August 11, 2021
Riding the historic trail.
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The start of our ride was delayed this morning. We woke up to a severe thunderstorm this morning. We slowly got ready, went down and had a leisurely hotel breakfast and then laid around until the lightening and the rain stopped. We got riding around 9 am. Yesterday when we rode into Lewiston we went down a very big hill. Today we got to climb up the hill in a different way. We had a short stiff climb right out the hotel and then a very gentle climb for about 3 miles. Then we had another stiff climb until we reached the top of the escarpment. Once on top we stayed on the ridge for another 15 miles. We got to the town of Lockport and stopped for lunch. After lunch we got onto the historic Erie Canal trail. The trail follows the Erie Canal all the way to Albany. The trail is packed crush gravel. It is really cool to follow the historic Erie Canal. From Wikipedia:
Completed in 1825, it was the second-longest canal in the world (after the Grand Canal in China) and greatly enhanced the development and economy of the cities of New York, including Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and New York City, as well as the United States. This was in part due to the new ease of transport of salt and other goods, and industries that developed around those.
The trail is composed of packed crush gravel. For us the trail seemed pretty fast and smooth. The weather was good and bad today. The bad is that it was really hot, humid and windy about 10-15 mph. The good is that the wind was a strong TAILWIND. It was easy pedaling. For Ross this means that he can go much faster. For Janet and I it means we get to coast a lot more.
One nice thing we are finding out about this area is how much history happened here. In Lewiston last night there were plaques on history all over town. There was an important battle of the war of 1812 fought in Lewiston, it was a crucial part of the Underground Railroad which smuggled slaves to Canada and freedom. Going through this area is like reliving my high school American History class.
After 48 miles we stopped in the town of Albion. Our plan was to stop in Albion and determine if we would stop for the day or go another 15 miles to Brockport. We were concerned for Janet because of her tumble yesterday. We were wondering how her knee would feel and if she could handle a longer day. Well, Janet is the toughest cookie in the cookie jar. Of course we went on. Let me share how tough Janet is on these bike trips. We were on a bike trip in Canada about 5 years ago. Janet took a railroad track crossing wrong and went over the handlebars. She cracked her helmet, sprained her wrist, hurt her shoulder and had road rash on her hips, thighs and knees. She didn’t go to the hospital and she didn’t see a doctor. She finished the trip, which was another 6 days, for a few days riding with one hand. I tried to convince her to stop the trip and go home, but she was determined to finish the trip. Like I said , Janet is one tough cookie.
We got to Brockport about 5 pm and we went to a brewery for a drink. Then we went to an Italian restaurant for an excellent dinner.
We have a plan for the next three days. Since the weekend is coming up, we learned from the past and have sleeping reservations through the weekend. Tomorrow we have a hotel in Newark NY. Friday night we are camping in Fair Haven and Saturday we are camping in Pulaski.
Today's ride: 64 miles (103 km)
Total: 3,323 miles (5,348 km)
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