Day 43: Buffalo, NY to Victor, NY

Distance: 79.49 miles

Elevation gain: 3,134 feet

Avg speed: 15.7 mph

Max speed: 34.3 mph

Moving time: 5:04:29

Wow. It’s starting to sink in. Well, a FEW things, actually.

First of all, I can’t believe that I’m caught up again on my blog posts. That means that after I finish writing this post I can get my stuff ready for the morning and go to sleep at a somewhat respectable time! That, combined with our scheduled late start for tomorrow means I may actually get a reasonable amount of sleep tonight! I SHOULD feel pretty good for tomorrow’s ride - woo hoo!!!

Secondly, this trip is coming to a close really soon. Including tomorrow’s ride and the ride to the beach (which at THIS point hardly counts as it’s only 19 miles long), we only have six rides remaining! On the one hand, I’ll finally have an opportunity for my miscellaneous aches and pains to heal. I’ll have a tremendous sense of accomplishment, having completed the greatest adventure of my life (so far, anyway). On the other hand, in the short time that I’ve known them, the people in this group have become like a second family, and I will miss every last one of them. They say blood is thicker than water, but I think to a large extent in my situation, chain lube is thicker than blood! We’ve talked about having a reunion at some point, and I’m hoping that comes to fruition. I have also grown at least somewhat used to the routine of the tour, and I have mixed feelings about that routine coming to an end. 

Today we rode from Buffalo to Victor. I was not at all impressed with the Buffalo area, so I was happy to say goodbye to that city. I would say that Victor is much nicer, but that doesn’t really say much. Victor actually looks like a pretty nice area, at least from what little of it I got to see. 

Leaving the Buffalo area, I saw lots of Buffalo Bills flags. The people around here certainly love their football team. 

It seemed to me at least that in the Buffalo area, gas stations and businesses do NOT like to make their bathrooms available, whether you are a customer or not. This has not been my experience in other areas we traveled through. Fortunately, once we got far enough away from Buffalo things returned to normal in that regard. 

By the way, we officially hit the 3,000-mile mark today. Just a few hundred more miles to go! Of course, we had to commemorate that milestone with a photo opportunity:

Of course, we saw lots of beautiful areas along our route. Oh, and cows. Lots of cows. 

At our second SAG stop today (in Avon), we saw a really cool mural:

A group photo of our bikes….

And, of course, a group photo of some of us as well!

There was a bike repair station right at the location of our SAG stop:

This actually came in handy for me, as I discovered at this stop that my back tire was getting soft. If there is one thing I’ve learned on this trip it is that if you discover a tire getting soft, you should fix it right away as it is going to become a flat otherwise. Not sure how many flats I’ve had at this point (10? 11?), but at least this time I had a veritable pit crew to get me back on the road quickly. Thanks Dana, Peyton, Fred and Lee - you guys are awesome!

(I was not alone today in getting a flat - they seem to be making a comeback, unfortunately.)

Along the way, we have come across many interesting town names, but today we saw one that was a little worrisome:

Wyoming is only five miles away? We’ve been heading east all this time and we are only five miles from Wyoming? Uh oh….

We had a wonderful dinner tonight at Chili’s, right next to the hotel. I know, it’s a chain restaurant - but at least it isn’t Cracker Barrel! (Sorry Cracker Barrel….)

Of course, I can’t forget about today’s ride video:

Tomorrow we head to Syracuse. Wow - it’s not even 10pm yet and I’m done with my blog post! Time to get everything ready for the morning and go to bed. See you all tomorrow!

Day 42: Erie, PA to Buffalo, NY

Distance: 90.98 miles

Elevation gain: 2,204 feet

Avg speed: 16.5 mph

Max speed: 34.2 mph

Moving time: 5:30:12

Wow - it looks like I’m finally going to be caught up again with my blog! Today we rode from Erie (the NICEST place we’ve stayed) to Buffalo (possibly the WORST place we’ve stayed). Although it did not involve a “Garmin climb,” getting out of Erie did involve some climbing, as the hotel was definitely on low ground given the fact that it was right on the lake. Once we were done climbing away from the hotel though, today’s ride was fairly flat. 

Our first glimpse of Buffalo as we headed along the lake

Along the way we rode through an area belonging to the Seneca Nation. It’s not every day you pass a sign written in both English and a Native American language!

One of the vineyards along our route today

By the way, if the pictures seem a little random, it is because they are. Normally I would make a point of trying to keep everything in chronological order, but it’s getting late, I want to get caught up on the blog, and we have 79 miles to ride tomorrow. Of course, there is always the day’s video:

Tomorrow we continue on to Victor, NY. And just like that, I am once again caught up! See you tomorrow!

Day 41: Rest day in Erie, PA

The road so far:

Miles traveled: 2,822.35 miles

Elevation gained: 85,007 feet

The road yet to come:

Miles to go: 608.8 miles

Elevation to gain: 22,339 feet

It’s actually day 42 already and I’m already in Buffalo, NY, but I’m determined to catch up. Writing these posts a day or two after the fact is not an easy task, as one day blurs into the next.

In any event, Erie was the nicest place we’ve stayed at thus far in my opinion, and the hotel was gorgeous and was located right on the lake. With that said, it was a day for getting errands done and for trying to get caught up. As such, I spent a good part of the day napping, eating, washing my bike, washing my clothes, and finishing up the last of my souvenir shopping. I did also manage to get a few nice pictures, however. 

Brief explanation: if you submit a picture of yourself to my company’s HR department while wearing a company t-shirt while on vacation, they publish it in the company newsletter. As a result, I’ve been taking pictures on each of the rest days and submitting them.

Anyway, tomorrow (today?) is another riding day and another state line crossing. New York, here I come! New York is yet ANOTHER state that borders New Jersey, so I’m starting to get really close now!

Day 40: Niles, OH to Erie, PA

Distance: 90.02 miles

Elevation gain: 1,731 feet

Avg speed: 16.0 mph

Max speed: 33.2 mph

Moving time: 5:36:49

It’s actually day 42 now, and I’m sitting in my room in Buffalo, NY, but I’ve been behind in my blog posts for a while now, so I am determined to get caught up tonight. ESPECIALLY since I’ve already had a 3-hour nap today, and tomorrow is a late start. 

By the way, given the fact that I’ve fallen behind in my blog posts, I am SO glad that I’ve kept up on my videos - they give me a way to review the day’s ride before writing my blog post! 

In my opinion, Erie has been the location with the nicest hotel so far, as well as being one of the most beautiful areas we’ve stayed in so far. In any event, it was quite fortunate that I was able to latch onto a group for my ride into Erie, as there was a lot of construction in the area which made navigation difficult. Also, as an added bonus, I ended up getting a dinner recommendation which I ended up using. I ended up having fajitas at a Mexican place, which was really good and with generous portion sizes.

In any event, as this ride was a couple days ago and I’m getting tired, I guess it’s time to finish up with the day’s video:

Tomorrow (yesterday?) is (was?) our fifth and final rest day, followed by our last push to get to the beach in Massachusetts. Really enjoying this tour, but also really looking forward to the end and being able to say I completed it. 

Day 39: Wooster, OH to Niles, OH

Distance: 93.20 miles

Elevation gain: 3,597 feet

Avg speed: 14.8 mph

Max speed: 41.7 mph

Moving time: 6:16:46

I learned my lesson from the previous day, and chose to wear my arm and leg warmers rather then braving the cold. Good thing, too, as it was even COLDER this day than the previous day, and I was far more comfortable as a result. 

Unfortunately, I also got a much later start than I would have liked. When we depart in two groups (like we did on THIS morning), I depart with the early group. As I was about to leave my room, however, I realized that I needed to use the bathroom one last time, so I was WAY too late for the early briefing, and a little too early for the late briefing. Oh well, my Garmin hasn’t let me down thus far (at least not catastrophically), so I headed out briefing-less. Also known in some circles as fat, dumb and happy. 

When I ventured out, it was still a little foggy around the hotel. The route began with an immediate climb though, as the hotel was situated on relatively low ground, and I quickly found myself climbing out of the fog. Because of my late start though, I was able to enjoy some of the early views in solitude, lost in my own thoughts, just like I like it!

The ride itself was fairly uneventful until I reached the second SAG stop. It was at THIS point that I learned we would be riding into Niles on a bike path. This was not an unsubstantial part of our route, either - something like 10 of the last 15 miles were on this bike path, away from the cars (except for the areas where we had to cross roads, which were many). 

Once we got into town, we unfortunately had to contend with terrible road surfaces for much of the remainder of the route. Could have been worse though - I did not find myself SHIVERING on this day. 

One of the sights along the way

Early-morning fog

Another of the day’s sights, courtesy of Steve

And, of course, it just would not be a riding day without a video to accompany it:

Well, until next time, enjoy the post and the video!

Day 38: Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH

Distance: 98.70 miles

Elevation gain: 3,896 feet

Avg speed: 15.5 mph

Max speed: 41.7 mph

Moving time: 6:22:06

Once again, better late than never. I just finished putting together my video for the day 39 ride (but have not uploaded it yet - trying to gather opinions on which pic to use as a thumbnail for it). While I wait for those opinions, I thought it would be a good time to “put pen to paper” regarding day 38. This was actually a pretty challenging ride. I suppose all four of those last four rides leading into the rest day are challenging though. Day 37 was a long day, days 38 and 39 were long-ish and had a fair amount of climbing, and day 40 is ALSO long-ish (but without as much climbing). Day 38 was particularly tough though, as I believe more than half of the day’s climbing was in the last 20-ish miles, and was fairly steep. Also, there was the added challenge of it being a chilly day, combined with some light rain and being underdressed for the conditions, and by the end I was downright shivering!

(Before I get TOO carried away, here are some of my favorite pics from the day.)

We actually talked about these at dinner. This is called a “corn crib,” and it is used for storing corn (though I believe it is just for animal feed).

Those sure look like edge lines to me….

If you are standing here and still need a sign to help you find the elevator, you have probably already had too much to drink….

And, of course, the video of the day:

Today’s ride (day 39) was another climbing day, and the video has been posted to YouTube already, but I think I need my sleep, so it looks like (at least) one more day of being behind by a day with the blog. Sorry. Have a good night!

Day 37: Richmond, IN to Marysville, OH

Distance: 108.05 miles

Elevation gain: 2,175 feet

Avg speed: 16.9 mph

Max speed: 33.1 mph

Moving time: 6:22:42

Well, better late than never. At least that’s what they say….

Yesterday was a tough day. Yes, the ride was long (108.05 miles), but that is not what I’m referring to. What I’m referring to is the technical issues I ran into while trying to upload the day’s video to YouTube. 

I tend to follow the same pattern each night. I put my video together in iMovie, then export it to my camera roll and upload it to YouTube, and finally I watch it in its entirety to see what I’ve got. Well, the Wi-Fi at the hotel yesterday was extremely slow, so it took close to an hour for the video to upload. Once uploaded, I watched it, only to discover a typo in the opening title screen. I couldn’t very well leave that alone, so I deleted it from YouTube, edited it again to fix the title screen, and tried to export it to my camera roll. Only, now when I went to export it, I kept getting an error message that my phone was full and it was unable to save the exported video. I thought that I was going to have to back up my phone, reset it back to factory defaults, and restore it from backup. With the slow Wi-Fi, I was afraid that would mean being up all night. However, just as I was about to give up I googled (and found) a better solution to the problem. I was ultimately able to upload it, but by then it was well after 1:00 AM, so I put this blog post off until today and went to bed. (Looks like it’s getting late again, so I’m going to write today’s post tomorrow once again.) 

Anyway, long story short - I felt GREAT yesterday, and finished the ride strong. I THOUGHT it was due to having good legs, but it wasn’t - I found out after the fact that the wind had shifted and we had a significant tailwind. 

Anyway, like I said, it is getting late and my pillow is calling my name. So here are some pics from yesterday’s ride:

At one of my gel stops, I ended up having a really nice conversation with this gentleman about our journey. 

I love this photo. It is a sort of “old meets new” kind of picture. 

An Amish church parking lot

USA-shaped cookies - complete with a red line of icing showing our route

The decorations welcoming us to Ohio at our first SAG stop

Road kill - I think we passed that along the way. Good to know that Ohioans see to it that nothing goes to waste!

LOVE those two signs!

A great action shot of me, thanks to Paula!

And, of course, the day’s video:

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll try to post blog entries tomorrow night for today’s and tomorrow’s rides!