Day 44 - Sunday, June 25, 2006
Canandaigua, NY
4,000 feet of climbing
68.3 miles-official miles
Well today I hoped would be an easier day, almost like a rest day. It wasn’t as it was fairly scenic (remember this is Gaelic for hilly) and we had a consistent 12 mph headwind. It reminded me of the small swimming pools that they sell where you can swim in place because of the constant current. But, as we like to say out here, there are no easy days.
We went through some small villages today. We went through Geneva, Seneca Falls, Waterloo and Camillus. They are all quaint little towns that they call villages. In Pennsylvania we call them townships. We also stopped at the Erie Canal Park and got to see part of the original Erie Canal. The Erie Canal was opened in 1825 connecting Buffalo with Albany. It was an instant success with freight rates being one tenth of what it cost to ship by road. There were no connecting railroads at that time. The cost of the canal was recouped within nine years. It was originally dubbed “Clinton’s folly” by its detractors. How could they be so prescient? Just kidding. It was named that because it was Governor De Witt Clinton’s project. All the major cities of New York lie on the Erie Canal. I thought that it had long since covered over with dirt, etc. since the original canal was only four feet deep. It was enlarged several times and what we saw was part of the original construction.
We are staying tonight at the Hampton Inn where they have copied the Westin’s heavenly bedding. They have hi speed internet in each room and I feel like a king. Amazing what one night in a four half moon (remember the rating system) Econo-Lodge will do. Last night’s motel should be condemned. It was so old and run down, but at this point, who cares. I was kept awake last night by some kind of car races. It must have been dirt track or something. I just haven’t had time to investigate. I have heard rumors that the Albany hotel is one of the worst of the trip. So stay tuned for that.
After the bike shop fixed my computer which had broken last Monday, I flooded it on the drive back to Erie. I don’t understand why they don’t make those computers waterproof. Yesterday, Rick installed a new computer for me, but set the codes wrong. That resulted in my computer showing me doing 60 mph downhill. I tried to adjust the math and had a rough idea of how fast I was going, but never really sure. Also, it is hard to do math when you are going 35 mph downhill and have a death grip on the handle bars. Tonight he fixed the computer, so that tomorrow it can flood again in the rain. Sounds like a conundrum to me. It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so let’s hope that we get at least a little tiny break in the weather.
Today I rode with Bill Salamone and Rick. It was an enjoyable ride, but would have been a great ride if we hadn’t had the headwinds. Rick and Bill are both fun to ride with. What I didn’t know is that Rick’s bike must be part horse. It veers suddenly to the right whenever we see a Dunkin Donuts. He thought about getting that fixed, but decided against it. Don’t want to anger the mount.
Signing off………….
