Day 44 Dunnville ON to Alden NY

I worked on my ride reports - I had to recreate one when I discovered I'd erased the only copy (!) - and fixing my cadence sensor this morning, so I didn't get off till 10:45 AM. My motel was located right on the Grand River, shown in the photo above. Tonight I had to ride my bicycle to get supper, and I found out how I had broken the wire to the cadence sensor when I was in Iron River. The left cuff of my long pants catches the sensor and jerks it up enough to break the wire. It is nice to know how I broke it, but I gained that knowledge by breaking it again! I think I'll live without it till I get home. I also wanted to get all my Canadian ride reports done in order so I could send them off tonight. Tonight I'm stuck with a room with no phone so I can't post anything. So it goes.

I left Dunnville on what I'll call alt3 instead of hwy3. This is a scenic route that is longer than riding on hwy3 and much more pleasant. It goes south and east while hwy3 goes a bit north and east. Alt3 is great. After it reaches Lake Erie, it runs right along the lake at Long Beach, which is indeed quite long and very scenic. Nice riding!

Eventually alt 3 comes back up to merge with hwy3 and riding is less nice, but more direct. Hwy3 has a narrow shoulder most of the way into Fort Lewis. It starts as a two lane highway and becomes a four lane highway about half way in. Riding it wasn't fun, like riding alt3, but it wasn't bad. I had a decent rear quarter wind most of the day and, as a result, averaged near 15 mph for the first few hours of the ride and 14 mph for the entire ride. I stopped twice for snacks on hwy3 and in Fort Erie for lunch.

Riding over the Peace Bridge, I got on the sidewalk when I saw that the car lane was pretty narrow. I never saw any signs for bicycles, so I left the sidewalk and went through customs with the cars. The customs inspector asked me why I didn't go through the 'lane for bikes' so I guess I should have continued on the sidewalk. No big deal. He did check my drivers license number, but he didn't search my bags .

Downtown Buffalo

Riding through Buffalo was a pain. I had to ask four different people for help in finding Broadway (which becomes 130 which becomes US 20) when I was only a few blocks away from it. The best help came from a bus driver - nobody else seemed to know much about the city. Broadway took me through some really desolate parts of Buffalo, but eventually I made it out of the city. Traffic, on a Saturday afternoon, was not a problem.

When I got to the point where 130 ends and 20 continues east, I stopped to get some US money (I still have Canadian money since I didn't see any place to exchange it) and to ask about service further east on 20. The answer, there weren't many.

20 near my motel - coming back from supper

Lancaster was a pain to ride through because of the potholes - I almost lost a front pannier, but after that 20 had a nice shoulder and riding was easy. I stopped when I found an inexpensive (by US standards) motel just past Alden. I probably should have continued on another 20 miles or more, but I was feeling tired (Buffalo was a bit tense) and I went for the 'bird in the hand' rather than taking my chances on down the road. I'll probably do a long day tomorrow. If I can do 110 miles or more and find lodging, I'll be in a good position for my next Riding Route 11 experience.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0