Staffing Across America North for ABB 2004: Day 45 -- ♪ 15 miles on the Erie Canal ♫

August 4, 2004

ROUTE: Rochester NY to Syracuse NY
DISTANCE: 83 miles
WINDS: Nil

WEATHER: Overcast all day and sprinkly at times.
TERRAIN: Rolling to flat
TOTAL CLIMBING: 1,900 feet

RIDE OVERVIEW: Mike reporting today. Susan was riding Sweep and was on the road late. I have the computer in the van and I'm on the road even later. Might as well type.

What's a day without construction? We ran into road work about 5 yards from our motel this morning and hoped it wasn't a taste of what was in store for the day. Come to think of it, it was like this last year. It didn't look like they'd done anything to it for the entire year . . . same barrels and everything. The work lasted only for about a half mile before we turned eastward out of town, but it was a pretty narrow short stretch we had to negotiate.

Most of the riders dodged another bullet today. The temperatures were really on the mild side and the rain that was forecast only sprinkled all afternoon. We were in a nice hole today...it was foggy as we departed and the humidity could have been oppressive if the sun had come out, but with the cloud cover, the humidity was tolerable. We are still in a slow moving low pressure that is not supposed to move until after the weekend. But if we can keep getting in before it starts to rain in the afternoon, we may just tiptoe around the rain and stay dry to the beach...dry being a relative term referring only to rain, not sweat.

Everyone loaded at 6:15 a.m. and headed to Peppermints for breakfast, but I stayed at the motel and had a bagel with Karen before getting on the road. My plan was to get an early start in the van to check out the visibility. It was foggy (above left), but for the most part, it was not bad enough to hold the riders at the motel. Plus, last night I was out until about 9 p.m. painting a detour to let the riders ride down the Erie Canal bike path to the first SAG. Well, all good plans sometimes go awry.

As I was leaving to drive down route, I passed the word to Mark to tell the riders at breakfast to follow the route to about 6 miles and then follow the detour arrows to the canal. Well, I don't know what Mark actually said since I was not there to hear it, but the riders heard, "Go straight for about 6 miles and look for the detour arrows. Well, there was a right turn about a mile from the motel so those who didn't turn there, were on their own. When the first riders showed up, I was parked at the canal to ensure that everyone got on the path. I had clearly marked a right turn onto the path, but everyone in the lead pack turned west into the Canal Park on the left as I was hollering to them that they were going the wrong way."We've got it!" was all I heard as they sped by.

Evidently, they were following the faded arrows that I'd painted last year to take them into the park...that would have been OK had the arrows in the park still been there to direct them down a flight of stairs to the path that headed east. Realizing the problem, I went to the first faded arrows and corrected them to reflect a right turn and then drove toward where I'd last seen the lead group disappear. Before I got too far into the park I saw them coming back being led by the group who had not made the first turn a mile from the motel. Evidently, they'd asked a local how to find the canal path and were directed to a bridge where they could walk through the weeds and get on a couple miles west of where we planned to be. [Actually, this was not the case. I was riding Sweep today and took another route to the trail. Just as I got on the trail--headed in the right direction--the "Back to Niagara" group came along and I turned them in the correct direction. One could say that Sweep turned the head into the tail today. Susan 2016] But it worked well as they kept the lead pack from riding back to Niagara Falls (I had told them in rap last night that if they heard a loud roar ahead of them, they probably turned the wrong way on the canal path). Order was restored and everyone eventually headed in the right direction. What an adventure!

Everyone who took the detour to the canal path really enjoyed the low-stress 25 miles before the first SAG. The path varied from smooth pavement to town streets to hard packed dirt and gravel, but it was very easily navigated. We passed lots of neat homes, both high rent and low rent, that showed the vast range of real estate along the canal. A couple of small towns along the path were very quaint with lots of wildlife resting along the banks of the water . . . geese, ducks, groundhogs, and I thought I saw a beaver running across the path in one area. Even though we didn't have a route sheet explaining the canal route, it was pretty easy to navigate since you just followed the canal. Even when we were forced off the water's edge, all you had to do was work your way back remembering where you last saw the water. When you found the canal again, there was the path.

At the end of the path we were dumped right on the published route about 10 miles before our first SAG, and as Patricia was negotiating the final turn onto a narrow bridge, she caught her handle bars on the guardrail and went down. She sustained minor abrasions and was patched up by the docs . . hmmm, they always seem to be around when someone falls. Wonder if it's just a coincidence or should everyone avoid riding around them?

We had superb shoulders most of the day today. I think New York gets the vote for the nicest roads to travel by bicycle, and the scenery is beautiful too with all the farms and animals dotting the landscape. The shoulders were smooth, clean, and very wide most of the day. However, even with the clean shoulders, we had several flats today. Even though I was in the van, I got to change several today. I even changed a couple tires. Evelyn won today's flat contest with three.

It was a long day today as people are starting to spend more time on the road sightseeing. It's good to see everyone enjoying themselves the last few days they have together even if they are just looking at plants. Last year a local rider told us about a purple plant we've been seeing everywhere in the wet areas...Purple Loosestrife, a voracious plant that is taking over wetlands and leaving devastation in it's wake...even killing the wildlife the wetlands support. It came from Europe and the government is trying several approaches to control the plant, but sometimes the cure is worse than the illness when it comes to controlling something like this. He said it is one of the worst plants to come along in a long time...that's if you don't count the Kudzu plant we have in the south. Now I'm familiar with that stuff. It grows so fast, it can catch and smother a speeding bicyclist on a highway if the climatic conditions are right. When it goes dormant in the winter, we discover new cities in Alabama! Don't get me started on Kudzu stories.

Several riders stopped today at the Terry Bicycle factory (a company that specializes in bicycles and cycling gear for women) and got some good deals. Others stopped at a bicycle shop west of Syracuse. And, once again, our SAG fare was wonderfully supplemented. Alumni Dave O'Dell and his wife came through with those cheesecakes (see riders left enjoying same), and Carrie-Ann supplied several boxes of donut holes.

Tomorrow we head to Little Falls. Another day on good New York roads but we will be in busier areas tomorrow and all the way to New Hampshire from here. As we close in on our destination, the riders are starting to realize the journey is almost over. New friends we've made in the past 45 days will go their separate ways in just one short week. I think they will all start to slow down a bit and start smelling more roses than they have in the past...we'll see. Tune in again tomorrow for a report. Pray for a safe day. See you then.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

"What arrows? I didn't see any arrows."
"Can you believe we're in the middle of the country and the cars are zipping by alongside us on the NY Thruway?"
"I'll have a double dip, and would you put sprinkles on that and dip it in chocolate?"

DUH! OF THE DAY: Goes to all the riders who headed west on the canal. Even after I told them to keep the canal on their right and clearly marked the road. Maybe they wanted to ride back to Astoria.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Beck stands by innocently while Jay mixes his secret tandem potion...
question is, who's going to drink it?

Mike tries out for a position with the paparazzi. As you can see by
the cover that the bushes in the foreground provide, this photo
was taken by another paparazzi cyclist. I'm not telling who.

I know I was out late last night laying out the detour, but I don't
remember directing the riders anyplace where there was
a grass surface. Couldn't prove it by Lynn.