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 

 

Farwell to Frankenmuth Aug 02, 2022

Farwell to Frankenmuth

Aug 02, 2022

Last night we heard sad news, Brian, one of the riders crashed on one of the bridges on the trail and fractured his hip. He was in the hospital and undergoing treatment.  This is only about the fifth crash of the tour and the first requiring hospitalization.  The rain had made the wooden decking of the rails to trail bridges extremely slippery. The bridge had a steel plate between the decking and the pathway asphalt which was uneven.  This caused quite bump and when Brian looked down the bike skidded out from under him.   

This morning after breakfast Ken and I rolled out and on to the Pere Marquette trail.  We had another 35 miles of the trail to cover.  It was so pleasant rolling along under the tree canopy with the morning sun peeking through.  As the trail was quite wide and with no one coming Ken and I rolled along solving the world’s problems.  Before we knew it we were at the red bridge which was the turn off the trail and back on to the highway which would take us through Midland and Bay City. 

The highway was terrible.  In fact to call it a highway is a gross injustice. There was little to no shoulder and what there was, was covered in gravel and garbage. The pavement was so broken that it was more like a bunch of cobbles. There was a huge set of cracks which paralleled the rut in the road where the car wheels travelled.  Along the cracks huge chunks of asphalt were missing.  There were a thousand cars and delivery vans all trying to get passed you but as the lanes were quite narrow and there was a lot of oncoming traffic they would try and squeeze past you.  These terrible road conditions lasted all the way from mile 35 where we got off the trail until around mile 60.  On top of this there was a good strong wind out of the north which was a total side wind and I kept say when we turn south at mile 60 it will be a tail wind.

We turned south at mile 60 onto an even more secondary road where the road conditions were much better.  On this road there were pieces of asphalt which were at least 5-10 feet square, which was a big improvement from the 5 inches across. There was a lot less traffic which also helped. We had no sooner turned south and the tail wind I had been dreaming about immediately died.   By the time we got to around mile 70 I said to Ken, “ I would love to get a coke.”  Unfortunately there was nothing but corn and soy bean fields as far as you could see.

By the time we got into Frankenmuth my arms and shoulders were aching from gripping the handle bars and keeping the bike straight.  When we saw a Mobil gas station we pulled in and I got a half gallon of chocolate milk.  By the time Ken had drank his pop I had downed the whole half gallon of milk.

Today’s ride was 81.6 miles with only 360 feet of climb.

Tonight is one of the tour highlights. It is the Frankenmuth plated chicken dinner.  It is in a fancy dining hall with table cloths, real plates and real metal cutlery.  It is a really a lot of fun. 

Terry    

 

 

Ludington to Farwell Aug 1, 2022

Ludington to Farwell

Aug 1, 2022

This morning I was quite pleased that the rain had not started when the alarm went as this meant that I did not have to take my tent down in the rain.  However it was so windy that rolling my tent up wasn’t really an option, so it was just stuff it into the tent bag. So besides the wind it was totally pitch black as we have lost an hour and are on the extreme west side of the time zone.

Breakfast was down the road in a café where they make this deep fried French toast.  Of course it is really good as it is deep fried.   I rolled out of breakfast at about 7:15 totally stuffed. 

It wasn’t too long before the rain started.  I realized that it was time to pull on the rain booties and rain jacket about 2 minutes before it really started coming down so I never got soaked.  At least it wasn’t cold. It was about 70 F so riding along in the rain was ok other than you had to be really careful that you didn’t lose traction and go down.  There were lots of lefts and rights but picnic finally came up at the 43 mile mark in a little town called Idlewild.   It was the first place which allowed black musicians to play.  The picnic was in a park right on a very pretty lake. I had just started to have lunch when the rain started to come down in earnest so I jumped back on the bike and headed off.   

About 5 miles out of picnic I got a flat on the front tire.  Nothing like changing a flat in the rain. My favourite. Fortunately it was easy to find the cause. A large three cornered but sharp stone was imbedded in the tire.  Fifteen minutes later I was off.

At the 57.4 mile mark I came to the trailhead for the Pere Marquette Trail.  This is a paved rails to trails bike path.  From there I had only one tun to make in the next 36.3 miles, which was to turn into the school.  It was almost flat and with what was at times a tail wind I was able to make pretty good time. I was thinking I could make it in by 2:00 pm.  However one of the other cyclists in front of me had a flat and when I rolled up I could see she was having problems so I stopped to help.  My big pump and special tire tool were what was needed and I was glad to help. 

In the school in Farwell I cleaned all the grit off my bike and got my tent set up in the sun as the clouds had parted and the sun was now out.  After a very nice hot shower I felt great.

Strava shows that I did 92 miles and 2100 feet of climb.  Not a bad day all things considered. 

Terry

 

 

Manitowoc to Ludington July 31, 2022

Manitowoc to Ludington

July 31, 2022

Well, so much for our rest day.  Normally we would already be in Ludington, however the Badger was not making a Saturday afternoon trip to Ludington so we had to take the Sunday trip on our rest day.  I guess it was kind of a half rest day as we didn’t have to be at the ferry dock until 12:30 PM.

In Manitowoc there is a very nice looking maritime museum and a WWII submarine which can be toured.  I have always looked at this and wanted to visit but never been able so this was my opportunity.  Greg was loading luggage between 8:00 -8:30 Am so I was there with mine and then I was off to the museum which opened at 9:00 am.  I wasn’t disappointed it was a really good museum.  There was an entire gallery on the ship wrecks along the Wisconsin shore, a gallery on ship building in the Ludington area, along with hundreds of ship models and some full size boats which built in the area in addition to the highlight of the tour the USS Cobra.  It took a full 2 hours to walk through the galleries, which were very good with lots of interactive displays.  Then I was off on a guided tour of the submarine.  Once on board and the tour group were in the submarine I have to admit to a few moments of claustrophobia. Things were really tight in there with hundreds of valves and switches.  A total of 28 subs were built in Manitowoc and were then barged down the Mississippi as the St Lawrence sea way was not large enough at that time to accommodate the subs.  They were also launched sideways rather than stern first as the river where they were constructed was not wide enough.  The side ways launch was a first for this type of launch.  

After the museum I was off to catch the Badger. It was a long and ardous process but finally we were all on and the Badge set sail.  The first 15 minutes is fun as you can see the shore and then there is 4 hours of utter boredom.  It was too windy and cold to be on deck and inside was hot, humid and crowded.  A perfect place to catch covid.

Finally Ludington was in sight and everyone crowded the stairs to get to the car deck.  Fortunately they let the cyclists down first and as I had purposely lagged behind on loading my bike was the last one loaded and I was the first one off the boat.   We cycled through town and found a place to eat supper.  As this is a tourist trap I had a overpriced and terrible burger for my supper.  Around the corner to the school to set up camp. As we had lost an hour due to time zone change by the time I had my tent set up and crawled into bed without a shower it was 10:00 Pm.  I was totally exhausted.

Tomorrow is a 94 mile day and the forecast it for pouring rain.  I can hardly wait.

Terry