The rain is over, hallelujah! Overcast skies turned to partly sunny by mid- afternoon, perfect for a long ride day. Today’s 62 mile route went from Medina to Fairport with no road riding other than getting from camp to the trailhead in the morning.
It seems like everyone got up early today. I guess those who camped inside the school were ready to get out as soon as the sun came up. I can’t imagine that would be better than sleeping in your own tent, rain notwithstanding. The gymnasium looked like a homeless encampment with wet clothes hanging from every surface, sleeping pads and bags of belongings stashed in every corner.
After breakfast we loaded up our gear (except my bath towel I later discovered) and were on the bikes a little before 7AM. My rain jacket felt nice in the cool morning air and riding was easy as we made our way from camp to the canal and for the first few miles until we reached the canal. A stiff headwind for the first 30 miles made it feel a little harder than yesterday. The flat wide trail of crushed gravel sits higher than the canal on the right and open farm land on the left with nothing to provide a windbreak other than occasional clumps of trees. I ditched the rain jacket/wind sail and gained about 5 mph. What a difference that made.
The first event of the morning was riding through the Village of Albion, home of Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School which is the oldest continuously-run Santa school in the world. I’ll bet you didn’t know that! Santa himself was on hand to greet us with jolly good watermelon, bananas and bottled water. It’s so nice to see the locals come out to welcome us to their community. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.
Energized by their good will and generosity, we continued on. I was feeling really good and rode a little ahead. Riley makes a bigger target than I do so I had it a little easier in the wind. I passed a few groups of riders and was cruising along in the left lane when a fellow cyclist came alongside at a nice clip and said hello. Not wanting to be passed myself, I picked up the pace and we chatted for a bit. Serge and I communicated surprisingly well considering the wind noise, his strong French accent and my (hopefully not too strong) Southern one. I was relieved to be able to keep up with him for several miles but I don’t think I could have kept it up for the next 50 miles.
When we arrived in Rockport an even bigger crowd cheered as we rode in. People of all sorts, musicians, men, women and children, young and old rolled out the welcome. There were stacks of postcards to write to family and friends that they will provide postage for and send for you. Everyone is SO nice.
There are so many beautiful areas along the canal. The morning rest stop in Holley was one of those. The landscaping is gorgeous with lots of flowers and a gazebo overlooking the water. By that time I was really hungry, having only had watermelon since breakfast so a nice fat cinnamon sugar donut really hit the spot. Then I had a second one just to be sure. Yum!
Lunch was at Barton’s Hots, a roadside hot dog/burger stand in Spencerport. We had delicious sausage dogs prepared to order, Cheetos and Diet Pepsi. Lunch of champions.
Riding so long on the gravel path really made me appreciate the occasional stretches of pavement where less drag made it was easy to pick up speed. Eventually the trail became all pavement but was also curvy, hilly, rough and bumpy in a few spots.
The afternoon rest stop had the usual offerings AND hot coffee. Where was this yesterday when I was cold and wet? I would have killed for a cup of coffee then. Today, not so much. I was just ready to get the ride done and have a hot shower.
We passed an REI right on the canal trail in Rochester. We knew it was there and had been thinking of things we needed to get for the last couple of days. The only thing on my list is a new inflatable camp pillow since mine blew out Saturday night. Too bad I didn’t know then that my bath towel was MIA. The entrance is a little past the front of the store so I rode on and turned in just about the time Riley, who had ridden up the grassy bank instead, crashed beside the bike rack right in front of the store. Actually, he stopped while his shoe was still clipped to the pedal and he fell right over just like the old guy on a tricycle on Laugh-In (for those of you old enough to know what I’m talking about). The cyclists who were hanging out chatting ran over to help him up. Poor fella, how embarrassing. He scraped his knee and banged up his outer thigh on a corner of the concrete patio. He’s really sore and limping badly. I tried to convince him to take the SAG wagon but he persevered and rode the last 15 miles to camp.
One last stop in Pittsford to feed the ducks and share an ice cream cone before we arrived at camp. As luck would have it, the camp doctor and her husband pitched their tent right beside us. She took a look at his injuries and gave him a few doses of Ibuprofen for tonight and tomorrow morning. We both felt better after showers and enjoyed a delicious barbecue dinner with our fellow cyclists.
Another great day in the books! I doubt we’ll have any trouble falling asleep tonight.
Spoonfeed 