Day 4 – Seneca Falls to Syracuse, 51 miles

Trying hard to think about what to say about day 4.  Don’t get me wrong, it was overall an enjoyable day – just nothing like I was expecting really.  This morning I spent some time trying to get the two guys touring on motorcycles to trade bikes with us.  Not surprisingly they opted out.  I also took this photo of Bruce’s and my bikes sans trailers and we laughed at how much easier this ride would be if we could take the bikes out like this instead.
Today’s ride started with a lot more vertical than expected.  The topo maps we’re looking at are apparently quite deceiving or outright wrong.  I fought up as many hills as I could but in the end had to walk up the last bits of just a few of the hills – mostly when the grade had a rapid change mid-climb.  I’m not upset about it though.  My goal is to finish the ride and not blow out my already somewhat gimpy left knee.  Most of the morning we were on the road, usually with a decent shoulder and at least coming out of Seneca Falls cars generally gave us wide berth which is highly appreciated.  We only stopped for quick rests, pulling over as far as we could and generally under the shade of whatever tree was nearby.  I did mange to snap this shot of Terran as we entered Mentz. Lunch was in Port Byron at this ice cream/grill place.  I amused my kids by buying a t-shirt sporting the local high school’s logo at the grocery store located next door.  Go Panthers! After Port Byron we rode trail that looked like what you see below, or worse.  In some parts it was very narrow, more like a dirt bike path than anything else.  For a bit we were pretty much running through people’s backyards.  We stopped just a few times.  Once to put on bug dope since we were pretty much riding next to a swamp and the bugs were out in force.  A second time because Bobby got stung by some evil bug and we wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to have a reaction.  As luck would have it we had just ridden past a fire hall so we figured better safe than sorry.  He’s more than fine btw.  I don’t think we stopped more than 5 minutes. We took a longer break just on the outskirts of Syracuse.  Right next to the trail was this beautifully maintained set of benches as a memorial to one Bryan McNeill Place.  Beautiful and shaded and just what we needed. This may come across as one of those crazy upside down pictures for some of you again.  Still trying to figure that one out.  Anyway, we took this shot and plan on sending it along to the friends and family who maintain the area as a way of saying thank you.The rest of the day?  Not going to lie, it was mentally taxing.  Coming into Syracuse proper and winding our way to the hotel was a bucket of not fun.  Here I’ll let Bruce tell you about it:

Syracuse is not a bike-able city. Parts of it are, but vast stretches of it are downright hostile to cyclists. No shoulders, no crosswalks (?!?!), and generally screwed up roads make for rough cycling. When you add in to that we’re a 5 person train on 4 separate bikes and at the end of a grueling 50 mile ride, things will not go well.

I load our routes in to my Garmin 810 through MapMyRide. MMR barfs out GPX files which are basically a set of GPS data, not actual road info. The Garmin REALLY struggles with this data and is constantly chirping at me to make a U-turn, go off route, and sometimes to just go back to the beginning. It’s difficult to use it as a navigation aid in an unfamiliar city, especially a place like Syracuse at Friday rush hour.

Side note: There was an organized Erie Canal ride last week.  Someone apparently went out ahead of that ride and marked the route (including guidance on food, dangers ahead, and turns. Since the start of the ride, there have been marks on the road that we’ve been able to generally follow to stay on our route. In Syracuse, those routes were great to help keep us on course… except that course is hilly. At the end of the day today, hilly was our enemy.

Long story short, we’re at the hotel and all fine. However, my attempts to follow my GPS, reconcile differences between the GPS and the marks on the road, minimize hills, and answering the “How much farther?” questions lead to a lot of stress in the group. We’re better now, but there were some slightly heated moments in downtown ‘Cuse 😉

Heidi here again.  Things to know:  Bruce is amazing at leading us through this.  My kids are impressing me each and every day and there is constant encouragement in some form or another.  Once we reached the hotel moods lifted almost immediately and we were lucky enough tonight that there was a restaurant right next door.  Now we are all tucked in and watching one of the Harry Potter movies on tv.  Not a bad way to end the day.

Day 3 – Pittsford to Seneca Falls, 54.5 miles

Ok, mileage wise we ended up coming in at just a half mile less than yesterday.  So we were wrong about it being our longest day but mostly that’s because we never really left the route thanks to all of our stops being very convenient to the trail.  Probably a good thing since the end of the day brought us the most elevation we’ll see on this trip.  Getting ahead of myself though, so first here’s a group shot of us this morning in our matching jerseys.  Aren’t we adorable?
What’s worked well for us is to get on the bikes and ride for about 5 miles or so to warm up the legs and make sure everything is working right.  Then we will stop for a about ten minutes and give everyone a chance to get sunscreen on and stow any extra gear they might have been wearing in the chillier mornings.  Our stop this AM was at a trailside park with this fun yellow swinging chair.Soon after that we left the nice paved trail and it was back onto the chipped stone the path normally offers.  Unfortunately the next 15 miles or so was a bit softer than what we’d been riding on so although we were traveling at a pretty decent clip (for us) it was a bit more effort.  Somewhere in the middle of that we came across this seemingly closed bridge.  We poked our heads into this cafe to make sure we could still cross and happened to arrive just as they were pulling cookies out of the oven.  Um, yes please!
We actually stopped at this lock so I could use the facilities but realized we arrived just as they were starting to flood it to lift the ship into the next section of the canal.  It was neat to watch and I spent a few minutes chatting with the lock operator.  He told me this particular boat is part of a group that sails up the Erie Canal, down the Mississippi, around the tip of Florida just to come up and maybe do it all over again.  Sounds like fun to me!
We have some video we took of the process and we’ll post in in a day or two once we speed it up since we know none of you will stare at the screen for the full 15 minutes it takes to process a boat.  As it turns out the outhouse I was gunning for was on the other side of the canal, so I got to walk over the gate. Lunch was pizza and a salad.  This place was hopping the entire time we were there (which was straight up lunch time so it seemed the whole town of Newark was dropping by on their lunch break).  The guys inside said they haven’t seen as many cyclists this year as in previous years.  I suspect that this summer’s weather has something to do with that. The afternoon is where the ride got a bit more difficult.  While it wasn’t a ton of elevation (it certainly wasn’t the Rockies), it’s still rough on tired legs when pulling the trailer or, in Bruce’s case, the kid.  A stop at the Save A Lot for popsicles gave us a boost and then it was back on the bikes for the biggest hill of the day yet. So yeah, no pictures of the next ten miles.  I do wish I had a few to share as it was amazingly beautiful farm country, but honestly stopping the bike wasn’t an option.  We made it into Seneca Falls despite a few minor hiccups at the end.  There was a dropped cell phone (yay Life Proof case), a false start at an intersection, you get the idea…  Dinner was delivered since there weren’t any restaurants in walking distance.  We are ending the evening with a bit of bike maintenance –  putting air in tires, lubing chains, etc.  Oh and the water bottle nightly ritual.  They get washed, filled and stuffed into the fridge to chill until the morning.Tomorrow is our last longish day.  If we can get through it – and we will – the rest of the trip should feel a lot easier.

Day 2 – Medina to Pittsford, 55 miles

EDIT: Yes, some of the pics are still messed up (in fact, one here is upside down). We’ll tackle it on a shorter day.

The riding was easier today, sorta.  We’ll get to that in a minute.  We had a good night’s sleep at the Hart Hotel and a quick, but fantastic breakfast, at the coffee shop downstairs before we loaded up the bikes to get on the road.  Everyone has jobs to make this easier.  Daxton’s is to put the water bottles on the bikes.  We each have our own color so there’s no confusion.
We left the hotel and got back on the trail.  You’ll be happy to know that we made the first 6 miles in about half the time it took us to do it yesterday!  Not that the morning was free and clear of obstacles, however.  You know how you might see a road blocked with cows when traveling through, I don’t know, Wyoming?  Well the canal is kind of like that.  Except it’s geese.  The photo below is a bit blurry, but you get the idea. Later we stopped to watch one of the many bridges go up to let a boat pass.  Here’s the thing about the canal – you can’t go fast on the water.  We basically stayed just ahead of this boat for much of our ride today and had we not stopped for lunch we may have beat it to…well who knows where it was going. But before lunch we swung into this bike shop.  Terran finally weighs enough that his stock saddle was causing discomfort.  We picked up a more, uh, accommodating saddle for him and me?  I got new grips.  I love my hybrid, but the one downside is that I really only have one position for my hands.  On a long ride that starts to take its toll.  After our stop here, that problem is no more.  Great store and absolutely friendly service.  Even better it is right on the trail as the name suggests. Lunch was a leisurely foray into Brockport.  I post this picture because this is what it looks like when we stop somewhere.  Thankfully I think the folks in these towns are pretty used to this although we do get a lot of second looks at Daxton’s Wee Hoo Trailer.  Today’s fare ended up being burgers for most of us. Terran opted in for a garbage plate (thankfully no ill effects later) and we all split what may be one of my new favorite foods – a peanut butter and jelly milkshake. After that it was time to push on into Rochester.  We took two short breaks.  The first was a simple pit stop and bottle refill.  As we hit the the paved path in Rochester, Bruce and I found that after a series of rollers we needed a minute to refuel.  So we plopped down in a park (yay for shade) and hung out for a bit.  We’ve all agreed we’re not in any rush and a big part of this trip is to enjoy the journey.  That’s why the kids are all staring at their cell phones. Ok, just kidding.  They aren’t that bad.  Usually.  And as you can see, at least two of us are still smiling.  We made it to the hotel and chose to eat in as we’re all pretty spent.  Managed two loads of laundry and prepped water bottles (all 9 of them) already.  Now we’re settling down for bed because tomorrow is our longest day and potentially hardest day yet.  We’ve got a couple days after that with much lower mileage though and I think we’re all looking forward to that.

Day 1 – Buffalo to Medina, 51 miles

Whew!  We’ve got day one under our belts and what a crazy day it was.  First, let’s meet Team Potter of CycleOverride, shall we?  From left to right:  Terran, age 17; Bobby, age 13; Bruce, let’s just say he’s got a big birthday coming up; Daxton, age 4 and Heidi, that’s me.  I’m the oldest but that’s all I’m going to tell you.  The hotel staff kindly took this photo for us right before we jumped on the bikes and road off.  Daxton is obviously very excited.

He’s also the cutest of this motely crew so here’s a better look at his enthusiasm.

As it turns out, it’s pretty hard to get pictures while we’re all riding so what you’re getting to see is snapshots of our stops.  There are some pretty views though, so it’s not all bad.  The morning started with rain so we opted to sit tight and wait for it to pass.  You can see the remnants of the downpour in the picture above.  The first two miles of the ride were pretty easy but then we hit detour city.  The next four miles of the ride would take us over an hour to navigate as we ended up riding on broken and uneven sidewalks through intersection after intersection to get around the detour.  Not the best start to the day, but we eventually wound our way back to the trail only to find ourselves facing a pretty strong headwind.  Oh well, at least it was paved and flat and had views like the picture below.
We made one quick stop at a bike shop to pick up some spare tubes for the trailers and we were off at a pretty good clip for a bit.  The trail went back and forth between a paved path to some road riding in stretches.  We stopped for a quick snack about 8 miles out of Lockport.

The last few miles into Lockport?  Probably the worst part of the ride not counting the morning.  The route took us down a milled road and if you’ve ever rode on cobblestones, this was much worse.  We slogged through that and then stopped for lunch at a Tim Horton’s just because it was RIGHT THERE.  Lockport in general though?  Pretty awesome.  On our way out, we stopped briefly at the Erie Canal Museum and learned a bit more about the history of the area.

From there on out we were on the Canalway trail proper and it looks pretty much like what you see below.  We didn’t see a lot of traffic on the trail, mostly locals either biking or canoeing near the towns we’d pass. Finally we rolled into Medina to stay at the Hart House, a converted t-shirt factory of all things.  Medina is up and coming and this hotel is pretty neat.  We had an amazing dinner just down the street – seriously on par with some of the better restaurants I’ve eaten at in my travels.  All in all, a wonderful end to our first day.We plan to get on the road earlier tomorrow.  The coffee shop downstairs opens at 7:30 and if all goes well, we’ll be on the road just after 8.  We are all tired and certainly sore from sitting in the saddle much longer than anticipated today, but we’re pretty pleased to have accomplished day one of the ride.  For 3 of us, it’s the longest we’ve ever ridden.