Day 47 Canadaigua to Liverpool.

When I got up this morning and looked out of the window to see what the weather was like I had a shock. The weather wasn't the cause, but there in the car park bold as brass was a Model T Ford, in black of course. Next to it was a Model A Ford and both of them were on their way to a car show. I don't know where the car show was due to be held, but there was a big one in Syracuse the next weekend so it may have been there, and Liverpool is on the outskirts of Syracuse. I was straight out with the camera to collect an important piece of Americana. After breakfast our 5 went in the oposite direction to everyone else for a short distance to Starbucks so that Gary could get a decent coffee for breakfast. Steve and I took the opportunity to visit the lake as it was nearby.
We finally got going and the scenery was very pretty. We came to the head of the next Finger Lake, Seneca Lake, and soon after I got a photo of a yellow school bus, another piece to the collection. We then came upon Fred who had a flat. He had changed the tube but had no air, so Gary gave him a CO2 gas cannister to blow it up and he then rode with us to meet up with Alan in Waterloo where they were due to meet some friends from a previous ride. This meant I had riden from Geneva to Waterloo in just over half an hour!! The route was reasonably flat and the SAG at 30 miles was an easy ride.
We were still at the SAG when Fred and Alan turned up towing a great big black cloud with them, another thunder storm closing in. It was soon raining heavily so we stayed under cover and sat it out. When we did set out, around 50 minutes later, we missed a turn and at the same time Steve was having trouble with a hip muscle. the missed turn was beneficial though as I found an old Drive in Movie facility and there can't be many of them left in the country, so another couple of photos for the American Icon collection. We did not go back, but instead carried on and map read our way back onto the route later in the day. Nearing the end of the ride and after getting back on the route we found a Greek restaurant (Anna would be pleased), believe it or not called Zorba's, amazing but true. We had lunch there before ambling the last 5 miles into the hotel. We saw a lot of older American cars gathering in preparation for the show. At the hotel there were lots of old cars and hot-rods in the car park, though unfortunately no computer, so I went to the hotel next door and used the one in there, and while I was at it had one (or two) of their cookies that were being made for all the car drivers staying there who were heading for the show.
At this time Neil is in Michigan, not a million miles away, but too far for us to meet up, so as we are now in the same time zone he will ring me some time.
Today's distance was 74.2 miles.

Day 46 Hamburg to Canandaigua.

There was only a continental breakfast available this morning and we were quite late starting off after that due to the difficulty of getting a pump that actually worked to pump our tyres up!! There were several pumps but it was a constant scramble to get either the red pump or the 'girlie pink' one, as these were the best. One or two of the others were OK if you had someone else to hold the head of the pump onto the valve while you pumped up to typically 110psi, but the rest were no good at all. Our 5 eventually set off and as most people were heading for a local bicycle museum we did the same. We did take a wrong turn in some road works and so arrived there just after the guided tour had started, but we didn't miss much. The owner/curator/guide chap was clearly passionate about bikes and everything connected with them and gave a very interesting talk about all the exhibits. It was hard to believe that this was a private collection as there was so much. The talk was very American biased and there was only passing reference to anyone else who had possibly invented anything, Americans invented the bicycle, the pneumatic tyre (tire in American), won all the first races and were instrumental in all major developments, apparently. If The USA ever needs a propaganda expert to serve the coutry, then this bloke would be the man for it!!
After we left our pace wasn't high until we realised we were being pursued by a big black cloud complete with heavy rain, lightning and thunder. At this point we increased to a much brisker pace to try to reach the SAG which was only a couple of miles away. About a mile from the SAG as we entered a little town heavy spots of rain started falling and the lightning was very close by, followed instantly by ear splitting claps of thunder. I was on the front, shouting that the SAG was close by, when all of a sudden a lightning bolt hit so close by that the street lights, which were turned off, illuminated for a moment before fading off!! At this juncture I looked behind and people were peeling off to find shelter wherever they could, some rode into an open garage next to a house and the owner not only welcomed them in, but started finding chairs for them to sit on. Meanwhile I carried on as fast as I could (it's amazing how fast you can go when there's the prospect of a ligtning strike!) and got to the SAG which was next to a filling station where there was shelter under the canopy.
The storm passed quickly, but of couse left wet roads and where there was mud from road works it meant a dirty shower from tyres. There were some long hills and the vineyards had disappeared, being replaced by huge fields of wheat, some of which were being harvested. At around mile 55 we saw that Skip had a punture, normally not a noteworthy event, but in this case it was as Skip was one of only two people not to have had a puncture at all so far. We passed him and within about 50 yards my front tyre punctured, only my second and the first on the road. It was quickly changed and I had to dig about 4 or 5 pieces of glass out of the tyre.
The second SAG was at 69 miles in the delightful town of Avon, which was how I imagined 'small town America' to be. Not only did we eat SAG food, but also went for lunch in a nice cafe (remember the eat on sight policy) where the locals were all interested to hear the story so far.
Upon arrival at the hotel we relaxed a little before I went off to visit the town and Lake Canandaigua, both of which were worth the visit. Lake Canandaigua is the largest of The Finger Lakes that this area is named after. They are long narrow lakes in valleys carved out by the last ice sheet. Back at the hotel I cleaned The Mule down and went for dinner.
The distance today was 110.1 miles.

Day 45 Erie to Hamburg.

It couldn't have been a better day to welcome Gary back to the fold. It was not a heavy mileage day, the sun was shining, the skies were blue and the route was reasonably flat alongside the lake. Very pretty. We were just about last to leave, no surprise there, but we were destined to fall further behind. Unfortunately John suffered a string of 4 punctures inside the first 30 miles. Unlucky.
The part of Erie we saw on the way out seemed very nice and the place seemed prosperous. We were not destined to see much of Pennsylvania, it is a huge state and we sliced along the little hook at the top, but what we saw I liked. Lake Erie was quite visible for a long time and is vast. There were nice little marinas along the way with lighthouses. After 20 miles we got to the New York state line and Gerrard was on the roof of one of the vans takng photos. The Day Care Group, ranks swollen by Sarge's two fiends, Winstone and Cary, were there when we arrived, but soon moved off for us to take over. After our photos we moved off into more of John's punctures.
The last part of Pennsylvania and the first part of New York had huge vineyards and it seemed like France, but the rows of vines seem to be further apart. We saw a machine working on the vines trimming the leaves. The route was delightfl and because of the puncture delays we would overtake and re-overtake John and then Sarge's group with his music going, a combinaton of Bob Marley and The Beatles!! Also the moose was back on Sarge's bike.
The SAG was at 47 miles and I was ready for something to eat, in fact I'm always ready for something to eat at the moment, I have an eat on sight policy. After that we got on quite well, but stopped to take pictures of the places on our world tour, Barcelona, Dunkirk, Angola and Hamburg. On the outskirts of Hamburg we got directions to a restaurant called Jacobi's, which turned out to be very good. That was only about a mile and a half from the hotel, but Al and I did some extra miles trying to find a better sign for Hamburg to take his photo in front of. We eventually did. While we were finding the sign two ladies in a car recognised my Welsh top and shouted out of the window,'We're Welsh.' They stopped a short way down the road and we spoke with them, it turns out that the older lady's father was originally from Swansea.
The distance today was 89.45 miles.

Day 44 Rest Day in Erie.

This morning John and I were informed that we were moving out of Sarge's room as he was going to be in with two of his friends who were arriving in Erie for the last tour. I was going to be in with Jay and Rick when the hotels provided a triple room. It is hard to believe that we have arrived at the last tour and that there are only 8 more riding days left.
John and I moved our stuff out first then gathered together our washing and headed about five blocks south to the laundry. Hard to believe that on a rest day we were ina hotel with no laundry, no pool, breakfast wasn't included and the Wi-Fi wasn't working. There were a lot of people who were less than pleased. After lunch Gary loaned me his lap-top and I set to work doing some updates and downloading photos. I then walked down to the shores of Lake Erie (remember it well from geograph A level), for a look around. After that it was off to a restaurant for dinner and a couple of well earned beers. Well it's not every day I have to do my laundry.
Today was a good rest day and the bike did not turn a wheel, though it did get a bit of a clean and its chain lubed.

Day 43 Youngstown to Erie.

Walking up to breakfast my knee was still sore, but the swelling had gone down. The direction in which we were due to leave was black with a storm and did not look at all inviting. Our 4 was the last to leave and it was not raining then, but I took the precaution of wearing my waterproof and after about half an hour I was glad as the heavens were unzipped and all the water therin came cascading down. The roads were awash and there was a mist abot 18 inches above the road as the rain bounced up. It kept up this rate for a lot longer than I was used to, about an hour and then it eased off to torrential. I had spent most of this time at the front, but made the mistake of moving to the back where I was then treated to a dirty shower off the wheels ahead of me. I had to take my glasses of as I was unable to see much. Fortunately the roads were flat and of good quality. On Ridge Road, Ohio near route 87 east I reached the 50,000 miles mark of my cycling. Pales into insignificance compared to Dave in Abergavenny who has done loads more.
By the time we reached the first SAG at 33 miles the rain had stopped, but it was cool and we were wet so we didn't linger. Kept the pace up to the secod SAG at 69 miles and as we entered a root beer stand there was a speed bump and Steve went over it without realising it was there and fell off in front of an admiring crowd. The Russian judge only gave him 4.5 as he didn't point his toes. Fortunately he was not hurt and his bike was OK. Later in the day George did exactly the same thing.
Soon after the second SAG we left Ohio and moved into Pennsylvania, but we will not get to see much of it, just skim along the top. Usual photos.
Rode into Erie and got glimpses of Lake Erie, looks like the sea it is so big. Brought back memories of geography lessons. I did a couple of extra miles to get the century up and that meant I had done 4 back to back, I was glad that tomorrow is a rest day. On arrival I was pleased to see that Gary had arrived and was looking well and ready to go. He has fully recovered from his pneumonia.
We later found an Irish bar and celebrated reaching another rest day.
Today's distance was 100.16 miles.

Day 42 Wooster to Youngstown.

It is shown as Niles on the itinerery, but the hotel is sort of nearer Youngstown so that got the vote. It was another glorious day when we left Wooster as our usual 4. I was trying to conserve energy as I was going for another century today. We had another dog run out again, but it was not aggressive and ran more after Sue and Tom rather than us. It's such a shame that people allow their dog to run out as they could get killed on the road or cause an accident. There were loads of turns today and we had to keep a careful eye on the navigation, a job that usually gets delegated to me, though I'm not sure who does the delegating.
After the first SAG we got to some very rough roads that were patches on patches and not very well done. There was no shoulder so we were forced to ride close to edge of the road which often no longer existed. It was hard going and although we had encountered rough roads before, this went on for miles and miles. I wrenched my knee a little when I was going to stand on the pedals just when the bike hit a rough patch under trees so it was hard to see. My knee was a bit swollen later that evening, but will recover. The second SAG was in the shade of store's verandah, very pleasant.
It wasn't until mile 85 that we got off the rough road and onto a bike path. I did the bike path again to get the extra miles in to complete the century. At the hotel some friends of a rider called Forest were there to surprise him, he has previously been surprised by his wife and son, and they had a big banner proclaiming, 'Ride Forest Ride!' He's certainly doing that.
An original room-mate of Sarge and myself, Charlie Higgins, and his wife were at route rap and stayed to have dinner with us. Charlie is looking very well and has kept off the pounds he lost on the ride. He kept us entertained during dinner with stories from his military career, hilarious.
Today's distance was 100.91 miles,

Day 41 Marysville to Wooster.

I know I had set it properly, but the alarm did not go off at around 5.45am when it was supposed to have. Sarge woke me from a deep dream of peace at around 6.10am and breakfast had started 10 minutes earlier. I didn't take long to get dressed, but instead of rushing headlong into the breakfast scrum I packed first and took my luggage down, then went in when it was thinning out for a quick graze of the goodies. I was still able to make it to load in plenty of time.
When we started John joined us and our group now seems to be a constant 4. The pace was a little less hectic than yesterday, but that didn't stop us missing a couple of turns along the way, though nothing drastic. It was another lovely day with more huge fields of whispering corn and mica glistening in the road surface and for the millionth time fooling me into thinking it was glass. The first SAG spot at 33 miles was an overgrown area around a closed down store so not very picturesque, but we made the most of it. After that we encountered a few hills and a few people said at the same time, 'are we back in Missouri?'
It was a long hop to the second SAG at 74 miles but the location was better in a park area below a dam wall. At the re-start Gerrard and CJ joined us until we hit more hills, some of them a reasonable gradient, then CJ and John dropped off as the 4 of kept going. There were more hills but finally we were rewarded with a good downhill into Wooster. On the main street we found a place not unlike a DQ and popped in there for a qiuck milk shake and a bite to eat. Alan joined us and a little while later CJ joined us and then John, who had suffered a puncture. This info is pinched from a previous blog, but you may be interested to know that Wooster's claim to fame is that an early immigrant, August Imgard, introduced the Christmas tree to the USA in 1847.
After a shower and a beer in the lobby (only the beer in the lobby, not the shower), Bob Haugh joined us as he lives in Wooster. You may recall that Bob had fallen on the ride from Pueblo and suffered a fractured skull. He is progressing very well and hopes to be back on the bike sometime, but does not know when. Everyone was pleased to see him.
After a nice dinner it was a case of adjourning to the bar with the usual 3 plus Fred and Alan for a couple of 'Blue Moons.' Be rude not to. Back in the room later it seems that Sarge has an infected tooth that is causing him a bit of pain.
Today's distance was 102.8 miles.