BRO QUEST 2009

Apparently this is the rainiest/coldest summer that New York has ever had. In Western New York the temperatures weren't bad, sixties-seventies and maybe slightly chilly at night. The rain, on the other hand, came down in sheets and repeatedly soaked us every day in New York (so far). We started out from Niagara Falls headed toward Rochester, loosely following the Erie Canal Historic Passage. Turns out there is a bike/horse/pedestrian pass that runs the entire length of the canal, but it didn't really go where we wanted to go, so we had to satisfy ourselves by jealously taking pictures of the wide, beautiful and traffic-free path whenever we crossed it.

Erie Canal and accompanying multi-use path

About ten miles out from Niagara, we ran into a family of Californians that were headed from Maine to Seattle. The father and older son were both riding Surly tourers with trailers, and the mom and younger son were pushing a co-motion tandem with saddlebags AND a small min-pin in a doggie carrier located on top of their rear rack. Apparently the dog would stick his head out of the front of the carrier and rest it on the back of the bike saddle. Happy trails, Californians.

In Rochester we got to stay with the family of Nick Galusha, my former roommate and OKC's friendliest TV mogul. Nick's family were totally AWESOME, thanks a million for the pasta dinner and the breakfast.

We decided to ride across Northern Rochester to avoid traffic and also to see Oklahoma Beach, which is apparently located on Lake Ontario. All went well and good until we got to the bridge crossing at Irondequoit Bay, which was apparently closed during the summer months so that the bay could function as a marina. We were seriously only 30 feet from the other side of the Bay with no way to get across. Given that they Bay is long and narrow, we'd have to ride all the way around the sucker and then back up the other side in order to get to Oklahoma Beach.

Faced with a possible 20 mile detour involving lots of traffic and some rough roads, we hitched a ride on a motorboat:

Crossing a 30 foot water gap
It took us three tries to find a boat willing to ferry us and our stuff across, we tried to pay the captain but he refused to take any money for his services. A really generous guy and an extremely positive experience.

Detour? Don't think so!

Oklahoma Beach wasn't actually that great, just a strip of private land dotted with houses that faced Lake Ontario. We were hoping for at least a place to buy beers/hamburgers/tacky Oklahoma souvenirs.

You ain't seen the south until you've seen that red durt

Riding out of Rochester and into Auburn was fun, though we got in late due to a nasty two-hour thunderstorm. The state highways and old US highways in New York have absolutely gorgeous shoulders, wide, freshly-paved and free of rumble strips. We took US 20 (the Cherry Valley Turnpike) east from Auburn, stopping almost immediately to go to an antique boat show, which also had antique cars. And one of the original "fab five" from "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy", who stared at me for a while before speeding off on a boat. Bizzarro-world.

Boat and matching car

We stuck around too long looking at expensive hobbies for white guys in the Northeast, but we did learn some sweet terminology, such as "Lapstrake", which is apparently a form of boat construction in which the boards overlap on the hull, rather than being smooth-sided. BOAT SCHOOL: IN SESSION.

BOAT SHOW, FOOLS

There were some kickass rocket boats too, but we didn't get to see any sweet jumps or like boat explosions or anything, mostly just rich people and expensive toys. We did eat some really good fish and chips, though. I think the town is called Skaneateles?

Boat maxes out at warp 6.7

So it turns out the Finger Lakes region and the Cherry Valley Turnpike contain some really steep hills, probably steeper (though not longer) than anything we've experienced on this trip. The countryside was beautiful and we weren't exactly getting worn out from the hills, but climbing them certainly took a lot of time and as a result we only made 50 miles before it got dark.

About 1/3 of way up a STEEP-assed hill

On the plus side, we did get some really good downhills in, routinely hitting 40-45 mph. On one hill we ended up almost hitting 50mph. In fact, we probably would've, but I had to tap my brakes to avoid rear-ending a motorcyclist who was wandering all over the road. Yes, I almost hit a motorcycle from behind and at high speed on a bicycle.

Anyway, I noticed that my front tire was wearing out, so I had to quit taking downhills at full speed because a front tire blowout at speed is a pretty good way to need skin grafts, blood transfusions and fake teeth.

That diagonal line on the opposite hillside is where we hit our current speed record, 49.29mph

We knocked out a hard day exiting the Cherry Valley and ended up only 25 miles from Saratoga Springs, so we decided to ride in just our regular shorts and no shirts. Which worked great, until it started raining, and then we didn't have dry clothes to wear. Whoops! Luckily we were in town by 11:30 in the morning and just sat around all day.

Doing it up hesher style in Eastern NY

Anyway, I have another flat (that makes seven for the trip). Actually, the distribution of flats has been very odd--a thousand miles and then one flat, two thousand miles with no problems, and then 6 flats over the next 700 miles. I think it's mostly due to worn-out tires. Both us and our bikes are getting a little worn out, but we've only got another 250 miles or so until Portland, Maine. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us, you should hear from me again in Vermont or maybe New Hampshire.