June 9, 2024
Day 3 - Rochester to Weedsport
Leaving Rochester
We never officially made it to downtown Rochester since the Erie Canal skirts the city to the west and south. Our hotel was across the Genesee River from Rochester University and was less than a mile from the canal trail. It was a convenient and quiet location.
The path took us briefly along the river before crossing into a city park. While it wasn't necessarily crowded, this was the most cyclists and runners we had seen due to its proximity to a much larger population than towns we rode through the last two days.
It was a bit noisier as we paralleled an interstate highway for a bit, but the riding was great. For future riders, there was even an REI adjacent to the trail. We also got to see our first lock in operation and hung out for about 20 minutes to see witness the entire process.
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With the lock filled, the gates opened and the boat was able to progress up stream. The open and closing of the locks is not a quiet process.
More Pittsford and Fairport please
The trail leaving Rochester through Pittsford and Fairport were some of our favorite sections. We enjoying seeing more people, the quaint towns and the development along the canal. It seemed like it would be a great community area to live in.
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It's all Greek to us
After leaving Fairport, we were sort of heads down and just riding. Sure, there was lots of conversation. Comments about what we were seeing, who we were seeing and every other topic that came to our minds. Then the topic of food came up and we took a little detour to Palmyra for a Greek Restaurant.
It seemed like a nice town as we rode down Main Street. Sitting at a traffic light waiting for a green, little did we realize there was a church on each corner of the intersection. Apparently this is the only place in the US where this occurs. (Nice article about the churches)
The Greek restaurant where we had lunch wasn't what we expected, but it was still a great stop with a good food selection. Our waitress was amazing friendly and mommed us about being careful. We were not disappointed.
There's a car wash....
The rest of the day we knew this was going to be a particularly challenging section of the trip. There would be quite a bit of road riding on this section and with that comes some hills. To add to the challenges, it was supposed to rain. The dark clouds confirmed the forecast.
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When the rain finally came, we put our rain gear on, put our heads down and just rode. It wasn't always fun, but from prior adventures, I know it's best to just embrace the suck knowing these moments create memorable days. At least we weren't staying in a tent tonight.
All told we had about 20 miles of road riding from what I recall with about half of it in some heavy rain. When we arrived at a town called Port Byron, it was coming down pretty hard so we pulled off the road to seek shelter under some gas pump awnings. But with the breeze, it wasn't the best place for shelter.
Behind Doug I noticed something and said "Hey Doug, there's a car wash." I am pretty sure Doug just thought WTH do we need a car wash for and thought it was just another one of my random jokes or incoherent statements I make along the path. He looked at me with this blank stair, probably a little hypothermic from being cold and drenched. So I explained myself. "We can go in the car wash bay to get out of the rain."
It was the best darn car wash ever and no risk of being booted by a customer looking to wash their car. While sheltered by the rain in the car wash, we regrouped and tried to motivate ourselves to head back out in the rain. We also looked at our map and realized we only had 4 more miles to our hotel in Weedsport. We got this!
Weedsport is.....
For whatever reason, Weedsport was the one town that we were warned about by many. It certainly wasn't the most scenic town we'd been in and it was a bit run down. But I do have to say, the Red Roof Inn where we stayed was much better than I imagined it would be.
After a hot shower, we decided to walk to Nino's NY Pizzeria for a much deserved dinner. It was an easy walk of about 10 minutes along what appeared to be the old main street. It had seen better days, but it also felt like better days were ahead with some building renovations going on here and there.
Dinner at Nino's was great. The young guys working behind the counter were amazing friendly and even though we stayed a bit after closing, they were incredibly cordial and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I think we had pizza, a calzone and a salad.
After heading back to the room, we also made use of the laundry facilities and dryer. It was great to have all of our clothes clean and dry after the rain we encountered.
All in all a memorable and wonderful day!
Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 164 miles (264 km)
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