Third Time's the Charm...

Total for this ride: 10.4 miles

Total for this year: 2105.5 miles

Today's ride was the third of the year through Turning Point Park up in Charlotte - once with the RIT bike group during the "regular season", once with a small group of colleagues from the office after work, and now once with Joe.

I had to leave work early for this ride.  It's starting to get dark around 6:30, and I needed to pick up Joe at his apartment and then drive all the way up to the lake.  I would have never been able to get in a good 10 miles if I waited until 5:00 to leave.  I'll make up the time some time in the next week...

When we got up to Charlotte, we parked near the Port of Rochester terminal, where the "fast ferry" used to dock.  We hopped on the bikes and head south along the Genesee River, past the Rochester Yacht Club, and toward the boardwak through Turning Point Park.  Just before we got to the boardwalk Joe caught sight of a deer on the trail up ahead.  We stopped, took a couple of pictures, then slowly worked our way closer as a second one appeared.  They watched us as we continued to inch forward, but eventually they got bored and took off into the woods.  We pressed on toward the boardwalk.

We saw a few people as we rode through the park.  A couple of fishermen, some dog-walkers, two or three other cyclists.  But it wasn't too crowded.  We got to the end of the boardwalk and started up the long hill which goes slowly up the side of the gorge until the trail reaches Lake Ave.  On the ride up I got a really cool picture of Joe as sunlight was streaming through the trees, casting long shadows on the trail ahead of him.  From there we continued south past Holy Sephlucre Cemetery, then crossed to the west side of Lake to make a quick stop at George Eastman's grave.  We didn't stay long though.  We turned around, started north, and crossed back over Lake at King's Landing Cemetery - the first in Rochester.  From there we just retraced our path back to Charlotte.  When we got there we poked around the terminal a little, checked out a group of people taking a sailing class in the river, and took a couple of pics of a paddle wheeler getting ready to take a group out onto Lake Ontario for a dinner cruise.  I hope the boat was heated... by then it was getting pretty cold out.  We wanted to ride out to the end of the pier, but it was closed for repair.  So with the sun down, dark clouds moving in, and the temps dropping, we called it a day and I took Joe home.