Total for this year: 1800.9 miles
To see the route map for this ride, refer to the posting for "Western NY Bike Adventure - Day 1."
I didn't sleep well last night. I was pretty tired so I hit the bed early. But then I got a call from New Mexico just before 11. It woke me out of a deep sleep, so I was kind of disoriented when I finally found the phone and said hello. It was the father of one of my riders. He couldn't reach his son on his cell phone, so he called me to have me pass along a message - "Tell him we'll be there tomorrow night." OK. Did he really need to wake me up for that? So I went back to sleep but woke up again about 3:30 and couldn't doze off again for a couple hours. I just lay there worrying about getting everybody back to Rochester in one piece. After nodding off a couple of times, I got up for good about 6:30. I wasn't well rested, and I didn't feel too good. I was a little worried about making it back myself. Thinking maybe I just needed some protein, I devoured a power bar and hoped for the best. I got dressed and went out to fix Andrew's flat tire.
I had expected my riders to get flats, so I bought a patch kit and a couple of spare tubes before the ride. I got tubes that would fit my tire and I assumed that everybody would have pretty much the same size tire. As I found out when I went to replace Andrew's tube, that was not the case. I had a 26x1.50-2.00 tube. He had a 700x45c tire. The tube I had wouldn't even fit around the rim. So I was forced to use another one of my patches to get him fixed.
By this point the breakfast was coming out and the kids were wandering in to the Emerald Room to eat. Brooke was one of the first. I wanted to tell her last night that she was taking the shuttle back to campus, but when I went to bed she was still playing cards with the other kids. I didn't want to embarrass her and ruin her night. So when she came in for breakfast I pulled her aside and told her that I was concerned about her health. I said that today's ride was going to be longer and hotter than yesterday's, and I wasn't going to take the chance that she'd get sick again. I told her I had already called for the shuttle, and I didn't give her an option - she was taking the car ride back to RIT. She was disappointed, but agreed without complaint.
Excellent. One down - one to go.
Little Jeremy came in shortly after that. I cornered him and told him that based on his struggle to finish the previous day's ride I felt he should take the shuttle back. I was a little less forceful than I was with Brooke, but it didn't matter - he jumped at the chance. Turns out he really wasn't looking forward to the ride anyway. With the dirty business of the morning out of the way, I finally sat down and had breakfast.
Before I finished eating, Dan showed up from Rochester with the shuttle car. Not only was he there to pick up Brooke and Jeremy, he was also delivering my boss, who decided that she wanted to participate in this adventure. This turned out to be a huge mistake. She caused problems all day long...
We packed up Brooke and Jeremy - and all of our extra equipment (my idea to send it back in the car) - hit a gas station to put some air in Celia and Andrew's underinflated tires, and started the 69-mile ride back to Rochester.
I let my grad student Dave take the lead through town, since he was the one who had diverted most of the riders away from the "Stairway of Death" two days earlier. He zig-zagged his way through town and down to the bridge over the canal. We crossed, pointed the bikes east, and started pedaling for home.
As was the case yesterday afternoon, the kids knew the way back so some of them picked up the pace and set off on their own. In fact at one point, I showed the lead group of 5 guys how to ride in a paceline. GPS data later showed that we were hitting a sustained speed of 18 mph - pretty darn good for fat tire bikes on a crushed stone surface. But this burst of speed meant that my group was getting very spread out. The old folks were now way behind the pack. I dropped back to check on them.
When they finally caught up with me, it was apparent my boss was in serious trouble. We hadn't even gone 20 miles and she was already struggling. She was sweating profusely, feeling badly, and in need of a break. This was not a good sign. She regained her composure and we set off again, unsure of how far ahead the kids were. Within 3 miles she was down again - and this time it was worse. She was displaying clear symptoms of heat exhaustion. She was so bad that for several minutes she just laid on the ground, unable to get up. When she did finally manage to get on her feet, we had to use the garden hose at a nearby house to cool her down. This was not a good sign. Fortunately we were at a bridge in a small town on the canal, so I called Dan and told him to stand by for a pick up. I told the boss it was time to throw in the towel. She insisted she was going to keep going. That's when I went ballistic on her. I told her that it was stupid to continue - she was having this much trouble now, before noon, and we still had 46 miles to go during the hottest part of the day. I wasn't going to take the chance that she would go down in the middle of nowhere, in a spot where I wasn't able to get help to her. She needed to get off the trail and into a car home. But she's completely irrational, and apparently selfish - it didn't matter to her that I needed to focus on getting the kids home safely. She wanted to finish the ride in spite of the fact that meant I would have to trail along with her at the back of the pack to make sure she didn't die. At that point I completely lost what little respect I had for her.
We eventually made it to lunch in Albion - after the kids had already gotten their food. Fortunately I had given Bob the credit card and had him go ahead so they didn't have to wait to be fed. When the boss and the other old folks had finally finished, we took off again. I asked the kids in the lead group to meet us in Brockport, since we were trying to coordinate a rendezvous with the school's president for the final few miles of the ride.
Bob and I took up the sweep position at the back of the pack, trailing several yards behind my boss, who was riding alone, unable to keep up with even any of the other old folks. We made it to Brockport, and expected to see the rest of the group there. No sign of them. I tried calling several of the kids. Everything went to voice mail. I could only assume they would wait at Spencerport, the next major town. Bob and I assumed our positions at the back of the pack and took off at a snail's pace.
Not much later we did run into a minor problem. One of my undergraduates, Kevin, started having stomach cramps. We were about a mile past Hulberton when he told me. I sent him back to town, and called Dan for a pick up. Dan, realizing it might be a rough day, had been driving parallel to our route for hours, and was only minutes away from Kevin. He phoned me once he made contact, and told me he'd meet us at Henpeck Park in Greece, several miles up the trail.
Just before we hit Spencerport I got a call. "Hey Joe? This is Sam. I'm at the bridge at Long Pond. Which way do I go?" "Where's the rest of the group?" "They're somewhere up ahead of me." So now I had a problem. I had a kid out there by himself, who ran the risk of getting lost. And I apparently had a group spread out over 10 miles. All because my boss was so self-centered and out of touch with reality. Well, that was it. She was on her own. I gave Bob my assessment of the situation and he agreed we needed to regain control of the group. We immediately took off and left the old folks in our dust. Within seconds, we couldn't even see them any more. Before long we flew past Celia and Andrew. As we were blazing along, my phone rang again. This time it was the president's office. They wanted to let me know that the president was waiting to meet us at Genesee Valley Park. I wasn't going to be there for at least another 45 minutes, at best, I told them. "Well, he won't be able to wait that long." I said I understood completely, apologized for wasting his valuable time, and hung up. Bob and I pressed on as fast as we could go.
We got to Henpeck Park where Dan and Kevin (who was feeling much better) were waiting. Just as we pulled up, my phone rang again. "Now what?" It was Jarrett, who was probably the strongest rider in the group. "Where are you?" I asked. "We're in Genesee Valley Park." "Who's with you?" "It's me, Dave, Carl, and Evan." I was thrilled to hear that Evan was there. I hadn't seen him for hours, and wasn't really sure where he was. I don't like it when I can't account for the whereabouts of a kid. So at least I knew where he was now. But Sam was still a no-show. I asked Bob to stick around and wait for Celia and Andrew while I took off with the hopes of catching Sam and meeting up with the lead group.
As it turned out, Sam eventually found his way to the leaders and was waiting with them when I got there. They were all fine, having spent the time waiting by jumping off a dock into the Genesee River. I called Bob to check on the others. He had everybody in tow (including the old folks), and would meet up with us soon. When they got there I let everybody catch their breath and grab a quick drink before having them mount up for the final few miles home. I just wanted this ride to be over.
In what should have been a leisurely 5-mile ride back to campus, my boss had to stop three times. She was cramping badly, and she fell off the bike a couple of times, needing Bob's help to get back on. He called me (since in a very short time she was no longer within eyesight of the group) and said that we should press on without them. I told him that Jarrett insisted we finish together. So each time she stopped, we waited. Eventually she rolled in and we continued. We finally crossed Jefferson and made it to campus. We rode up to our original starting point at the entrance of the Carlson Building - Jarrett getting there first, and then the rest of us, except for Bob and the boss. When she got there she literally fell off the bike and laid on the ground for a few minutes, unable to even walk. She asked Dan to drive her home, which he did.
We arrived at 5:30, which gave the kids enough time to go back to their dorms and get cleaned up before the catered Dino BBQ dinner back at Carlson. They all showed up for the meal - except for my two dropouts from Sunday, Tal and Drew. And they seemed none the worse for all the effort they put in over the 3-day ride. In fact we were all in great shape, physically and mentally, and they thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
Before they left I formally thanked the two "Trail Angels" Bob and Dan, without whose support we wouldn't have made it. Then one by one they left, ready to begin another adventure when classes begin next week.
By the way, if you want to see the "official" video from our ride, you can find it online by CLICKING HERE (courtesy of our videographer, Dave). You can also CLICK HERE to view other photos from the ride.
You really have no intention of EVER doing this again...right?
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