OUR FINGER LAKES RIDE IS COMPLETE!

Joan's View

Finger Lakes bike trip summary

Miles ridden: 390
Elevation gain: 13033 ft.
# of flat tires: 0
# of times the chain fell off: 2
# of bicycle light malfunctions: 1
# of diabetes monitoring device malfunctions: 1
# of people asking us about the tandem, taking our picture, yelling out positive comments: hundreds

Our greeting puppy

So many cattails & wildflowers

We are back in Sidney as I finish the Finger Lakes section of our blog. Like Tony mentioned yesterday, we decided to shorten our trip, and to do so Tony had to rework the route back to Lockport. We did a 59 mile ride, and because of that, we hit the road early. We started with our usual gigantic, steep climb, then settled in for some slow climbs for about another 8 miles. We knew from the GPS that one more big one was coming, which we apprehensively anticipated to be another "wall." The original hill that we called the wall was the previous day, and it was breathtakingly steep. We struggled our way to the top of that one just to rest in someone's yard. The owner arrived home and said, "It looks like you made it up Cardiac Hill". We laughed and said that someone sure named that hill correctly. 
Approaching yesterday's hill, we saw it from the intersection, along with the ominous extra slow lane for trucks, so we made our refueling pit stop (cherries, trail mix and a potty break), and we started off. This hill was actually a lower percent grade than what experience had told us. Either that or we were definitely in better shape by now. We huffed and puffed and nailed that "wall", and from there on did some pretty smooth cruising all the way back to Lockport. We saw some of the biggest, most beautiful cabbage, carrot and sweet corn fields that I have ever seen. We saw an apple orchard with rows that seemed to have no end. We saw some really memorable buildings. One old barn was bricked in the front and looked almost prettier than the house. We rode through the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and enjoyed seeing some bird watchers doing what they enjoy. We made it back to our truck that was pleasantly awaiting us

We did it!

Thanks you Reid Group!

with almost valet service in front of the The Reid Group thanks to the extra kindness from Bonnie. We did our high fives and loaded the truck. We grabbed something to eat at the nearest Crosby convenience store (owned by the Reid Group) and made our 6 hour drive back to Sidney.

Traveling by bicycle, you really get an understanding of the local culture. One of things I learned on this trip is how many of the New York State residents would like to remove New York City from the state and "give" it to New Jersey, or even just split the state into 2 states. Because the population of New York City is so big, it carries a majority when it comes to voting issues in the State, thereby using "city" mentality on issues that affect rural New York State. New York has the toughest gun control laws in the country, and we passed hundreds of signs all along our rides supporting repeal of that law. In addition, the rural New Yorkers seem to feel that they get the burden of additional New York city taxes.

The other big takeaway is that many of the residents feel that the State's image is dominated by the New York City. The people of Finger Lakes region are lovingly proud of the area, and feel that many Americans think of the State or New York the same as New York City, and there is so much more!

We enjoyed our ride. Hope you enjoyed our blog. 💗

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them” – Ernest Hemingway

SKI RESORTS IN THE SUMMER

Tony's View

We started out this morning with a scenic view. This is Canandaigua Lake at the other end. Remember, it has the most expensive real estate for a Lake besides Lake Tahoe. I guess you can say it pays off to climb this high. The below picture was just down the road. These were all small kiddie chairs lined up for the view. Even the small kids appreciate it. I find it hard to believe they stay there very long.

 We were cruising around and all of a sudden we rode up on a Ski Resort called Bristol Mountain. It was out in the boonies but it was very well maintained. The entire parking lot was paved with curb. It looked very high class for the area. Might be a nice place to go skiing. Never thought we would run into a ski resort, but we are in the mountains.

Today involved 3 more mountain passes. I have to stay we struggled with the first two. These two pictures show that we are in the mountains. Between the mountains are different Finger Lakes. I guess the glaciers pushed the dirt in the lake area up to create the mountains in between. The Lake we passed today were Honeoye Lake, Canadice Lake, Hemlock Lake and Conesus Lake. These are smaller than the previous lakes, but were still lakes shaped as fingers. When we got to the top of the last Lake, Conesus Lake, we were in a small town called Lakeville. We stopped at a restaurant called the 3-Legged Pig. The food was good and very popular with the locals. On the wall was some great signs, like free air guitar with every meal. It even had this cool engineering flowchart. I thought it looked more like what a farmer/engineer flowchart would look like so I texted this picture to Jeff, our resident farmer/engineer, and he replied intelligently with one word, "agreed."


Interestingly, on the wall they had the story of the 3 legged pig. One day a man drove by a farm and saw a three-legged pig. The man went up to the farmer and said, "Excuse me, but why does that pig only have 3 legs?"  

"Well," said the farmer, "that pig is very special. One time when my wife was cooking something she stepped out of the kitchen and it caught on fire. No one in the house knew about it but the pig, and he saved me, my wife, and my 2 kids."  

"That's amazing!" said the man, but why does the pig only have three legs?" 

"Well, there was that time the pig saw a big storm coming and we didn't. The pig ran into the house and dragged us out to the storm cellar. If it weren't for that pig we would all be dead."  

"But still, that doesn't explain why the pig only has 3 legs." 

"And I remember the time my youngest son was stuck up a tree, but I was too far away to hear his cries for help. The pig ran to me and led me to where he was."  

"Well, that is a miracle, but how come that pig only has 3 legs?" the man said quite annoyed at this point.  

"Well," said the farmer, "with a pig that special... you have to eat 'em real slow."

When we got to the hotel, I went swimming and sat in the hot tub. Joan tried to take a nap to no avail, then realized she had ice tea for lunch and the caffeine kept her up. We decided to go on a hike to Letchworth State Park. According to USA Today, it was rank the number one state park in the USA in 2015. It is also known as the Grand Canyon of the East. Well ,we went on our hike and it was hot and the mosquitoes were bad. So instead of getting eaten up, we decided to turn around after only getting 1 1/4 miles down the trail. We could see the big gorge through the trees, and I am sure it would of been nice. We walked downtown to eat and then stopped on the way back for ice cream. We ended up walking/hiking 4 1/2 miles before we got back to hotel. Good way to work off the ice cream. Getting to bed early tonight because we are getting up early and skipping the overnight in Batavia and going straight to Lockport to get our truck. The bike ride is longer, but am running out of insulin and will be cutting it tight if we stay another day. Another lesson learned by me.

Joan 's Extra

While eating at the 3 Legged Pig, we talked to some local guys on their lunch break. We learned the answers to 2 burning questions that made us wondering for the last week or so:

1. What are the small bird boxes that sit atop fence posts along country roads?  A. They are houses for wood ducks. The wood ducks were declared endangered and they have made a comeback since the State of NY starting putting up the bird houses for the wood duck to lay its eggs.
2. Why are the wheat fields unharvested even though the wheat is drooping over ripe? A. They have gotten so much rain that the fields are too wet for the farmers to take it off. We did see a few fields being harvested in the last few days fortunately for the owners.

Now the only question that remains is, I wonder if the trivia guru, Jeff Fannon, knew that?  🦆🦆🦆

A LAYOVER IN THE LIBRARY BETWEEN CLIMBS

Joan's View

Wow! What a day! Again, we started out our ride with a steep ascent panting up a hill that trucks use their flashers on. Honestly, they really look more like mountains on a bike when you are at the bottom. The GPS nonchalantly informs us of the 1,880 feet climb for the day.

Our first climb of the day.. A sign?

We started our day with a late breakfast knowing that we only had a 30 mile ride. Boy, how plans can change. We were forced to make some stops along the way. Some might say it was to catch our breath, but we found other excuses reasons to stop. One time Tony fixed our brakes. Another time we took pictures and, yet, there always is the need to check our phones. 😉 










In  actuality though,

Another great view

 at one point Tony read that we were on a road with 17% slope. That's called a heart rate monitor.

A sightseeing stop

We eventually coasted down a hill into Naples and stopped to eat at Bob & Ruth's Diner. Bob came running out as soon as we pulled up to see our bike. We had planned to eat a big meal and fill ourselves up for the rest of the day because our bed & breakfast, Bristol Views, is a 2 mile ride up a hill out in the country. Well, Tony started checking doppler and the rain was arriving sooner than we expected so it was time to go to plan B. Because the storm looked pretty strong and was passing through in a few hours, we took refuge in the Naples library. A huge shoutout to Pam, one of the Naple's librarians, for letting us hang out in their reading room while the storm poured outside. Tony took the opportunity to research routes for the next few days and I read from the huge selection of magazines. We also did some electronics charging as well. 

Luckily we took the low road... this time.

Clouds in the mountains after the storm

The storm finished and we packed up again. As we were loading the bike, another bicyclist stopped to chat. He had waited out the storm in a baseball diamond dugout, and was traveling from Boston to Colorado. He was young and free spirited.

Tony in the reading room at the Naples library. Our bike can be seen through the window.

Upon leaving the library, we actually walked our tandem to the grocery store nearby to find dinner that we could take with us up the mountain to eat later. Seeing that this was our 4th major ascent of the day, once we got to the top and made it to Bristol Views, we were staying put for the night. I got wings and Tony got a sub. We took the "shortcut" that Tony found at the library. It was 100' less of climb than his previous route. Yeah, but we still found it necessary to stop for pictures and such again.

Henry, Tony & Colby

Our welcome sign at Bristol Views

Around 5:30 (kiss the ground) we arrived at Bristol Views! Henry, the owner, said to us, "We don't get many bicyclists here." That's a belly laugh! Henry and Barb, the owners, are great and so is their dog, Colby. Colby is a another rescue with loving owners. Henry and Barb were making burgers for dinners. They had four until Colby snuck into the kitchen while Henry was talking to us. Now they had 3 burgers.

Tony & I are sitting on the porch enjoying the view and the cool temperatures up here on the mountain. There is a hummingbird that keeps visiting a nectar feeder right here by us. So nice!

Tony's View

The mountains are beautiful and for me unexpected. Now I know what Bonnie and Paul at the beginning meant by saying the first stretch will be easy, than it gets hilly. I guess I thought, "how hilly can it get?" Now I know, very hilly. Even though, it has been an enjoyable experience. The name of the streets really make it fun, like Widow Hill Road. 

SHORT RELAXING RIDE

Tony's View

Today's ride was only 16 miles with only a couple of hills. It happened to be the next place we want to go, Penn Yan on Keuka Lake. In fact, on the dinner cruise they said John Travolta has a place in Penn Yan, but who really cares. 

If you look in the foreground you see a big hill. It is hard to see because I was the photographer and not as good as Joan. Trust me if you look close you can see it. The amazing part was it looks like a downhill to the up hill but to our astonishment is it was up hill to the big hill. Optical illusion I guess in the Amish country. When we got to the top of the hill traveling 3.5mph we made a turn on a country road  with a name Joan liked. As you can see in the photo below it was called Flat Street. It even got two thumbs up from her. Well it was flat in this area standards, but in west central Ohio it would be considered hilly. 
  

 When we got to the hotel at 11:15 they weren't ready for us, which is understandable. They did find a place for our bags so we could travel around town and around the lake without the extra weight. Above, you see Joan found a quiet beach to walk out into. Then a day care dropped off a bunch a kids and Joan's quiet beach got busy. It was fun just to sit back,relax and watch the kids have a blast. Things you don't usually enjoy in our busy world. They were burning up a lot of energy. We both thought it was a good idea of the daycare. 

We decided after a couple of hours at the lake beach (and being stalked by sea gulls) that we would go back to the hotel. I decided to jump in the pool while Joan started the laundry. Before you chastise me, Joan didn't want to go swimming. I did go out and clean and oil the chain, make a few tweaks to her gears and clean the bike, just so you can feel sorry for me, it was very hot and humid. I sweated through another shirt.😓

I decided to go swimming again to cool off. I should say thanks to Joan for doing the laundry.

Joan's Extra

Some things I am thankful for today:

• Tony getting us up all these hills (I hear him panting).
• My own set of gears.
• A rainfree day.
• The beauty of the Finger Lakes area and the clear waters.
• Another nice hotel (versus a tent for all of you GOBA people).
• Most of all - faith, family & friends! God bless America! It's a beautiful country!

RIDING BACK TO GENEVA

Joan's View

We had a beautiful ride today again. We had about 1,650 ft of climb today so my legs are feeling the ride yet. We started out riding along Route 14 which follows alongside Seneca Lake. We stopped at one point and 2 elderly ladies passed us peddling up the hill. We started riding and passed them, but  when we stopped for our next break, the Energizer Bunnies (as Tony named them) passed us again. By this time we were on a side road that rook us through Amish country. Many of the farms had beautiful views of the Lake and valley below. I was also enjoying the gorgeous flowers that the Amish were growing in their gardens or yards, to use in cut arrangements for sale. At a further point along this road, we spotted some Eagle's nests in telephone poles (just like Tom Thornton had said). We stopped to get some pictures, but the Eagle in the nest flew out as we approached, and then one Eagle started circling and sort of dive bombing at us. It was a little unnerving knowing how sharp their claws are so we started peddling again.

Who's named after who?

Snacking at the back of The Anthony Road Winery

Back on Route 14 we made the big find of the day, the Anthony Road Winery. Their bottles say Anthony and Tony on them. We bought a Tony's Red, a Tony's White, and a Tony's Blush. Good thing they didn't have a Tony's green or we would have to buy all of Choice One one of those!

Somebody fitting in with the Anthony Road grapevines

Strolling through the grapevines

 



A few more hills and we made it to the top of Lake Seneca. We arrived back in Geneva, where we passed through last Wednesday. After a nice nap, we walked almost 2 miles through some nice residential areas to get to downtown Geneva. We ate at Beef & Brew, and then took in some more views of the Lake. We walked out on the same pier that Tony, Wade & Fran illegally rode their bikes on during their cross country trip. The walk back finished with a stop at Tops ( a grocery store) to replenish our cherry supply. A total of 4.5 mile walk.





TONY"S VIEW

What a beautiful ride, we are starting to get use to the hills, notice no whining. When were in the Amish area, we past their place of worship and the parking lot had all these stalls, which looked like carports. They really take care of their horses. It is like having a garage in the parking lot for all the cars. I had a Blackberry Beer at the restranuarant and it was good. What made it better is the bartender accidentally poured 2 and I got 2 for the price of 1. We had a busy night and Joan didn't finish her view of this blog, until after 11:30. Which I was too grumpy to do mine until morning. Hard to believe I would get grumpy. Our kids have never seen me grumpy.😪😡 night time, 😀😀 morning.

HILLS AND I MEAN STEEP HILLS

Tony's View

 We were at the hotel at breakfast and I showed Joan the picture to the right on my computer. I said we have a big hill to go up, then flat, then one big hill to go down. I didn't realize that it would be that steep. The picture below shows the name of the road we were going on. Upon seeing it,  I thought," oh crap." We better get a picture of this. They were even nice enough to have an arrow on the sign post saying it was up hill. I guess when they do that it means it's very steep, you crazy cyclist. We even saw buzzards circling. They must have made a meal of other cyclists trying this hill, I guess.

We started heading up and the air got really thin. I was struggling to breath and I looked at my watch and my heart rate was 165. For this old man that is in the anaerobic zone, meaning my body said this isn't going to go on long. I said, "The next shade tree we are stopping. "Joan completely agreed because she was realizing the air was thin, too. Wade and I used to say when we were tired, we should stop and get a picture. So we took a picture, see below. We were about 1/3 of the way up. The hill was about a 1000 feet of climb with a lot of it at a grade of 12.8% according to our Garmin. It took us 2 breaks on the hill and one on the top. We were a little over 6 miles in and I was exhausted. 😭😭 We climbed more feet in that hill than almost the entire 50 miles the last day we rode. To justify the breaks, we also FaceTimed Luke and Cara, since Mondays are Joan's day with Luke. The next break we FaceTimed Marla to get an extended break. We decided not to FaceTime Wade because he would make fun of us and call us old. Truth hurts. 

At the end, we got to go down the hill which was exhilarating. We went up to 42mph with the brakes on the whole way. Your definitely gain more ground at 42 mph than 3.5mph on the way up. Enough about the hills because I LOVE HILLS. Seriously, they get me in shape. I just love them more on my single bike without the heavy tandem and 85 additional pounds of luggage.

I just want to say that Joan was a real trooper on the HILL and hills aren't her thing. Her effort was awesome.

 We stopped at a roadside cheese shop and bought some locally made cheese. Joan found a dog who wanted to play fetch with with a small piece of wood. I think the dog liked her. She would get ready to throw and the dog would be highly concentrating, and then off he would go. We had to leave when Joan started hitting the building with her throws. Good thing we left though because we had about 5 miles to go and when we got on the bike, the skies were extremely dark. We hustled the last 5 miles to avoid the eventual downpour. We made it to the Cook Mansion Bed and Breakfast before the skies let loose. Actually I am writing this blog form the porch during the rain, and how peaceful it is. Joan is taking a well deserved nap. 💤

I did get a response from some smart guy, or who thinks he is smart. He said "Hmmm...a bridge to carry water over water. Sounds like an aqueduct." Tough crowd of followers.😊😀



Joan's Extra

 I am so thankful that Tony only planned a 25 mile day today! That was some hill!
 I learned something while eating dinner tonight that Tony isn't really interested in riding through the Alps just around the Alps. Look for that on a future addition to the blog. 🚵
The picture to the right is wall at Maur Bellas, where we ate dinner. The wall is a natural waterfall that the building is built around.




The picture at the left is the Shequaga Falls that is in our backyard of our bed and breakfast. We can see it from our room's window, and the rain downpour right after we arrived has made the falls stronger and fuller!

Finally, it's Monday and the day that I usually get to spend with Luke. Cara sent me a few pictures of Luke "helping" so I thought I would share his cuteness to brighten any reader's day.

COLLEGES, FALLS AND HIKING

Tony's View

 We woke up this morning and walked 1 3/4 mile to Mass. It was a nice walk and had plenty of time to do a rosary together. It was the easiest rosary so far on the trip. Joan has been leading the rosary on the bike and it is tougher to do when you are sucking wind. After Mass, Anne Morrow's brother, Tom and his wife Betsy Salm who live in the area graciously picked us up. They gave us a wonderful tour of Ithaca, which started with Ithaca College. It had some great views. They have 6,500 students and Tom was formerly a administrator of the campus.
The Salms then gave us a tour of Cornell University. It is super hilly, much more than Ohio University. It also has some very impressive waterfalls. I personally think it is the coolest university that I have ever been on. Tom and Betsy showed us this cool suspension bridge that was in the middle of a waterfall in the middle of Cornell. Obviously, I was impressed. We then ate at Cafe Dewitt and Tom informed us that his sister Anne was buying. By the way Anne, you owe Tom $75. It was a nice place. Thanks Anne!

We got back to the room and I cleaned the bike and did some minor adjustments to get ready for the rest of the trip. This is our only day off. We finished laundry and decided to go hiking. What a beautiful hike, and it was just under a mile from the hotel where we are staying. The State Park is called Buttermilk Falls. 

 If you want to see falls and all different kinds of falls, Ithaca is the place to go. You could easily just spend a week here. Tomorrow we head to Montour Falls, which I assume by the name of the town, there will be more falls. Well, I have to get to my second bottle of wine and drink it so we don't have to tug it up the hills tomorrow. It is tough but some one has to do it.

 Joan's View

Even though it was our "rest" day, we did lots of walking and touring, which is really all just a plus to our adventure. We climbed probably over a half a mile of steps to get to the top of Buttermilk Falls. Thank goodness for the Salms driving around the hills of Ithaca! As the saying goes here, "Ithaca is Gorges"

THE HILLS OF ROUTE 89

Joan's View

Breakfast at the Gridley Inn was yummy. We got started a little later because we were chatting with the owners and other guests of the bed and breakfast.

The route was a backroad zigzag shortcut to Route 89 which runs along beautiful Lake Cayuga.

 The views were great, and the sites along the way were fun too. Tom Thornton texted Tony to tell us to look out for eagles perched on telephone poles, and we found one! We also had a huge selection of wineries to pick from. We stopped first at a roadside vendor area though and Tony found some beer tasting before we visited our 1st winery. I got a souvenir necklace from one of the local vendors there while he taste tested on the cool adirondack chairs with attached tables.

Our next stop was to refuel and, yes, they had ice cream. In fact, this place was ranked by USA Today as the best ice cream in New York. We got other food too though. 

The next pit stop was the Hosmer Winery.  We had to wait for the owner to go home to get his camera so that he could take some pictures of our bike. Another fun discussion with another fascinated bicycle enthusiast.

The pictures show Tony doing some wine tasting and then doing his selecting. He picked 2 bottles which added to our load. The hills were getting much bigger at this point, but it was important to keep Tony happy though because we had lots of peddling still ahead of us.

This leads us to our next pit stop -cherries! Who knew that this little railroad crossing place would be such a sweet stop! Again, our bags were getting a little heavier.

Our final pit stop before heading to the hotel was Taughannock Falls, the highest falls in the state, even higher than Niagara. We did another first, a "hike the bike" to get to the actual falls. Tony pushed the bike about 3/4 mile each ways on the trail. The falls were, of course, beautiful. 

Similarly, we had a gathering of people asking questions and inspecting our mode of transportation.























We saw many waterfalls along the road. Closer to Ithaca, we picked up a bike trail for a stretch. We stopped on a bridge just to snap a picture of some falls off of the trail. Reaching Ithaca, we were later than usual checking into our hotel, and a little more tired than usual as well. Regardless, Tony did a great job getting us up those hills!!!!!

Tony's Extra

We had a great day and it took us about 8 hours to go 50 miles. As Joan stated, we talked to the other guest at the B&B. The one couple had a business of selling Mac Tools and we started talking Value Propositions, of which they have a lot of potential. Then I started to realize, I was getting excited about Value Proposition like Tony Collins. Oh no, I think that is bad?

Well on to the ride, after the beer tasting, Joan showed her courage. We headed down a hill right away and we were going 44 miles per hour. I pretty sure she didn't know, so don't tell her. Funny thing is that just down the road I did some wine tasting. Then we got back on the road and went 45 mph and I had to keep the brakes on to keep us from going faster. Since we had all these good hills going down we had tough ones going up. I was glad I was with Joan instead of my sister, Nancy. Actually one of the tough hills when I was really sucking wind, Joan was too.

Looking forward to our day off tomorrow.