Day 45 - 91 (turned out to be 100) miles from Rochester to Liverpool, NY

Anne and Michael rode the Co-Motion 100 miles to Liverpool. Since we took a wrong turn that added 5 miles to the distance making it 96 when we reached Liverpool; so, naturally we had to go the extra 4 miles to make it a century!

Again, the weather was beautiful, sunny, with a slight tailwind and temperature in the 70's. The terrain had many rolling hills with some having grades of 7+%. So, these made it a challenging ride. Good thing Anne was stoking.

We started out on a paved bike path that ran along the Erie Canalway. First time either of had seen this canalway.

The Erie Canalway was completed in 1825, the canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east. An engineering marvel when it was built, some called it the Eighth Wonder of the World. It included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers, and 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for the horses and/or mules which pulled the boats and their driver. Today, there are 57 locks and many small towns, like Pittsford aligning the canalway. These towns provide many shopping and dining opportunities via boat, bike or auto.

The bike path was really nice until the it became gravel for 8 miles; afterwhich, we didn't make the course right turn. This error forced to us to find a 5-mile alternate route to get back on course. Good thing we had the Garmin to help confirm when we were back on course. I would never do a ride like we are doing without a Garmin with map capabilities.

At one of the SAG stops, we met a young man from England riding self-contained to Niagara Falls. Along the way, our America By Bicycle touring company will provide refreshments and help to riders who want such. This young man feasted on cake left over from Phillipe, one of our riders who bought three large cakes yesterday to celebrate the birth of his 11th grandchild, a daughter.

The following are pictures taken during today's ride.

Here we are on the Erie Canalway Trail. In the distance, are some of our riders.

Some 4 scullers out for an early morning run on the canalway.

One of the 57 locks along the canalway.

A boat from Burlington, VT being tugged along the canalway.

From another bike path, but this onr running alongside Lake Onondaga (5 sq miles) near Liverpool.

Anne on the bike path in a park along Lake Onondaga waiting for me to pick her up. I went back to take the  picture above.

A panoramic view from the bike path along Lake Onondaga. There are lots of roller bladers on this bike path, too.

And, we ran into this bike that took a family of 4 to pedal it.

Tomorrow, we ride 79 miles to Little Falls, NY. There are only 5 days and 310 miles left of  50-day, 3,600-mile tour across the USA. Only seems like yesterday that we left!

Day 44 - 86 (turned out to be 101) miles from Niagara Falls to Rochester, NY

Since we want to ride the Co-Motion on the Erie Canalway Trail tomorrow, Michael rode the Cervelo to Rochester. We were blessed with another gorgeous day to ride with the temperature in the 70's, no humidity and a tailwind. Because the mileage upon arriving in Rochester surpassed 85 miles, I went out and finished a century with 101.

New York is not flat where we are riding as there are many rolling hills; some had grades of 5-7%. They made for more interesting riding than the totally flat terrain we experienced in Canada. However, from the pictures below, you may surmise otherwise regarding the rolling hils.

Most of these are of a Wildlife Preserve.

SAG Stop. First, you must sign the roster (on top of the orange water container) indicating you stopped at the SAG (you must always stop so the Staff knows that everyone has passed a specific point on the route, then you must clean your hands with the hand sanitizers (left of the orange water container) to minimize the spreading of any germs. Only then  can you go to the refreshment table (right of where the person is standing) and eat all you want of peanuts, energy bars, bananas, peanut butter (I found spreading peanut butter on a banana is good and good for you), fruit, cookies, etc. Sometimes, alumni of past tours will stop and bring pastries, cookies, cheese, crackers, sausage, etc.

Found this interesting in someone's yard; so, I stopped and took a picture.

Tomorrow, Anne and I will ride the Co-Motion 91 miles to Liverpool, NY. Along the way, we will ride 30 miles on the Erie Canalway Trail. We are looking forward to that portion of the ride.

Day 43 - Rest Day at Niagara Falls, NY

Since neither Anne nor Michael had ever been to Niagara Falls, we spent the entire day there. We bought a Discovery Pass that provided us access to these attractions: Maid of the Mist boat ride, Cave of the Winds, Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, Niagara Legends of Adventure Theater and Aquarium of Niagara. We started at 9:30 am and by 4 pm we had made it to all of them.

The highlights were the Maid of the Mist boat ride and walking the Cave of the Winds. For both, we were given pullover rain coats and for the Cave of the Winds, sandals. We still got a little wet, especially on the boat ride that took us right next to the Canadian Falls.

The adventure theater showed us how the falls were discovered along with examples of people going over the falls in a barrel, one boy going over the falls in just a life jacket and survived and tightrope walking the falls. The first to go over in a barrel was a 62-year old woman in 1901 in a barrel she designed. The boy was  thrown overboard from a small fishing boat after the motor stopped working. He is the only one to survive in just a life jacket. All total, 9 people have successfully gone over the falls and survived and 7 have not.

The aquarium had lots of fish to view up close and personal.

We took the trolley around the first State Park of the US that included Goat Island (named after a single goat that survived something) Great Lakes Garden, and all the attractions discussed above. We ate lunch at the Top of the Falls Restaurant.

On the way back to the motel, we had to stop at Denny's for milkshakes!

We took many pictures you can view on the website at https://plus.google.com/photos/102207335230379372875/albums/5891329806057309137

However, here are a few:

Cave of the Winds

Maid of the Mist

We are in the mist and really close to the falls here!

See the rainbow!

There are many nationalities present at the Niagara Falls.

Tomorrow, we ride 86 miles to Rochester, NY, the beginning of our eighth state.

Day 42 - 743 miles from Brantford, ONT to Niagara Falls, NY

Michael and Anne rode the Co-Motion the 74 miles to Niagara Falls. Again the Lord blessed us with a great day as we had a nice tailwind and the temperature was in the low 70's with little or no humidity.

Today we left Canada and got back to the USA!

The highlight for both of us was getting to see Niagara Falls for the first time. Much more on that later.

We finally found out that Canada is not totally flat.

I don't know what happened to the rest of this blog; however, I will try again.

We found out that not all of Canada is flat.

This started a challenge for us as for the next 8 miles we encountered some short grades (thank goodness) of  nearly 15% and some tricky descents. Nonetheless, with Anne powering us, we made it!

This a drawbridge that is now just a bridge.

Had to get a picture of this new Catholic HS named St Michael!

As we came down this street, this is what we saw, the American Falls, Wow!

Then, the Canadian Falls, even a bigger Wow!

A group picture of those around us at the time.

One of us. Over 3,200 miles at this point - a wow for us.

 Panoramic view of the Canadian waterway.

Canada as started to really take advantage of the Falls as these attractions have been constructed within the last few years.

From the bridge between Canada and USA. The little plaque to right of center is the International Dividing Line.

Waiting in line to pass through US Customs.

We made back to the USA, yeah! Didn't forget our Passports!

What better way to celebrate returning to the USA - eating ice cream, Pumpkin Pie, Yummy!

Tomorrow, is a Rest Day in Niagara Fall, NY.

Day 41 - 69 miles from London to Brantford, ONT

Michael rode the Cervelo the 69 miles to Brantford since tomorrow Anne and I will ride the Co-Motion to Niagara Falls, NY.

We woke up to light rain; however, by the time we were scheduled to load baggage trailer the rain had stopped. Although the roads were wet, it did not rain again until most of us reached Brantford. So, we were blessed again. The temperatures were in the 70's, basically the wind was calm and where we are in ONT it is very flat; so, all those made for an easy 69-mile ride.

After 11 miles into the ride, we crossed the 3,000-mile mark! So far, we have covered 7 states and nearly Ontario, Canada. We only have left: NY, VT & NH. Anne and I will likely take a small detour so we can say we cycled in ME.

Since I wanted to get to Brantford before it rained I didn't take many pictures along the way. If I had, they would have showed much of the same - rich farmland and excellent looking crops. However, I should have taken some pictures of the farm homes along the way to show how profitable farming must be in Canada. Many of the homes were brick, two story and very large. Also, many of the farmers had plenty of equipment.

Although there was not much traffic where we rode, I nearly was hit by a semi hauling bales of hay. I could almost feel some pieces of hay sticking out from the bales. The truck passed me when another car was coming from the other direction. So, at the same time all three had to share the width of the road with no shoulder that wasn't very wide. I feel the truck should have waited for the car to go by before passing me. The roads were wet most of the ride and didn't help this instance either; but wet roads still beat riding on them in the rain.

Another nice bike path, but this one is in Canada. This path went for about 5 miles and took us into Brantford.

Another view. As you can see, the pavement is still wet from the morning rain and we are only five miles from Brantford.

The lobby in our motel in Brantford.

 A Celebrity Wall in the motel. Obviously, they get many of them as all the pictures were autographed.

Our room in Brantford.

Much in Brantford is about Wayne Gretzy, maybe the best ice hockey player to play the game. Below is a tribute to him in the motel. The street to the motel was Wayne Gretzy Parkway and a portion of the motel has his name.

Another important person from Brantford is Alexander Graham Bell. He invented the telephone on the outskirts of Brantford around 1875. So, here is a tribute to him and his invention in the lobby. That's Anne's bag and water bottle on the table.

Tomorrow, Anne and I will ride the Co-Motion 74 miles to Niagara Falls, NY and back into the USA! Yeah!