Bishop Bike Adventure Day 62 August 31, 2010

We enjoyed our breakfast conversation this morning with the proprietor of the cabin that we stayed at last night in Fairlee, Vermont. When he was in college, he biked across the country alone. He was interesting to talk to and very interested in our progress. After we ate some oatmeal and cinnamon rolls, we were off into New Hampshire early in the day. Today was very hot and the early morning haze of the Connecticut River Valley soon burned off.

We rolled up Route 5 and crossed the Connecticut River, pictured here. This river forms the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont. Once onto the New Hampshire side, we headed north to catch an east-west path that would take us to Lincoln.

We encountered two large climbs today. One hill was roughly 1,900 feet above sea level, and the Kancamagus Pass has 2,855 feet of elevation. The first climb, just west of Lincoln, produced a wonderful downhill with a fairly high grade. Pictured is Debbie beginning her descent. We ate lunch in Lincoln and obtained plenty of cold fluids for the Kancamagus, which was a long and windy climb with a modest descent grade of 7% on the other side. This descent was long and allowed for much coasting.

Packing two long climbs in one day along with 77 miles in unusually hot temperatures was satisfying. We feel like we’ve made good gains since our starting days in Oregon a couple of months ago. And the scenery today was again exquisite.

Tomorrow, we are on schedule to finish the bike adventure. We plan to go to the residence of Tim’s former boss in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which is right on the Atlantic Ocean. Dick has been a mentor for Tim over the years, so it will be a meaningful spot to end the bike trip. Tim’s college roommate will join us there and then plans to transport us back to Marlborough. What a blessing.

Heading into the last day of the bike adventure, we are feeling a bit sad to see it go. We have had a great time and great experiences, and are grateful for the support and prayers of many.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 61 August 30, 2010

Today we took in the beauty of central Vermont, enjoying gorgeous views of green mountains, the fresh scents in the air, the sound of rushing waters splashing on rocks as they made their way down the hills that we found ourselves climbing, and the small towns that define Vermont. We’ve captured some of visuals in the accompanying photos. In the photo of Debbie riding her bike, you’ll see a farmer’s patriotic gesture out in his corn field.

We entered the Green Mountain National Forest early in the day as we rode up Middlebury Gap. The apex of the climb topped out at 2,100 feet above sea level. We had other significant climbs later in the day as well. In total, we climbed 4,400 feet. While eclipsing each of the past two days, we expect to reach new heights tomorrow. Some of today’s climbs, although not large in numbers, tended to be very steep. Actually, the steep descents were a bit more hair raising than the ascents, including descents of 12% and 13%. In the photo below, Debbie is catching her breath from a long climb up Middlebury Gap while contemplating the steep descent that awaits, as indicated by the 12% grade sign in the background.

It was a beautiful day for riding and enjoying the surroundings. The temperature was in the 80’s with the favorable west to east wind at our backs. We met our goal of reaching the New Hampshire border, which keeps us on track for a Wednesday arrival in Portland.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 60 August 29, 2010

We attended church today at Cornerstone Alliance in Ticonderoga. We had a nice chat with some folks, including the pastor and his wife who were recently called to this church. The pastor is originally from Skowhegan, Maine. We declined an invitation to a church outing and set out for what we hoped would be a relaxing day of biking.

We briefly visited Fort Ticonderoga, which dates back to the 1700’s and the American Revolution. This picture of Lake Champlain was taken on the Fort grounds. We then boarded a ferry to head across a narrow portion of Lake Champlain. This signaled our return to New England as we rolled our bikes onto Vermont soil. Check out the ferry--it wasn’t fancy, but it was very efficient and right on time!

The biking turned out to be anything but relaxing. The roads that we traveled in Vermont today were very rough and of course included some hills. We’re told that tomorrow’s ride is on a newly paved road. The temperature was very hot, in the 80’s. And we were simply exhausted from some long and very productive riding days in the last week in New York. So we decided to end the day short and get an early start tomorrow. We will be facing a large climb through Middlebury gap early in the ride. While passing through Middlebury today, we received a minor adjustment to our brakes from a bike mechanic and some assurance that we had enough brake pad to finish our ride.

We used the early stop to our riding today to plan our remaining itinerary. If all goes well, we plan to arrive in Portland on Wednesday. The goal would be to arrive early enough in the day to take a bus back to Boston later in the day.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 59 August 28, 2010

We had an easier time getting an earlier start this morning from the Raquette Lake Tap House Hotel. So after breakfast in the bar, we were off, ready for another big day!

We proceeded to Blue Mountain Lake and were faced with a challenging climb leaving town. This would be a day of climbs and descents, amid the beautiful lakes, forests, and mountains of the Adirondack region. Although we thought yesterday was taxing on our bodies, today was more so. Garmin indicated 3,800 feet climbed and 4,700 calories consumed. We traveled 86 miles to arrive in Ticonderoga just after sunset.

One stretch of road today was magnificently surrounded by trees and mountains. We traveled for miles without seeing any manmade structures. When we finally came to some civilization, we thought for a moment we had arrived in Buffalo, New York before realizing that we had passed that city several days ago! The photo below will help clarify our confusion!

On our ride to Ticonderoga, Debbie had a deer pass from the road to the side right in front of her. We continued on as the sun set and found ourselves just a couple of miles short of the city. A Good Samaritan, angel in disguise, pulled up as we were fumbling for our lights. They explained that we had just a very short climb to the top of a huge descent into the city. They offered to shadow us down the hill to provide light. We gladly accepted and resumed our ride. We were blown away by the grade of the descent after we had crested the hill. There were three or four “truck use low gear” type of warning signs as we descended. We were both riding the brakes to slow the bikes, which was a challenge over the stretch of perhaps one-and-a-half miles. There was concern about using too much brake and burning out the pads, and there was a significant amount of hand fatigue after a long day of riding. When we finally reached the bottom, relieved, we thanked the couple who had shepherded us down the hill and escorted us to the Super 8. We also realized that God has been and continues to help us as we continue our Trek.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 58 August 27, 2010

Today we started out early (for us). At 9:05 we were on the road headed to Osceola for breakfast 5 miles down the road from Redfield N.Y. We knew we had a big day ahead of us with lots of hills and many calories to burn. Breakfast at the Outpost (recommended by our Redfield proprietors) was delicious. Starting out with pancakes, juice, toast, eggs, and meat always gets us ready for the day with oatmeal to stick to our bones whenever it is offered, or we can make it ourselves with our Jetboil.

On the Garmin at the end of the day, we climbed over 3,600 feet and burned at least 4,600 calories. We rode for 6 hours and 40 minutes and enjoyed every mile along the way. This was one of our most physically demanding days, up there with our ride up Lolo Pass back in Idaho. The good news is that we are in much better shape now than we were back then!

We headed north and east today. The air was clean and crisp and the sky was a beautiful blue. It was rather nippy out with both of us having base layers and arm warmers on to keep our muscles warm. We were headed toward the Adirondack Mountains and the temperature in the morning was only in the 60’s, a far cry from our 100-degree temperatures in the west.

A couple of “issues” came up today. The Camelbaks that we are so dependent upon for easy access to water contain a “bladder” that we fill with ice and water each day. Well, the bladder on Debbie’s Camelbak sprang a leak around the opening causing her to shiver even more as it trickled down her back in the morning. Thankfully, duct tape patched the leak up and she dried out as we pedaled on for the day.

Tim has been hearing a mysterious noise from his bike, causing suspicion that his crank set may be wearing out. As we pulled into Boonville, he randomly parked his bike across the street from a store Debbie ran into, whereupon a man came out and struck up a conversation with Tim. It so happened that he was a biker. As Tim described the concern, along came another fellow who knew the first and was also a biker. This individual had just rebuilt a bike and made some diagnostic comments that helped allay concerns that the bike would fail within the remaining miles of the trip. The concern as to what the issue was continued, so when we arrived in Inlet, NY, we pulled into a bike shop for further help. Their diagnosis was that there was rubbing on his brakes. Of course the noise stopped when the man adjusted it, but as soon as we headed off to Raquette Lake (our final destination for the day) the noise recurred. We just want to make it through our last 300 miles or so without having to stop for a major bike repair. At this juncture, we don’t feel this problem needs future investigation and can await a more thorough diagnosis after our trip.

Along the road today, we went through some tourist towns. The Adirondacks are enjoyed by New Englanders, and folks from New York and New Jersey especially. The deer are so used to tourists that we caught a few right in town or along side the road we were on. You can see how close we could get from these photos.

The area is void of cell service so when we stopped at the bike shop in Inlet, neither of us could call ahead for accommodations. A girl at the shop called ahead and found a room available at a local establishment just down the road.  As we arrived around 8:00, the bar folks were hanging out, smoking their cigs and drinking their beer. We walked through the bar and the bartender assigned us our room after taking a shot of whiskey himself. Another day (and night) of ADVENTURE CYCLING!

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 57 August 26, 2010

After a long delay awaiting our breakfast at the motel this morning, we were off to a late start on what we hoped would be a day with a lot of miles. Upon exiting the motel, it became apparent that this would be a raw day. The wind was strong and there were many dark clouds dominating the sky. Throughout the day, the clouds in the sky were impressive--often dark, but also some billowy white ones--big, big clouds.

After about 30 miles, we had what has been an unusually rare mechanical issue--a flat tire. It was Tim’s rear tire, which is a bit more challenging to repair. A good omen, however, was when a young man came out of a house to offer help. He was wearing a T-shirt with a logo for a Christian school. That logo shone like a reassuring beacon! The photo here shows the repair site.

We repaired the flat by replacing it with a new tube. However, the tire soon flatted again. We had been too hasty to replace the tube without checking thoroughly enough for the cause of the flat. On the second attempt to repair the flat, we discovered a tiny wire stuck in the tire, which had punctured both tubes. When we pulled this out of the tire and put another tube in, the air held. The second replacement happened much more quickly--we are new to these issues since we‘ve only flatted once for the entire trip. With the practice, we were faster on the second time around. And it should be acknowledged that the actual pumping of the tire happened much faster since Debbie was “manning” the pump the second time around! It pays to marry a strong woman!

All was not completely well with the new replacement, however. The ride down the road was very “lumpy.” Deflating the tire and re-inflating it took care of the issue and we were off after a significant delay. What we had hoped would be an 80-mile day with a nice tailwind, ended up less than 50, yet in a pleasant, bucolic setting.

The silver lining to our mechanical woes was that the dark clouds toward the east had moved on. We would find out later that we had averted more rain! We rode to our overnight accommodations without rain. We are staying at a lovely furnished apartment that is primarily used by snowmobilers in winter. It is a very nice unit in a very remote area. The proprietors let us borrow their car to go to supper! How’s that for customer service?

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 56 August 25, 2010

Right from the start today, New Yorkers engaged us in conversation about our trip. We met a friendly and interesting couple this morning while poking down the typically large breakfast and icing up the water bottles and Camelbaks. Later in the day, well after we had broken the 3,000-mile barrier for our trip, two individuals proactively came up and asked us if we had accommodations for the evening. Since these were both after we had contacted the motel, we declined their invitations.

We rode along the shores of Lake Ontario today. Here was our first glimpse of it at Pultneyville. While at this site, another friendly New Yorker who was asking all sorts of questions about our trip offered to take our picture, the result of which is shown below. Many of the interested folks have wanted to pursue more serious bicycle touring and such was the case with this individual as well.

Some of the New Yorkers in these parts were not as biker friendly. We noticed that motor sports are of high interest, which for some translates into revving their motors and speeding by us, often without providing the desired space buffer between them and us. We saw one individual practicing aerial jumps with his motorcycle in his backyard. Yet another was found popping a high-speed wheelie with his riding partner adjacent while they passed us on the road. Yikes.

Like Lake Erie, the Lake Ontario region is also an area of orchards. But rather than grapes, the crop of choice is primarily apples, with some peaches and pears tossed in as well. Apparently the lake shields the trees from premature frosts. We found trees plump for the harvest with bundles of appealing fruit attached. The scent of peaches was in the air, something we would assume would be in Georgia, not New York!

Weather today was cool and partly cloudy, with both white and dark clouds gracing the sky. The terrain was surprisingly hilly even right beside the lake. By the end of the day, we had climbed 2,600-odd feet even while ending just 500 feet above sea level. We are being prepared for a ride through the Adirondacks in the next couple of days.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 55 August 24, 2010

Much to our pleasure, we walked out of the motel room this morning to bright sunny skies, albeit crisp air. The temperature for most of the day was in the low 70’s, but felt a bit cooler on the bike. The wind was again unfavorable.

We rode on the Erie Canalway Trail for much of the day, which was an interesting experience. The canal offers bikers some benefits despite being predominantly a crushed gravel surface. Since the canal requires level ground, there are no hills to contend with. There is also no traffic to contend with, besides other bikes, pedestrians, and an occasional tame duck. And the wind became less of a factor in the canal chute as it was somewhat protected by trees and man-made structures. There is also esthetically pleasing scenery. Another consequence of riding the canal is that we were engaged by more people, like fellow bikers, who wanted to hear our story. One such couple were taking their daughters on their first overnight tour, while a mother and son in Pittsford lauded us as their heroes!

The canal created some unusual landscapes, again because of its requirement to be on level ground. There were many times when we would look to the side, away from the canal, and notice that the canal was higher than its surroundings, such as can be seen in this picture. Riding along the canal also had the effect of creating a slower pace of riding. We saw some puddles from recent heavy rains in the area and also some fallen leaves, precursory of the season ahead. There was also some boating activity on the canal, including kayakers and pleasure craft. Periodically, some archaic equipment like barges and tugs, were parked along the side.

Believe it or not, we stumbled upon the town, Pittsford, where Debbie lived while in junior high and high school. We rode by the house that she lived in while she reminisced about days gone by. Because the area has undergone some significant change, she did not recognize many of the surroundings. The canal had once been seedy and rundown, but has since been cleaned up. The town has added shops and restaurants along the bike path. The biking activity increased on the paved path through Pittsford.

Our canal riding experience left us with mixed emotions. It was nostalgic to ride along a route with such grand history tied to it. The canal wound its way through many towns and cities. It seemed so small scale for such a large application of transporting goods back and forth to the Great Lakes, but one has to realize that it was used in a different day and age. It is now a dilemma for the people of New York. What do you do with this albatross? It requires significant infrastructure upkeep at the expense of taxpayer dollars. Currently it is emptied from mid-November to mid-April and only exists as a hopeful economic stimulus for the tourism industry, which we did not see as thriving in the canal zone.

Niagara Falls

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 54 August 23, 2010

After our one evening in Niagara Falls, it was time to go back to the States, but not before we rode by some more interesting features in the Niagara Falls region. Here is another shot of the Falls, taken this morning. The American Falls are most prominent in this shot, with the left side of the Canadian, or Horseshoe Falls, on the right side of the picture. You’ll also note the heavily overcast skies. The weather was downright raw, prompting a change in biking apparel.

On our way out of town, we rode through the Clifton Hill area, which offers the tourist an excessive dose of quick entertainment, competing for their every last dollar. I think you’ll get the picture, to the right. Further north on the Canadian side, we passed by the Whirlpool, which offers tourists a ride across the gorge in an aerial cable car dubbed the “aero car” or a ride across the rapids in a jet boat, shown below. Yet further north, as we approached the border crossing at Queenston, a power company many years ago created a “floral clock,” which is maintained today by the Niagara Parks Botantical Gardens. The Gardens are located on this stretch as well.

After passing through the attractions, we were then challenged to find the bicycle access to cross the border. After a few extra (and unnecessary) miles, we talked to the Canadian Toll Captain at the Canadian customs house and he told us to simply ride our bikes between the cars until we reached the guard stations on the U.S. side. There were many people waiting in line to cross into the U.S., perhaps 5 lanes of vehicles a half mile long, yet he told us that they may honk and yell at us, but just to ignore them. And so we did just that, but were treated well. It was fun passing through all of the vehicles on our way to the front. Once there, clearing U.S. customs was very straightforward.

Once on the American side, we now concentrated on getting some miles knocked out. We faced a stiff headwind out of the east with continually overcast skies. As we spoke with various people, we learned that we had averted much rain earlier in the day. We arrived at Friendly’s in Lockport for an early evening meal and a warm-up. The picture to the left tells the story of the day. As dark clouds persisted around us, we found ourselves heading toward brightness in the east. We had been spared rain again today while it had downpoured earlier in the day in many of the areas that we visited .

The bike map now sends us along the Erie Canalway Trail. The canal is no longer commercially viable, but is maintained by the State of New York as part of the culture and tourism attraction of the area. There is a path that runs along the canal that is commonly used for bicycles. Although we did not use it today due to a late day dash for the motel, we will no doubt use it in the days to come. Pictured here is a lock of the canal in Lockport.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 53 August 22, 2010

What a joy to find a church and arrive on time for the service! That started our day out right and from there we headed to Orchard Park, New York where there is the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum. It is closed on Sundays but here is a shot of Tim in front of it as we headed towards Buffalo and onto Niagara Falls for the afternoon.

Riding into Buffalo was similar to leaving Cleveland a few days ago. The streets were virtually empty (since it was Sunday) making travel through there quick and easy. We had ample opportunity to look at the decaying city around us. There was a mixture of ram shackled houses and apartment buildings and some ratty looking industrial areas as we entered downtown Buffalo. Once again we could see a stark contrast between the quality of living environments within the same city.

The border crossing was relatively seamless. We had to walk our bikes over the bridge, pictured here, from the U.S. to Canada and then up to the customs station alongside the cars and trucks also traveling to Canada. The advantage of walking our bikes over the bridge was that we were able to get some photos of the city of Buffalo, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, and the surrounding area. These two shots below show Buffalo and Lake Erie. We showed our passport/passcard and our driver‘s licenses, answered a few questions and were on our way to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side via a wonderful road along the Niagara River, bordered by nice views of the river on one side and lovely homes for miles on the other side.

We could see the mist from Niagara Falls as we rode along a bike path that approached the Falls. Part of the bike path actually went out into the Niagara River. The photo below shows Debbie about to enter this path. It is amazing that the only drops of water we felt all day were from the mist created by the Falls, even though it was overcast for most of the day.

Between the two of us, we took over 140 pictures for the day- so narrowing down our selections for the blog was quite a challenge!! There are a few shots of the Falls shown below for your viewing pleasure!

In addition to the bike ride to Niagara Falls we also enjoyed a night with a full moon and fireworks over the Falls. We had a late night dinner at an Italian restaurant that had a live band and we walked the streets of Niagara until after midnight when everything seems to shut down reluctantly for the night.

Bishop Bike Adventure Day 52 August 21, 2010

We breakfasted at McDonald’s and ventured off to another ride up the shore of Lake Erie. We were joined by a man who was vacationing in the area. He invited us to his family reunion later in the day! As we kept progressing toward Buffalo on Lake Shore Drive, the houses and services came closer together. Lucrative homes and estates became more prevalent as well, many of which had “for sale” signs on them. Before leaving Lake Shore Drive, we had a long distance view of the Buffalo skyline. The photo below shows the faint outline under the overcast weather conditions.

We stopped at one point to check a rattle from Debbie’s bike, fearing that it was a loose rack. A lady on a four-wheeler came down from her house to see if she could help. We ended up having a conversation with her and her friend, who filled us in on the Buffalo area.

We stayed the night in Hamburg, New York, a suburb of Buffalo of about 10,000 people. The crew at “The NOW Pizzeria” were most intrigued by our adventure. It is interesting to see the reactions of people and let them enjoy our experience. We checked into the hotel just in time to beat the rain!