Mexico to Watertown NY. August 11, 2022

Mexico to Watertown NY.

August 11, 2022

Today we got to sleep in.  I had doubted that I would really get to sleep in as the tents were quite crowded the campsite. For sure there would be zippers flying and people moving around early.  One of the chronic early risers, who is one of the floor floppers had set his tent quite close to me so I thought for sure he would be up at 4:00 am making noise.  I was quite surprized that the first thing I heard was my alarm which gave me an additional 45 minutes of sleep. 

It was 5.5 miles down to breakfast which was in this quaint little restaurant.  It was also something Greg had to arrange at the last minute.  However it was excellent.  Lots of crisp bacon and excellent cornbread muffins.

I rolled out with Aussie Bob and we were making good time when a third rider came up behind me.  I couldn’t see who it was as Bob was between us.  I tried to drop the Klingon off but couldn’t, so I started to Earnie him and drop him off the front.  I got all the way down to about 12 mph when first water came up.  As we pulled into water I found out that it was Ed W.   The three of us had a good laugh at dropping people off the front.

Picnic was at 38 mph and came up pretty quickly.   It was in a beautiful waterfront park right on Lake Ontario. Sackett’s Harbour was an important harbour for US forces in the war of 1812.  It has a good natural harbour and was a major ship building point.  Unfortunately things didn’t work out so well for them.  As part of special activities in the park you could get shot out of a cannon.  It was a blast.   

With only 15 miles into camp the three of us stopped at Tim Hortons and had a donut and coffee.  We still arrived too early and had to help unload luggage. 

Tom R was first in to the school and spotted a washing machine and dryer in the custodians work shop area.  Bob was planning to head down to the laundry and I had given him my stuff.  Tom motioned us into the work shop area and the three of us quickly and quietly dumped our stuff into the washing machine.  When the custodian came around we overheard her telling her team I want this door closed so that no one else uses my machine.  Tom and I sent Aussie Bob in to use his Australian accent on her thinking that would work.  Bob came out smiling and she even put it into the dryer for him. 

What a fun day.  Getting to ride with Ed, having a Tim Hortons coffee and donut, getting our laundry done, getting the tent dried out, and having a great conversation with my friend Mike from Colorado. 

Strava says it was 54.28 miles and 1831 feet of climb.

Terry 

 

Seneca Falls to Mexico NY Aug 10, 2022

Seneca Falls to Mexico NY

Aug 10, 2022

Originally we were supposed to go to Oswego however the accommodations cancelled two days before we arrived so as you can imagine Greg W was scrambling to find a place for us to land.  A tall order when you are looking for lodgings for 100 people.  What was finally found was the Jellystone Campground in Mexico NY.   Population of about a half a dozen and we were 4 miles out of town.  It was also 20 miles further than originally scheduled.  I was ok because I had taken the short cut the day before and now an 83 mile day was fine. 

The day started off quite damp and humid.  The tent was soaked with dew.  While not anything new it just means that I roll the fly up separate from the tent and put it in a plastic bag.  Everything else just feels damp.  Sleeping bag is the worst as it is just clammy.  It isn’t helped by the fact that we haven’t seen the sun this week.  It looked like another day of dodging the rain squalls.

As I headed down the road I realized how much good yesterday’s short cut had done for me. Instead of feeling draggy with dead legs, I felt strong and energized.  I left breakfast about the middle of the crowd and before I knew it I was passing people one after another.  Even groups  who were normally faster than me were falling by the way side.  It is really emerging to come up and bark at a rider as you pass them.

As I approached first water I had caught our English fireman who is one of the fastest here.  Barking loudly I scared him.  It was great. 

About 5 miles out of picnic it started misting and I thought It is going to rain so I stopped and put on my rain coat.   Sure enough just as I zipped up my coat is started to rain.  However as the rain saw that I had fooled it, the rain stopped about 0.5 miles later.

When we were about 8 miles out of camp I got within about 500 yards of the English fireman but couldn’t close on him.   Then Kevin came out and said Let’s get him, jump on.  Kevin can really turn on the power, and before I knew it we were at 25 mph.  We flew pass our English fireman with the barking just flying, scaring him twice in one day. 

For supper we were shuttled into the Oswego University cafeteria.  What a meal! On the menu was NY steaks. They were done perfectly.  They were so good that I went back and got a second one.  Best meal on the tour.

On the way back to camp a couple of us told Matt who was driving that we need to make a pit stop at a gas station.  Matt pulled in so that we could use the washroom.  I came out with a 30 pack of Bud.  Back at camp where we were having riders meeting those who wanted a beer got one.  It was a real treat for the group.

Tomorrow is a really short day so we get to sleep in 45 minutes.  Yahoo.

Happy Birthday to Agnes.

Terry  

 

Geneseo to Seneca Falls NY August 9, 2022

Geneseo to Seneca Falls NY

August 9, 2022

Last night we had two down pours, one about 10:00 Pm which lasted about 30 minutes and then one at about 3:30 which lasted about 5 minutes.  After the down pours the rain would taper off to a light rain.  I was kind of worried that would continue throughout the day as there is a lot of humidity in the system and the forecast was for rain throughout the day.   

The official route was for 95 miles with 5000 feet of climb.  However, there was a short cut which, we had done in 2018 that cut the distance down to 60 miles and 1500 feet of climb. So I quickly did a Garmin route.  It didn’t take long before there was quite a group who were looking to take the short cut. 

I had trouble finding the start point on the Garmin and I had to look on Google to get oriented and then when I looked down I see that my cycling computer had quit.  So therwere a few miles of riding along hoping that we were on the right track.  Just as we found the track Ken T had a flat so four of us stopped and four continued on.  It wasn’t but 5 miles further on that I had a flat.  As I put my spare tube in I realized that the valve stem was too short.  Fortunately, one of the other riders had a tube with a longer stem and he had shallow rims, so we traded tube.  Talk about lucky I have been riding around with this spare tube for at least three weeks.

Once we turned east on Hwy 20 which would take us all the way into Seneca Falls we had a fabulous tail wind.   You could drift along at between 15-18 mph soft pedaling the bike. 

At the 35-mile mark we stopped for coffee and there were the other four who had gone ahead.  One of them had talked to owner and she remembered us from 2014m and brought out a large bowl of fresh peaches for us.  They were so ripe and sweet. They were just perfect.

After coffee sailing along was so much fun. The day was heavily overcast but there wasn’t a drop of rain and the tail wind made the ride totally effortless.

We stopped and had lunch in Geneva, and I went into a bike shop and got a long-stemmed tube. Lunch was in this really quaint old-time diner, which was just 6 miles from the finish line.  On the way In Tom R found a little fellow and put him on my bike trunk.  I think he looks quite cute.

We rolled in first and were rewarded with the opportunity to help unload luggage.

What a great day!.  It was so relaxing. It was like a day off.

Terry 

 

Niagara Falls to Geneseo August 8, 2022

Niagara Falls to Geneseo

August 8, 2022

I was pleased that the promised rain for this morning had held off.  I was able to roll my tent up without doing it in the rain.  In fact it wasn’t even wet.  A little damp as the humidity is really high but I guess it never dropped below the dew point.  The sky was looking pretty dark and threatening so I had my rain coat and shoe covers in the trunk on my bike.  

Breakfast was in the same restaurant as last night’s supper so it was down the road to breakfast.  It was a good meal with blueberry pancakes.  I rolled out of breakfast and headed for the border.  The route took us downtown and past the falls.  The area near the falls is always so busy it is hard to get a picture as there are so many people, however at 6:20 Am there was nobody around.  We rolled down along the main part of town and crossed the Rainbow Bridge to the border crossing.  There must be 30 entry ports but only two were open and there was almost no line up the whole process took less than 5 minutes. 

The route through Buffalo was the same one we used in 2018 and it was such an improvement over the 2014 route.  The Buffalo streets are notoriously broken and rutted but the route avoided the worst of the streets. I think we were at mile 30 before we were clear of Buffalo. 

Once out in the country we were on little used country lanes and the pavement was surprisingly good.  I think that a lot of work had been done since 2018 when as I remember the roads were are broken.  Picnic was in a little park at mile 44. 

After picnic we still had 40 miles to go and we were into the big roller hills on New York.  I know some call them roller coaster hill as you can power down one and then charge up the next. However these were far too big to do that.  These were go as far as you could and then down shift to your lowest gear and grind up them.  My Garmin regularly showed 13% grades.  On one downhill I hit 43.66 mph.  

Rolling in to Geneseo I had 84 miles with 2700 feet of climb, and never got rained on.

Terry

 

 

Rest Day Niagara Falls August 7, 2022

Rest Day Niagara Falls

August 7, 2022

I was prepared to lie in bed as long as possible this morning but that was not to be. The train which was less than 30 feet from the fence behind my tent went by at 5:10 ,  zippers were flying by 5:15, and so I was up by 5:30 am.  It was ok as there was lots to do. 

Number one priority was to head down to Walmart to purchase a photo album.  I was planning on using my photos to make a collage on the back door of the picnic van similar to the one I did in 2014.  The pictures have been printed for weeks now, but the poster board has not appeared on the back door. So, we are down to Plan B which is to put the pictures into photo album, have the riders sign the pictures and present the album to Greg as a retirement gift.   Aussie Bob and I set about sorting the pictures and selecting the best shot of each rider.  Turns out there were 53 different riders. Only a couple of the coast to coast riders were missed. In Walmart we found a really nice album.

Back in the KOA, set about doing the last couple of days blog which I was not able to do.  That done it was time for a nap. Not an intentional nap as I was sitting in my camp chair. When I awoke I see that Greg is putting up the poster board for the collage.  I guess I am doing both.  The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the collage.  So far it looks great.

Supper was in a really nice restaurant.

Terry 

Port Dover to Niagara Falls August 6, 2022

Port Dover to Niagara Falls

August 6, 2022

As I crawled out of my tent I was greeted with a shower of water. Not from rain but from the all of the condensation on the inside of the rain fly on my tent. Absolutely everything was soaking wet from the heavy dew.  Not that is was that cold but that the humidity was close to 100% from the all of the rain which had fallen over the last few days. 

As I rolled up my tent I realized that luggage loading had been moved up by 15 minutes so by the time I got all my gear packed up I was the last to load luggage.  Not that it was all bad it meant my bags would be on top at the front and not squashed under thousands of pounds of other luggage. As we had to ride the 5 miles into town to get breakfast it meant I would be last to get my breakfast. 

After breakfast Bob was just rolling off and I thought I would ride with him today.  He was off and I was only about 2 minutes behind him.  So I hustled along to catch him.  I hit a red light and was further back.  I rolled around the corner and there was a drawbridge opening so I was even further back.  On a bike the closing speed is only 1-2 mph so it takes forever to catch some one who has a 10 minute head start, so it too me 28 miles to catch up with Bob and then it was at first water. 

The rain clouds of the past few days were breaking up and by 9:30 we were under bright blue sky with only the odd puffy white cloud hanging around.  The course was following the shore of Lake Erie and was lined with holiday cabins with the odd huge mansion set back from the shore.  Although the road was far from perfect Bob and I were not speeding but just rolling along enjoying the ride.

The route turned inland and we arrived at picnic at the 56 mile mark.  It was still just 10:30 so there was no rush so I tanked up on all of the fresh fruit which was there. The peaches and blue berries were delicious.

After picnic Bob was on the hunt for a coffee and around the 69 mile mark we came to a bakery where Bob got his latté and I got a piece of carrot cake which was easily 5 inches on a side and 4 inches high. 

The route took us down to a little ferry which was really just a pontoon boat which was used for the local bike route. It was a fun diversion to the daily ride. 

After the ferry the scenery went downhill as we were coming into the back side of Niagara Falls and were going through a lot of light industrial areas. Traffic wasn’t bad though as it was Saturday. 

We are staying at the KOA which is a long way from the craziness of the falls area.  Greg has secured a huge tenting area and it is a thousand times better than when we stayed here in 2018. 

I was glad to finish the day even though it was only 76 miles and 1200 feet of climb as it was getting towards 90F.  I was also glad that tomorrow is a rest day.

Terry  

 

West Lorne to Port Dover August 05, 2022

West Lorne to Port Dover

August 05, 2022

The forecast for inclement weather continues with 40-90% chance of thunderstorms. The winds however weren’t real bad with most of the forecasts having the winds coming out of the south or south-west.  South west would give us some help and south a cross wind.  The sky looked really foreboding with a lot of big black clouds set against a dark gray back ground.  So when we were handed the route sheets the previous evening showing 94 miles compared to the scheduled 80 miles nobody was happy.  I set to work looking at the route and realized that in previous years we had gone straight to Port Dover rather than following the coast.  I also knew that once a person got onto all of those little back lanes the surface would so rough as to be almost un-rideable.   I quickly prepared a Garmin GPX file. I didn’t have to ask if anyone wanted to follow me as I quickly had six riders and that was a good number. 

The first stop of the day was breakfast which was 2.9 miles down the road.  After filling the tank with lots of scrambled eggs and bacon we were off.  The first 6 miles of my route tracked the official route and was down some brand new pavement.  The six of us were all in a pace line so we made great time.  After the official route turned off we continued down the new pavement for another 20 miles.  When we got to the end of the new pavement we hit pavement which was only a year or so old but was still in perfect condition.  When we got to the 35 mile mark we picked up the official route which we followed for another 5 miles, there we met up with one of the riders following the official route and he was at mile 44, compared to our 40.  He reported a lot of really bad roads.  So we knew we were on the right track.

We pulled into a farmers market and filled our water bottles but there wasn’t any lunch so we continued on down the road.  At mile 55 we came to another farmers market which had a food truck.  It was hot dogs and chicken strips but hot food.  While we ate a few little sprinkles came down but not big cloud bursts.  After we got back on the route the rain started so we stopped and put our coats on and then the rain immediately stopped.

We pulled into our campsite in the Norfolk Conservation Area, minutes after the lead riders who had done the official route. We made the route in just over 80 miles and with only 1600 feet of climb compared to the official route of 94 and 2500 feet of climb.  Meanwhile a bunch of the group had run into some major cloud bursts and were forced into the vans. 

The supper was going to be at one of the churches in Port Dover so we were loaded into vans and shuttled into town.  As it was going to be lasagna and one of the worst meals on the tour I went for a burger with Tom R  and Mark.  After supper we headed back to the church for rider meeting and awards night.  I wound up getting an award for helping fix a tire two days previously.  I was quite pleased.

All in a pretty good day.  I think we had a total of ten expansion cracks all day and perfect pavement.  

Terry 

 

Memphis MI to West Lorne Ont. August 4, 2022

Memphis MI to West Lorne Ont.

August 4, 2022

Last night we had one heck of a thunder and lightning storm.  The flashing went on for close to an hour and several of the lightning bolts were quite close.  The rain followed but it was a nice gentle rain and it went on for a long time.  It was really nice lying in my tent listening to it.  I was off to sleep in no time.

I was really glad that it wasn’t raining this morning. Rolling up a wet tent is one thing but rolling up a tent in the rain is a totally other thing.  The temperature was close to 75F and the humidity was close to 100%, so it was really sticky.  Pulling on bike bibs was a real struggle, especially in a dark tent.

It was 30 miles down to the ferry which would take me across the river into Canada.  The Michigan roads are so rough and broken I thought I would never get down to the ferry. When I rolled up to the ferry dock there was just Kevin and myself, however before the ferry arrived another twenty or more cyclists pulled up.  At $3/bike the ferry made good money on that trip. 

Once into Canada on the other side I was thinking this would take forever to process all the cyclists as there was only two officers who had hand held devices.  However in less than 5 minutes everyone was checked through and we were on our way. 

The group of riders were just hammering down the road so I followed along.  This brought picnic up at the 60 mile mark in no time flat.  We arrived before the lunch special was ready so, a quick wrap filled the bill.  After picnic I rolled out with Tom R.  He is great to ride with as Tom always has great stories to tell and as a rider he is a total freight train.   Once again I owe Tom a big Thank You for dragging me along. 

I noticed that a lot of the barns seem to have what looks like quilt squares on their sides.  Must be some sort of local secret society.

About 6 miles out we stopped for a snack as the luggage van had not passed us and there is no use going to the school with no luggage.  I ordered the side of fries which was a huge basket of really hot crispy fries which were nice and salty. They really filled the bill.

Strava made the day to be 90.43 miles with only 571 feet of climb.  Great average speed of 16.0 mph.

No rain yet but there are a lot of black clouds around and the forecast looks wet.

Terry 

 

Frankenmuth to Memphis MI Aug 03, 2022

Frankenmuth to Memphis MI

Aug 03, 2022

The trip to Frankenmuth really has two highlights. The first is the plated chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn in the evening and the second is the breakfast across the street at Zehnder’s.  At one time it was just the one family who owned the Bavarian Inn and made the chicken dinner famous. However infighting in the family resulted in part of the family going across the street to start Zehnder’s. Both are lavish places serving great meals. This morning we got  a great breakfast the highlight was cinnamon bread French toast.  It was a great spread. 

After breakfast was over Ken and I rolled off down the road together. The route ran almost straight east for 50 miles before turning south for 19 miles and the south east for 10 miles.  I mention this as there is a howling wind of 20 mph gusting to 30 mph out of the south. Even though we have this tremendous cross wind you can still make reasonably good time. Ken and I are cruising along at around 15-17 mph when Kevin comes up behind us and says jump on. So we got on his back wheel and he put the hammer down.  Kevin pulled us along for around 30 miles at speeds of up to 25 mph.  Needless to say picnic which was at the 48.8 mile mark came up really fast.  I didn’t take any pictures as I was just trying to hold on.  Thanks Kevin. Great pull!

After picnic Ken and I started down the long straight road straight into the wind. It was really hard work. Even taking turns pulling the best you could do was about 10-12 mph.  Needless to say I was glad to make the turn and get the wind as a quartering head wind for the last few miles.

When I got to Memphis I rolled on into town before going to the school where I got a half gallon of chocolate milk which I shared with Barry. 

Tonight we have thunder storms forecast.  Should be a fun night in the tent. 

Terry