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July 1, 2019

Albion to Palmyra

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Jackie’s avg speed: 9.7 mph
Scott’s avg speed: 10.3 mph
Weather: 65-80 degrees, slight breeze from the north

The rising summer heat is pushing us out on the trail earlier each day. Today, we were at Tim Horton’s by 07:30 to get donuts for breakfast and multigrain bagels with cream cheese for lunch. Then it was back on the Canalway Trail.

The centers of the little towns along the canal have nice examples of 19th and early 20th Century brick architecture, like this street in Albion.

An eight-day ride of 650 cyclists was scheduled to start July 7 in Buffalo and conclude July 14 in Albany. A few miles east of Albion we encountered many road crews adding dirt shoulders to the edges of the trail and blading the surface to get ready for the onslaught.

Using the trails makes them vital and an employment resource for local communities. This crew is getting ready for a ride with 650 riders in July,

About 20 miles east of Albion when the trail reaches the outer ring of Rochester, the trail surface is paved, albeit with a lot of bumps from tree roots that slow riders down. At a park on the east side of Rochester, a man in his 60s with a paunch nodded hello and asked us about our ride. He was on a blue Surly Long Haul Trucker that sure looked sweet without all the fenders and folderol needed to cross the country. He spent his career as an electrical engineer working for Eastman Kodak. (Remember cameras with film? Kodak actually devised an early digital camera, but fatefully, never invested in developing or marketing it). Anyway, this engineer would be on the supported ride and was trying to decide what to bring for his two-bag, 40-pound each cargo allowance. To put this in perspective: Scott carries about 35 pounds and I carry 25 for our 3,100 mile journey.

A couple miles further, we met Dave, another man our age, coming from Connecticut, going to Seattle. He had twice as much gear as we had and would be camping or staying at homes registered with WarmShowers.org, an international community supporting long distance cyclists with free home stays to make touring more affordable. He took an easier route to Rochester, avoiding the Adirondacks. That was intriguing. We were committed to Adventure Cycling’s Northern Tier route, so our tough days were ahead of us.

Meet Dave, who’s riding from Connecticut to Seattle. I liked his visor so much, I bought one at a bike shop in Pittsford, right on the trail.

The stretch between Rochester and Palmyra goes through a few towns with temptations it’s hard to resist. An REI sits smack on the trail at the east edge of Rochester. There’s a bike shop at Pittsford, a quaint little town with artisanal gelato, which tells you a lot about the town. I stopped in the bike shop and bought a visor like Dave’s to clip on my helmet. The trail around Rochester was shaded, but most of the Canalway Trail is in full sun.

We took our gelato at Fairport, the next town on the trail. We got to Palmyra about 17:00 with no place to stay. One option was a B&B that charged $137 cash, including tax. Another was free camping at the marina, which turned out to be one of the better camp sites we’d had on the trip. The town offers free WiFi, good enough to read the news. There’s a pavilion with nice clean picnic tables, toilets, and showers. We pitched our tent on thick green grass. The bathrooms lock automatically at 22:00 and don’t reopen until 06:00. We accepted that risk and had no problems.

We had called the city ahead of time, just to confirm the information from Adventure Cycling about camping was still valid. A police cruiser drove in as we were setting up our fajita rice dinner, so I introduced myself and told him our intentions. He said that was fine. A 40-something in a bicycle jersey rode up when we were making preparations for dinner. From his bearing, I thought he was a deputy sheriff coming to check out the riff-raff. He still could have been. (Dodgy characters might hang out in city parks). A short conversation showed him we are what we appear to be. He gave us tips on local diners and recommendations on roads to take east.

This marina park in Palmyra was a great place to camp. For free.

We were snug in the tent when it got dark. It’s a shame Scott can’t hear the birds once he takes his hearing aids out, because it’s soothing way to fall asleep.

Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 2,331 miles (3,751 km)

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