Mystic

Total for this ride: 43.7 miles

Total for this year: 706.7 miles

Sunday's ride was a little more ambitious than Saturday's.  I'd always wanted to ride from East Lyme to Mystic, home of Mystic Seaport, a restored 19th Century whaling village.  This was my day to do it.

The first challenge was finding the pedestrian/bicycle path on the north span of the Gold Star Bridge over the Thames River - the longest bridge in the state of CT.  I rode over the bridge once last year, but I came in from the Coast Guard Academy.  This time I was riding in from downtown New London - approaching from the opposite direction.  I knew generally where I needed to go, but still had to turn around once when it became apparent that I was about to ride onto an on-ramp for a major highway.  Fortunately one of those "no bikes" signs alerted me to the error of my way before I got into trouble, and also fortunately the exploratory route I took after turning around turned out to be the right one.  It took me straight to the bike path.

Getting over the bridge was no trouble.  It rises a couple hundred feet over the Thames River, but the slope is so gradual that it really isn't that hard.  Once you get to the other side, the path gets pretty creepy.  It looks exactly like someplace one could easily get mugged, murdered, or worse.  And indeed, as I was working my way under the bridge and up to the street level, I almost ran over a homeless woman who was sitting right on the path, "getting herself together" she said as I excused myself and rode around her.

I managed to get up to the street level on the Groton side of the bridge without further incident, but ended up at a 5-way intersection which wasn't really well marked.  I brought maps, but they weren't detailed enough to tell me which way I should go.  So I picked one and decided I'd figure it out eventually.  After roaming around for maybe 15 minutes, I came across a street I remembered from the map, which gave me my bearings and put me on the road to Mystic.

I reached Mystic not long after that, and rolled into the historic district.  Although I've been to the seaport dozens of times in the past, I couldn't remember ever being in this part of town.  If I didn't have to get back for the 1:00 family party, and if I wasn't wearing cleats, I would have liked to stay and explore.  But I pressed on, and head north out of town, eventually turning back to the west toward Groton.

When I got back to Groton I decided to take Thames Road, the road right along the river, north to the access point for the bridge.  I stopped once at the Garbo Lobster plant to take a couple of pictures of New London on the far side of the river, then continued north toward the bridge.  Before getting there I stopped one more time in a parking lot off the street to take a panorama of the bridge.  When I finished, I slowly climbed up the small rise out of the parking lot toward the road.  I was about to make a left turn, when I thought I heard a car approaching from that direction.  I stopped short of the road so I wouldn't get hit, but hadn't thought to unclip my cleat from the pedal before doing so.  So... I fell.  Landed on my right side, right on the sidewalk.  Fortunately I was not moving at the time, so the damage was minimal.  A bruse on my left hand, and a few small scrapes on the right break lever and hood.  Other than that, the only thing damaged was my pride.

Getting back over the bridge was kind of interesting.  Going back through the creepy area I noticed a guy up ahead of me walking on the path.  I don't think he was homeless, but he didn't seem to be moving with a purpose.  So, like I normally do when coming up on pedestrians from behind, I called out to him.  But he was in his own world.  I kept riding closer and called out again.  Still nothing.  He reached down to pick something up from the narrow path just as I rolled up to him and called out again - this time he heard me, but apparently I scarred the heck out of him.  He jumped off the path and hollered.  I apologized and pressed on.  Right after I got by him, before I made the final right hand turn up toward the bridge, I noticed in my mirror that there was a guy on a motor scooter coming up fast behind me.  This is completely illegal - there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the pedestrian/bike path.  But there he was.  Hoping that he would continue straight toward the sub base when I turned right to go up toward the bridge, I tried to pick up the pace.  But he wanted to go over the bridge too.  There was no way I was going to be able to stay ahead of him, and the path is too narrow for him to pass, so I quickly unclipped (ALMOST falling again in the process...) pulled into the grass, and let him pass.  As he did so he yelled out that I didn't need to let him go by, but I definitely think that was a good move.  By the time I hit the straightaway up the bridge, he was long gone.

I got back to New London OK, and planned to just retrace my route back home.  But I quickly discovered that one of the streets I had ridden on earlier in the day was a one-way street.  It took a few minutes (and about 25 yards of riding against traffic) to get me back on track.  Going back toward East Lyme on Rt. 1 in New London I realized that the city has lots of stoplights on hills.  All of which were going up in my direction.  Which meant I would have to take off from a stop, and while trying to get the bike rolling up a hill, clip into my pedal before losing all momentum and falling down.  I successfully managed to do so at each light, but the whole experience reminded me of the first time I took a stick shift into San Francisco.  You really learn a lot in those situations.

All day I had thought about making this a >50 mile ride, and could have easily done so by swinging down toward the Harkness Memorial on the way home, but I'd had enough of an adventure for one day, and needed to get back before company showed up.  So I took the straight route back and settled for just under 44 miles.

By the way... this is the "death shot"... the one I took right before falling down...

Rocky Neck

Total for this ride: 15.9 miles

Total for this year: 663 miles

Spent the weekend visiting my folks in southern CT.  While I was there got in a couple of quick rides.  The ride on Saturday was kind of a traditional ride every time I go home.  Fairly short, but scenic.  As usual, I started west on the Post Road out of their neighborhood in East Lyme, then south until I hit the coast, then east to Niantic and then north back to East Lyme.  Only difference this time was that I took a quick tour of Rocky Neck State Park.  I've always known that it was there, but never got around to checking it out.  Nice place.  Lots of campers there for the Memorial Day weekend.  But surprisingly it didn't seem like the parking lot was very full down by the beach.  Nice quick easy ride.

A Visit With The DEAD...

Total for this ride: 12.3 miles

Total for this year: 647.1 miles

Led the imaging science group from RIT to Mt. Hope Cemetery in what's become the traditional first ride of the season.  Small group.  Started with seven, and lost one before we got back to campus.  Stopped at all the usual spots while we were at Mt. Hope - Alexander Millener (George Washington's drummer boy), Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony (leftmost headstone in the row closest to the camera in the shot at right).  Pointed out a few others as we rode by.  Everybody seemed to have a good time.

On the way home, dropped the Univega at Trailblazer's Bike Shop here in Victor.  Told them about the problem shifting, and the annoying clicking from the bottom bracket (or hub).  The mechanic promised to get it back to me by next week Wednesday.

It's Snowing!

Total for this ride: 31.9 miles

Total for this year: 634.8 miles

Commute + first regular season RIT group ride.  This one through Genesee Valley Park and up to the UR.  Beautiful weather.  So what's this about snow?  Well... it wasn't REAL snow.  It was just the annual attack of the cottonwood seeds.  Little white puffs of... stuff that looks like snow when it's coming down and when it collects on the ground.  There was even a layer of it on the canal.

Speaking of the canal... I think this is the first time I've ridden the towpath on the Great Embankment this year.  Succeeded in getting my bike totally coated in trail dust.

Other items of note... The goslings are getting pretty big.  We passed a couple of families along the way.  Fortunately none were being overly protective.  Those adult geese can get pretty nasty when they think their kids are threatened.

Need to take the Univega back in.  I had it tuned up a while back, which was probably a mistake.  It was actually running pretty good, but it hadn't had a good servicing for a long time so I told the guys to go for it.  Now the rear deraileur isn't shifting properly, and worse yet... there's a clicking sound coming from the bottom bracket.  It's the same problem I have on TWO of my bikes now and it's driving me crazy.  So after the CIS ride on Thursday I think I'll take it back and have them try again.  If that doesn't work... they lose my business forever.  Easy as that.

Canandaigua Lake Loop

Total for this ride: 44.4 miles

Total for this year: 602.9 miles

I'd originally planned to make a lap around Seneca Lake today, but decided against it.  I had a few things to do around the house, and driving to Geneva, and riding a hilly 75 miles, would have consumed most of the day.  So I opted to ride around Canandaigua Lake instead - much closer, and about 30 miles shorter.

Even though it was a shorter ride than I intended to make, it was still a pretty good workout.  It featured 2728 feet of climbing, including a continuous 570 ft climb over 1.75 miles - a 6% grade.  Yes, I know... Lance Armstrong wouldn't even break a sweat on a tiny little climb like that.  But I'm old.  Cut me some slack.  At least I made it without stopping.  And I only got passed by one young couple who snuck up behind me about a quarter mile from the top and sped by me like I was standing still.  Show offs.

I figured with all the climbing my pace would be horrible, but I actually finished in 3:20 for a 13.1 mph rate.  Nothing to brag about, but not bad for me.  Only made one quick stop in Naples to go to the bathroom and grab a quick power bar.  I even minimized the number of pictures in the interest of saving time.  It was kinda hard to shoot anyway, since I was either pulling hard on the handlebars while climbing, or I was holding on for dear life while flying down the other side.  There wasn't much in between.

Longest Ride. Ever.

Total for this ride: 115 miles

Total for this year: 558.5 miles

It was an absolutely perfect day for riding.  And I took full advantage of it with the longest ride I've ever taken.  By far.  I've done a few centuries before, but they've all been just over 100 miles.  This time when I hit the century mark I was still 15 miles from home.  But it didn't matter.  With cool temps, light winds, a great route, and a new bike, I was in the zone all day.

I left the house at 8:15 am knowing I was going for a long ride.  I had it in the back of my mind that I might go all the way to Weedsport - a small town something over 50 miles to the east - but on my cue sheet I noted all of the places where I could bail and take a short cut back if I wasn't feeling up to it.  I headed out on Rt 96 and quickly passed through several terminally quaint little villages - Phelps, Waterloo (birthplace of Memorial Day), and Seneca Falls (home of the women's rights movement and the National Women's Hall of Fame).  I made great time for the first 30 miles.

I took my first short break at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.  I've driven through the refuge a hundred times on the NY Thruway, and always wanted to check it out.  This was my first chance to do so.  But while I had high hopes that it would be a fun place to explore, before I even reached the visitor center I was greeted with a sign that said bikes and walkers weren't allowed on the "wildlife drive" that took visitors around the refuge.  That struck me as really, really stupid.  Why in the world would you allow loud, polluting, obnoxious motor vehicles to travel on a "wildlife drive" but not clean, quiet bikes?  It made no sense, and I immediately felt like I wasn't going to be welcomed there.  So I hopped off the bike at the visitor center, downed a couple of granola bars, hit the bathroom, and got back on the road.

I continued east on Rts 5 and 20 until I reached Auburn, then turned north on Rt 34 toward Weedsport.  I rolled into town at about 1:00.  First order of business was to get new batteries for the GPS (they were running dangerously low, and I wasn't about to ride over a hundred miles and not have a route map to show for it).  Picked them up at a convenience store, rode across the street for lunch at Arby's, and called Jill with a progress report before finally heading back east toward Victor.

I took Rt 31 most of the way back.  It's a cool stretch of road because it so rich in Erie Canal history.  The canal has been rerouted and expanded a couple of times since it was originally built in the 1820's, and it's still possible to see remnants of each generation all along Rt 31.  Perfect example was a little park between Weedsport and Port Byron where they've preserved some of the supports from the Centerport Aqueduct.  It was a cool place and I would have loved to do some more exploring, but I was wearing cleats so walking was a huge hassle.  So I just took a few photos and resumed the ride.

From Port Byron there are a series of small canal towns spread out every 5-10 miles.  Clyde, Lyons, Newark, Palmyra, and Macedon.  Really, really neat little towns, each with its own charm, personality, and history.  The area is a mecca for Mormons.  The Mormon prophet Brigham Young lived in Port Byron in 1831, and the angel Moroni presented Joseph Smith with the Golden Tablets near Palmyra.

Just past Macedon, after crossing into Perinton, I turned to the south on Victor-Egypt Rd for the home stretch.  I was pleasantly surprised that I felt so good as I took the hills during those last 6 miles.  Make no mistake - I wasn't setting any speed records, but I really didn't feel too bad.  A little stiff in the lower back, but that was about it.

I got home at 6:45.  I'd been on the road 10.5 hours, 8.5 of which was actually on the saddle, according to the GPS.  In the end, I was really glad that I took full advantage of an absolutely gorgeous Sunday to get in such an incredible ride.  I'll remember this one for a long time to come.

Warm-up? Yeah, Right...

Total for this ride: 6.3 miles

Total for this year: 443.5 miles

Another boring "warm-up" ride for the RIT group.  I am getting SO TIRED of riding in the cold....

Warm-Up #2

Total for this ride: 6.9 miles
Total for this year: 437.2 miles

Second warm-up ride for the RIT recreational group.  Nice weather.  A total of 16 people showed up.  Twice around the perimeter road.

Bike New York 5-Boro Ride

Total for this ride: 72.3 miles

Total for this year: 430.3 miles

Started out at 6:00 a.m. from Fort Lee, NJ, and crossed over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan.  I got over the bridge OK, but I had no idea how to get from the walkway access ramp to the Hudson River Greenway, which I hoped would take me to the starting point of the ride at the southern tip of Manhattan near Battery Park.  I asked a guy (?) who was headed up the ramp on his way to NJ if he could give me directions.  All he could say was "it's not easy...".  While I was talking to him (?) another guy came by on his way into NY.  I asked him if he was going downtown.  He was.  I asked him if he minded if I tagged along.  He said he was in a hurry.  I assured him that I just needed to be pointed in the right direction, and if I couldn't keep up he should feel free to drop me.  With that we took off at a pretty good pace through the streets of upper Manhattan.  I kept up with him long enough to find out that he was supposed to be working as a marshall at the ride, but he was really late - he was supposed to be down at the starting point (still a good 13 miles away) over a half hour earlier.  After about 10 minutes of flying down nearly empty roads, I felt like I had my bearings (at least I knew I was headed south) and let my guide pull away.

I rode on by myself for another 20 minutes or so, then decided I should start working my way over to the Greenway.  At one point I noticed a group of four cyclists wearing the green bibs that indicated they were registered for the ride crossing my path up ahead.  They were headed toward the west, so I assumed they were on their way to the Greenway.  I pulled up along side and asked if they knew the way.  They weren't really sure, but thought there was an access point up ahead, so we pressed on until we finally found it a short time later.  Once on the Greenway, I was set.  It was just a matter of riding until I reached Battery Park.

I arrived near the starting area at just about 7:00.  It turns out that even though I arrived a full hour before the planned start of the ride, there were so many people there ahead of me that I couldn't even see the official starting line.  My group would have to wait right next to the former site of the World Trade Center until the thousands of people ahead of us were given the green light to go.  Knowing that I was going to be there a while, I ate the breakfast I brought with me (two bananas and a couple of Fig Newtons), took some pictures of the crowd, and chatted with some of the other riders - a cop from Rockaway County, a couple of guys from Syracuse, and a mother/daughter team from somewhere in the midwest.  The ladies were nice enough to offer to take my picture for me.  It was a decent shot, but thinking about it afterward, I wish I had posed like I had when I had my picture taken last time I waited for this ride to start - seven years ago in May 2003.  Oh, well...

At long last, our group was released to head for the starting line.  Of course there were still so many people that we couldn't actually ride - we all walked several blocks until we got there, crossed under the banner, and were on our way.  Almost immediately people started crashing around me.  Most were due to collisions, but in one case a rider apparently walked out into the street to take a picture of the masses of bikes as they rushed toward him.  One of the guys one one of these bikes apparently didn't see him and narrowly missed taking the photographer out.  Even though he avoided a major collision, the bike still grazed the guy with enough force that his camera went flying out into the middle of the street and broke when it hit the ground.

We were actually able to ride for a few miles, until we reached Central Park.  Once we got into the park, everything ground to a halt, and we were forced to walk a significant portion of the way until we got back out onto the city streets.  It just so happened that Dad called me while I was walking along with the crowd, so we had a nice chat until I was finally able to mount up and ride again.  Even though there were minor delays and bottlenecks throughout the rest of the ride, none of them compared with the backup in Central Park.

The rest of the ride was fairly enjoyable, considering that I was constantly riding in a crowd.  The weather was perfect for riding - blue skies and temps in the mid-80's.  It made for some spectacular views of the city and I took tons of pictures along the ay.  I met up with a colleague, Brett, in Astoria Park.  He was in one of the first groups to leave and had arrived there before me.  Fortunately I was just arriving in the park when he called, so it was only a matter of minutes before we connected.  We rode the rest of the route together, making only one stop for water near the Verrizano Bridge, late in the ride.  We crossed the bridge and coasted into Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, where the end-of-ride bike "festival" was being held.  It would have been nice to stick around for a while, but it was wicked crowded and we both decided it would be better to hit the ferries, head back to Manhattan, and call it a day.

Well, at least call it a day after my 15 mile ride back into NJ.  Once I got back to Battery Park I had no trouble finding the Greenway - there were hundreds of riders using it to head back north.  However few of them were going uptown as far as I was.  By the time I could see the GW Bridge again, there was only one group of four riders still going in my direction.  Within a few blocks they too were gone and I was on my own.  I knew getting back onto the bridge was going to be a challenge.  Not knowing how long it was going to take me to find the walkway, I decided to take a break at Grant's Tomb, eat my last snacks, drink some water, and emotionally prepare myself for what might be a protracted search.

After resting up I continued north on Riverside Dr., looking for the bridge access.  I was passed by one cyclist - a guy who never unclipped from the pedals at stop lights but who preferred to show off by doing trackstands until the light changed.  I asked him if he knew how to get there.  He said he was looking for it too (but was apparently not interested in having me join him in his search).  A second rider came up from behind.  He too was searching for the access, but this guy was more inclined to search with me.  At one point it became clear that we were north of the bridge and needed to get off Riverside and double back.  We started up a steep narrow ramp (which was under construction) on 180-something St.  I decided it was time to stop and ask a local for directions.  My companion continued on.  So near the top of the ramp I found a couple of local lovelies who knew I needed to be on Cabrini.  So I headed over to Cabrini.  It was there I found another guy - an older guy wearing the green bib - who was pushing his bike up a hill on the sidewalk.  I asked him if he was headed over to NJ on the bridge.  Fortunately he was, and better yet, he actually knew how to get there.  I asked if he would mind if I followed him, and although he wasn't much of a conversationalist, he didn't mind me tagging along.  Were it not for this guy, I might have searched for hours.  As it was, by taking me down a couple of one-way streets the wrong way, I was back on the bridge in a matter of minutes.

Glad as I was to finally be back on the bridge, I still had one more ordeal to endure before getting back to the hotel.  It was only about a mile from the bridge to the Doubletree in Ft. Lee, but for most of that mile I was going to have to ride against traffic on a one-way street.  I decided to stick to the sidewalk for most of the way, but for the last quarter mile or so there was no sidewalk - I needed to go against traffic on a one-way ramp with no shoulder.  Given the volume of traffic there was no way I was going to try to ride it.  I hauled the bike over a guard rail, and walked it along the ramp back to the hotel.  I arrived at 5:00 pm - a full 11 hours after I left that morning.  It was a long day.