained!). 

It was the last day of having the car rental, so we drove into down and bought ice cream.

May 24 Long Lake to Boonville

 Long, tough ride - 72 miles and I believe around 5k climbs.  But the route was super perfect and the weather was as well.  It was sunny and around 65 degrees.  Really, we couldn't have had more ideal conditions for a long ride.  We all felt strong after.

We finished in Boonville, where we stayed at ???? Barn Camp ground.  The guy there, Dan was super friendly.  He only takes cash payment (hmmm? :)).  When we showed up in the morning to pay, he'd gone to town, I guess, to get a coffee.  I had left several messages for him to pay and he has all my contact information, but I've not heard from him yet!

May 23 Paradox Lake to Long Lake (49 miles)

 Today was a relatively easier day with the shorter distance. But we did have to climb the Blue Ridge, which got the blood going in our legs.  With the shorter distance today, I chose to drive our rental over the ridge and down the bottom of it so that I could experience the climb.  Jake did the full mileage.  It rained on us - first rain day since we started, which really surprises me.  It only lasted for a bit over an hour.

We stopped in a small town for lunch called Newcomb.  The place we ate was a cafe/store and the people there were very nice.  They even offered up their laundry machine or drier if needed.  And they were very interested in our adventure, so I gave them my blog address.  A gentleman named 'Tim', I believe directed me to a good beer spot on Long Lake, but I didn't have the opportunity to get to it.  

We ended our day at Long Lake, where we rented a cabin on the lake for $220.  It has a covered porch with a screen on it to keep the mosquitos at bay.  We fixed a hearty spaghetti dinner and straight to bed because we face a 72 mile day tomorrow.

May 22 Middlebury to Paradox Lake Campground

 Steve Powell joined the team today, so now we have 5 riders for the next several days (Thank you, Jill for bringing Steve our way!).  His impact was immediate.  It turns out that the ferry crossing Lake Champlain from Vermont to Tyconderoga, NY was out of service.  Steve had noticed a road sign on his drive to Middlebury from Ithaca the previous day.  After some verification with locals at the bagel shop, we found that sure enough.... ferry was not running.  I didn't even know that it was a ferry crossing, I just assumed it was a bridge.  Anyhow, it saved us nearly a full day ride by finding an alternative route before making the mistake of heading straight to Tyconderoga.  

The alternate route was still quite scenic and we made the crossing of Lake Champlain at His Majesty's Fort at Crown Point.  We had a nice picnic lunch on the NY side and eventually made our way to re-connecting to the Northern Tier Route on our way to Paradox Lake Campground.  The campground was nice with clean restrooms and showers, but the mosquitoes were hell.  We were joined in our campground by a few frogs, who probably came over to feast on the mosquitoes.  

Notables:

1)    We've completed Section #11 of the NTR (northern tier route), which ended at Tyconderoga.  Additionally, we completed 450 total miles and ascended over 30,000 feet.

2)    We've passed through 3 states now and entered our 4th.  Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont - check!

3).    Although the car has been convenient on occasions, we are excited to dump it so that we can all ride together rather than switching off drivers.  We will return it to Syracuse on May 26 am.

4)    One disappointment - there has been very few beers sampled.  Stores sell craft beers in 4-packs only and I'm not about to carry around 3 warm beers with me!  

May 21 - Rest n Nest to Middlebury, Vt

 We did the 70 mile ride (5k feet ascent) today.  The scenery did not disappoint.  I drove the rental car from the start point to South Royalton, which was about 21 miles, then unloaded my bike and started to backtrack on bike to join the group.  After returning to South Royalton, we bought snacks at the Cooperative Market and sandwiches at an adjacent delicatessen.  

I learned that South Royalton is believed to be the birthplace of Joseph Smith.  Later in our journey we ride through Palmira, NY which is another prominent site marking early origins of his church.

Anyhow, much of the ride ran adjacent to the White River.  It's so pleasant to have the sound of the river as a background during the ride.  Jake and I traded off and he drove the rental to the base of Middlebury Gap.  We all did the climb together to the gap, which was a very steep ascent, especially the last 3/4 mile. My cycling computer was hitting up to 15% pitch.  

We are staying at the Marriot Middlebury.  Bonnie's parents, Jill and Steve Powell drove into town from Ithaca NY and joined us after dinner.  Steve will ride with us until mid-NY where he will break off along with Bonnie and Alex.  They go to Ithaca and Jake and I move onward toward Buffalo on the Erie Canal trail. 

May 20 - North Woodstock to Rest-n-Nest Campground (near Hanover NH)

 Day started off with a tough climb right out of North Woodstock - about 1600 feet over 8 miles.  The descent was much less aggressive and so lasted quite a distance - maybe 15 miles or so.  Anyhow, much of the route followed the Connecticut river, which makes up the border between New Hampshire and Vermont.  There were some amazingly beautiful properties along the river, and really, its much less densely populated than I'd imagined it would be.  We covered only 47 miles today and ended at a campground called Rest-n-Nest.  It's very nice and clean but we can hear the cars from a freeway in the distance.  I googled what was nearby and - what the hell - Dartmouth College is only 9 miles away.  So, I hopped in our rental and drove to Hanover to check it out.  It's really an impressive college town.  Also, bought my first NE craft beer since the trip began.  It was worth the drive!

A few key items to note:

1)  Jake and I shared riding/driving today and both felt great, which is good news for our longevity.  I had no pain in my IT band today.  And Jake had no cramping.  We are good and on our way back to full health after a day rest and reduced work on the legs.

2)  We entered into Vermont today, so state #2 - check!

3) I have a lot of really nice videos, but haven't figured out how to post them to the blog yet :(

Tomorrow, onward to Middlebury, Vt.  It will be a challenging day tomorrow.  70 miles and 5k ascent.

May 19 - Rest Day North Woodstock

Drove to Glen (yes a town, I suppose) to pick up our rental.  Wow... it was super sketch.  There was an abandoned building that looked like they did some laundry services, maybe farm fertilizer sales and oh yes!  Hertz rental.  There was nobody at the shop, which does not bode well.  However, I called a number left on the door and a grumpy lady showed up in about 10 minutes.  Honestly, it was smoother than most car rentals even with the strangeness of their setup.  

Our sag wagon crew (Julie and Emily) left us for good today for their own adventure along the coast.  They will spend most of their time around Boston.  And of course, no trip goes without mistakes/accidents.  When booking a place to stay near us, Julie and Emily booked a place in Woodstock, Vt rather than North Woodstock, NH.  It was about a 2 hour drive to get back to us, but all is good and believe me, we have been grateful for their help in getting our adventure off to a very good start!

May 18 Bridgeton to North Woodstock

 Hah!  We completed riding through our first state!  Maine - check!!

I started to run into IT Band issues towards the end of the day yesterday and they began getting worse today.   After 30 miles, I called the sag wagon to bring me to hotel.  I can't afford to have an injury get worse this early into our adventure!  We re-grouped, had a day off to rest our legs and heal.  I rented a car for 7 days so that our other injured rider (Jake severe muscle spasms) can trade off riding the next 300 miles or so of NorthEast hills (brutal).  Anyhow, we've now completed 300 miles and spirits are good.  Jake and I both traded our flats for some clips and cycling shoes today.

I'll post pics later...