I got up early at 6:30 – got my bags packed up and put them on my bike. I had a light breakfast of oatmeal porridge, scones, and a croissant. I was on the road by 7:30 – heading back to the Erie Canal Bike Trail, I joined the trail again close to Fairport.
I rode on to the Erie Canal Trail, the ride was mostly flat tills I got to Palmyra, after Palmyra it was bit up and down nothing exciting tills I reached Lyons that was the end of the Erie Canal Trail for me, the trail goes on all the way to Albany – I was going to go south from Clyde and between Lyons and Clyde I have to ride on the NY State Route 31.
Erie Canal trail
Getting of the Erie Canal trail, I noticed that my back wheel was wobbly so I stopped to check and found that several spokes had come loose, so I fixed that by doing roadside emergency wheel truing.
Truing
I got it good enough to carry on, gave my self a mental reminder to check for a bike store, after Clyde, I headed south and this is when I started hitting some hills and with the weather warmer then yesterday reaching 34 Celsius it becomes hard work to keep hydrated and energized.
The navigation was easy, I was going south on NY State Route 414 tills I reach Ovid and take a turn onto NY State Route 96 to get to Ithaca.
NY State Route 414
The NY State Route 414 road was good, wide shoulders which gave me the space to bike without out interfering with the cars and trucks, the traffic was light tills I reached I-90, after I-90 to Seneca Falls the traffic was bad with lots of trucks, even with the wide shoulders, my main concern was to be hit by debris from a truck or something from the road, I was in luck and got to Seneca Falls without a scratch. In Seneca Falls I passed the Women’s Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls played a prominent role in the Women’s Rights Movement in the United States.
Heat Suffering
While I was starting suffering from the heat, I took shelter a few times in various fast-food restaurants, where I could refuel and get to cool down in an air-conditioned space.
Riding south from Seneca Falls, I was getting into the Finger Lakes Wine Region, passed by the Swedish Hill winery, I took a quick look, sampled some wine and continue on my way.
Ovid & Ross
After Ovid, after I refueled at a MacDonald restaurant, I started to lose speed when an unexpected thing happy, a guy named Ross biked up and asked if he could help pace me into Ithaca. I said sure I need all the help I can to get to Ithaca today, Ross told me that he was driving home from work when he had seen me and my bright cycle shoes. He had decided to go home get his bike out and offer his help to bike with me, that was such a great gesture, this gave me some extra boost to finish off the day.
Ross told me that he has biked across the United States when he was younger and that he bikes as often as he can. He took me to Ithaca, asked if I needed a bike store, so he took me to a local bike store which fixed my back wheel with a bit of trying.
I was staying just on the outside of Ithaca, to get to the house I had a 2 km uphill bike ride, a great way to end and really energy-zapping day, that night I slept so well.
Here are some pictures from the ride today
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