Thursday morning we finished loading up the bicycles and rode off into the cold to see if we could make it to Hilton in one piece...
My bike does well even loaded down with more than 60lbs of stuff...but takes some getting used to. When I first climbed on after she was all loaded, there was an uncontrollable shimmy. Thankfully that steadied in a short bit. I even neared 20mph without a wiggle. Occasionally the wind or road conditions would induce a short-lived shimmy, but I was able to keep the bicycle under control.
When you are this loaded down you need to stay in charge...
Anyway...it was cold and actually snowed a little as we were leaving the city.
I was able to keep warm on my heavy ride...but the others weren't always quite as comfortable.
My mom and sister riding away down the Pendleton bike path...
Eventually they switched bikes; Kat then rode the loaded one and Mom floated along on the racer...
My little sis did an amazing job riding 40 to 50 miles a day with a load...I was very impressed with her legs and stamina!
In Lockport we saw one of the widest bridges in the world...
and some canal locks.
I've never seen locks up close before...they are so interesting!
Also, they had just started filling the canal the day before we left...it was empty on Tuesday!
We could see the level of water wasn't quite what it would be when full...
After Lockport we ate lunch, and then the canal entered farming country...what a sight for sore eyes!
I miss this type of scenery...
In the evening we reached Medina, and ate our last meal of the day at Zambistro.
It was a pleasant restaurant, but had no place to lock up bikes...we used a small tree.
I tried their escargot...my first time eating snails...they are good!
We 'stealth camped' for the night in a very old graveyard not far from the trail.
There haven't been people buried there since the mid 1800s...according to the headstones.
There was even a Revolutionary war veteran buried there!
Our tent fit nicely onto an area of soft grass. There was a gentle slope, but it didn't affect my sleeping...
(it may have bothered the others, though)
Around this little oasis were orchards and piles of bulldozed trees...
The heap did make a convenient, but very muddy toilet...
Falling asleep that evening was amazing. I was very tired after riding 50 miles, and the only sounds were birds and frogs. So beautiful...and much too cold!
6 comments:
Beautifully done, Alex.
hello Alex, I found your blog from your signature link on bikeforums.net. I've shared the link to your blog to all my facebook friends, and I sent a link to BikeTouringNews.com
I'm very impressed with your skills at creating beautiful panniers.
I'm looking forward to following your adventure
Safe Travels!
Dave
http://www.youtube.com/ThreeWheelJourney
http://www.threewheeljourney.blogspot.com/
Thanks Dave, I really appreciate that!
Wow, a perimeter tour...very interesting...
Have fun and be safe!
Excellent! Too bad you didn't have better weather, but that's April in Western New York for you.
Regarding the shimmy - it can be caused by a lot of things, but often it's from having weight too high on the fork. If you have any way of dropping your front panniers down a bit more, it may help.
Also, you can camp anywhere on canal lands. Some of the bridges and locks ( like the bridge at Holley, for example ) have designated campgrounds with showers/bathrooms/etc.
Unfortunately I can't lower the panniers at all...I'm trying to keep most of the weight in the rear ones anyway.
On our ride home we camped on the canal lands...but not at a designated campground. I didn't see any of those...
I'm doing this from memory, but there are camping areas with toilets/showers at the marina at Middleport, and one in Holley on the canal side opposite the trail.
The one in Holley is especially nice, as you can take a short stroll down to a rather nice waterfall in the park next to the canal, etc.
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