Thursday, June 17, 2010

Day 10

Stats
Net Elevation gain: -581 ft.
Average Speed: 8.3 mph
Top Speed: 30.5 mph
Time spent biking: 5 hours 53 minutes
Total time for the day's travels: 8.5 hours
Miles biked today: 49.1
Total for trip: 374.6 miles

Leaving Ithaca well-rested, we were disappointed to be riding in a 60-degree drizzly rain. We made the best of it and at least it wasn't pouring. Jenny grumbled that her legs were cold. Brett's knees hurt a little at first, but when they warmed up they seemed to be fine. Once in a while he would notice a twinge, but proper gearing and refraining from pushing too hard kept them in good shape the rest of the day.

Align CenterJem shows off his climbing skills after breakfast.

We left by 9:30, after breakfast with our hosts, and made our way north through the fairly rural area between the lakes of Seneca and Cayuga. We found a decent place to eat a meal and get much-desired hot chocolates. A tuna melt and a bacon cheeseburger later, we moved on.

These two hot chocolates were EXACTLY what we wanted!

By the side of the road we saw two fawns. Surely this isn't a terribly uncommon sight for folks around these parts, but to us it's a rarity and the first on this trip. They were so cute, but they bounded away before Jenny could get the camera out of its carrying pouch conveniently located on the back of Brett's seat.

Jenny didn't snap a photo of the fawns, but did get this beautiful shot.
Much of our ride looked like this.

As we gained elevation going west between the lakes (on Route 96A), we came upon a really cute little roadside stand. They had eggs (only $1.40/dozen!) and homemade baked goods including bread and cookies. We chose to get a frosted cinnamon raisin bread. It was only $1.37! What a deal! It was so good.

Jenny enjoys the first few bites of the frosted cinnamon raisin bread!

We passed lots of sweet peas on the side of the road. They remind Jenny of Grandma Boas. They were one of Grandma's favorite flowers.

If barns could talk...

It stopped raining and warmed up in the early afternoon as we started our descent down to Seneca Lake. We passed many fields of grain, farms with work horses and beautiful vineyards. Just passed the small town of Lodi, we weren't sure which way to go and headed down a LONG hill, putting us right down by the lake. At the bottom of the hill, we saw the following two signs: “Dead End” and “No Outlet”. Panic! Panic! We did not want to climb back up any part of that huge and steep hill! We decided to keep going and hope for something like a miracle. Maybe a backyard to cut through?

What we found delighted us to no end. Where the road ended at a gate, a paved path right alongside the water continued in the direction we wanted to go! It turns out, this is a back entrance to Sampson State Park, which we had planned to go through anyway. So, for several miles, we had no traffic, nobody but the deer for company, and beautiful scenery. Eventually we found the offices of the park, used the bathrooms, and continued on another disused road out of the park.

We had our own private path for a few miles.

The rest of our ride to Geneva was beautiful. We rode mostly along the lake, observing all the vacation homes, and then up a bit into wine country. We passed three or four vineyards and wineries, including the winery that our host in Geneva works at. Arriving in Geneva center around 5:30, we found our hosts in a beautiful house a couple blocks from the center of town.

Victor and Jenna are housesitting here and also plan to trim the ivy and build a compost pile for the owner.

This was our second warmshowers.org experience, and the first for Jenna and Victor, who so kindly took us in. Jenna and Victor are both graduates of Geneva College and have been housesitting for area professors since then. The house they are currently taking care of was gorgeous and large. We were lucky to have our own bedroom and bathroom. After we got a tour of the house, did some stretching, and took showers, the four of us walked to the grocery store to buy fixings for homemade pizza. The pizza and watermelon Jenny got for a treat were delicious. Thanks you two!

We made grilled pizza for dinner, but the watermelon treat couldn't wait for after the meal!

Dinner by candlelight.

We leave you with this last image, words of wisdom from the public safety complex in one of the towns we passed through today:

8 comments:

  1. Considering the vicious, humid heat we have been experiencing, the 60 degree drizzle sounds refreshing! Glad to hear the knee is holding up.Don't forget Ibuprofen, if you need. It is a miracle drug for sore knees. The ride today sounded wonderful and the same for the overnight stop. I have another question for your next round of answers. Is there a learning curve in riding a tandem recumbent? Do you have to push a bit to get some momentum when starting out or can you just push off on the pedals like you do with an ordinary bike? Do you have to coordinate with each other when shifting? I know when shifting my road bike I have to let up on the pedal to allow the derailleur to shift over. I also curious about Brett's job with a bicycle delivery service. What is that? Jenny, what do you do when you are working?

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  2. for a moment there i thought i'd be the 1st to post today but turns out rick beat me by 5 minutes! i really liked that picture of jenny eating the frosted cinnamon raisin bread! and also the one of the barn with the "face". a customer at the nursery today told me how much she's been enjoying your blog. her original appointment was for last week but had a minor biking accident and rescheduled. her mention of biking prompted me to send her a link to your blog. i think it's really cool how many people who haven't met you before are getting to know you through your posts and pictures. papa and i spoke to timmy today and he's almost finished with the trucking school. atom is practically walking now! he can take 6 or 7 steps at a time and is decidedly more stable on standing up without holding on to anything. and toby's friend gave him a buzz cut! remember when you when through the crew cut stage, jenny? seems so long ago...

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  3. Jenny with a crew cut? That I have trouble picturing. Brett had a crew cut once or twice, but not as you can see, recently!
    We enjoyed the Colrain Srawberry Supper this eve. Hope you run into a similar event. Sweet.
    Guy, Cara, and I thought of you as we biked up to the Green River covered bridge.
    Sending hugs,
    Mom

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  4. Watermelon! Yum! :-P
    I really liked the picture of you all eating. I thought it was kinda cool how you must of just sat the camera down and didn't really mention to anyone that you were taking a picture. Very cool!
    Nice barn pic too! :)
    I picked your garlic scapes yesterday from your garden. Gonna maybe go back and do a little weeding. Found a few of the first black raspberries in the back yard too! YUM!
    <3
    Selena

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  5. Watermelon, friendly strangers becoming friends, and happy looking barns...what a day! I really admired your sense of adventure (and lack of fear) when your mom said, "No brakes on the hills!" yesterday. We had a really fun ride and I imagined riding along with you guys (just not at 35 mph). =)
    So much love heading your way!
    Cara

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  6. Sounds like a fun trip! Nate and I rode to Evanston IL a few years ago, you might want to check out http://biketoschool.wordpress.com/
    We rode on the NY Bike Path alot, then across S Ontario into Michigan, then across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee on the ferry. You might feel the ferry isn't 'biking' but it is a great way to skip the industrial mess around Chicago.
    Michigan we found to be very difficult from a road condition and navigation perspective, good luck with that! The Michigan campgrounds were nice.
    We did manage to find quiet roads across Ontario, you won't have hills to crawl up there! I have a map jpeg of our route I could send you if you want.

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  7. Brett, you probably already know this, but your knee may be getting aggravated by your pedal position. If your cleats are forcing your knee into a (even slightly) out-of-line position, you can run (ride?) into trouble. Not sure what kind of cleats you have, but you can usually get them to 'float' so that your foot isn't locked side-to-side as much.
    Hope you get some dry days, and a tailwind!

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  8. I'd strongly recommend (if you get this in time) the Erie Canal trail around Rochester. not always paved but it was fine on our 23cm road bikes, so your wider tires should do fine.

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