Day 10...Medina to Honeoye Falls / Macedon, NY...home !

(picture above: Christoph heading South on Rt. 19 towards Bergen, NY)

Last night we had real beds in a motel in Medina (a bit of a sketchy place for $ 84 / night - no senior discount). We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant "downtown" Medina. Son Christoph joined us and headed back to Erie, PA afterwards.


What a beautiful day for our final tour around Lake Ontario ride...weather was perfect: 75 to 82 deg. F. (mid 20's deg. C) - good winds in our back...sun shine...the Napp's made it back by 1 pm and the Nawrocki's (who had to travel a bit further back home) were home by 3:30 pm.

(picture to the left: Edmund's bicycle with 2228 team shirt in front of Medina motel)


Heading home today, we averaged 14 - 15 mph with great tail winds. The ride was easy and pretty (57 miles for the Napp's).



(Splitting up in Brockport - the Nawrocki's heading East...the Napp's heading South East)

The total miles for the trip was 625 miles - when you consider that we had a combined 10 wheels (2 bicycles + 2 tricycles) - riding 6,250 wheel miles without a single flat (or any other significant problem) is a great thing.



(The day before...in Niagara Falls)

Looking back at the last 10 days, there were many highlights of this trip - besides the scenery, the nice campgrounds, places we stayed...the most impressing part was the people we met as we traveled. Absolutely the nicest people, who couldn't do enough for us...all around, just wonderful people...all around the lake. Without naming you all...you know who you are...Thank You - you are great friends to have !

And, of course, we could not have done this trip without the great help from family, neighbours and friends, who took care of our homes and pets, while we were peddling around the Lake...Thanks to all of you!!!



(back home at the Napp's)

Kathie...you earned the MVP award (most valuable peddler). Great attidude, never complained about anything...and when she kicked in...she left us in the dust ! Ken gets the MVM (most valuable mule) award for pulling the trailer around the entire lake...great job!

We had a great time and worked well throughout the ride - but at the end...it is great to be back home again !

Big Cheers...

Day 9 - Niagara on the Lake to Medina, NY - about 50 miles

Back in the USA and sleeping in a motel tonight after two nights in our tents. From our campground the day began with a short climb on a 10% grade and then a longer climb of 5% to get the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. We had an uneventful border crossing, but waited in line with many Canadian cars at the US side of the bridge. They were probably on the way to the US for shopping.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - WiFi and phone connections are not freely available...We will add pictures when we are back home in Rochester.

The weather has been cooperating with us - today, we had mostly great tail winds, allowing us to travel at about 16 - 17 miles per hour without too much effort. We ended up at the Dollinger Motel in Medina around 2 pm. Son Christoph drove up from Erie, PA to spend some time with us in Medina. So, we walked around and ended up eating at an Italian restaurant in town (food was great).

Tomorrow we are on our final leg - and it looks like we will not be riding much of the distance together, since the Napp's have to head to a more southerly direction to get home than the Nawrocki's.

It looks like the entire trip will be slightly longer than 600 miles...but everyone, the bicycles and trailers held up really well.

We are all looking forward to spending a night in a real bed (first time since our first night in Oswego)...

Until tomorrow...Cheers...

Day 7 Toronto to Burlington

Arrived safely after 59 miles. In a clean campground in Burlington and ready for a good night's sleep. More tomorrow if we get web access.

Day 6 - Rest day in beautiful Toronto...0 miles !!!

Here's Kathie on the bridge overlooking Rouge Hill nature area outside of Toronto on our way in from Port Hope.


Ahhhh...our first rest day, after 5 days, averaging 80 miles...! Our ride into Toronto, yesterday, was a bit tiring, because all these days on the road we were spoiled with little traffic - as we got closer to the city of Toronto, traffic worsened rather quickly. However, we made it safely to Enno Agur's home at about 6:30 pm. As always, we were welcomed with the greatest hospitality one could ask for. For dinner, we BBq'd the most delicious foods (Thanks Kristina & Anne !), had plenty of wine and a great time.



Today we split up and toured the city in pairs (Christoph & Edmund / Kathie & Ken). We went to the water front walked through China town (and had some strange lunch there), and visited the Kensington Market, a rather artsy place with little shops that sell from fresh produce to pot paraphernalia. We stopped by some Chinese markets and looked at their fresh fish (some of which we could not recognize...). We met a young mother of two on a Stevens bicycle (Maja) who is from Hamburg and lives here in Toronto with her family for about 5 years now. Ken and Kathie went up CN tower and walked around having middle eastern lunch in Kensington. After that some bicycle maintenance...

Tomorrow we are having a light day going to Burlington (Hamilton) where we have a campsite secured.

The weather is still perfect - around 80 or so degrees (25 - 30 deg. C).

Day 5 - Port Hope to Toronto - 77 miles today - almost 400 so far

Just lost everything I typed - will try again tomorrow with Pictures - another perfect day !!!

Day 4 Picton to Port Hope, Ontario

After a night camping near Sandbanks Provincial Park, we got an early start and stopped after 15 miles for a great breakfast in Wellington. Our ride to Port Hope was scenic, but uneventful- except for a brief stop just 5 miles from our hosts to wait out a downpour.

We have enjoyed an incredible evening around the fire with Bart and Judith in Port Hope. The picture shows us enjoying some chat after dinner. Our first order of business upon arrival was for a swim in Lake Ontario- right in their backyard! Refreshing after a 75 mile day on the bike! Dinner, beverages and ice cream around the fire pit capped a good day.
Tomorrow we set out for Toronto…..another 70+ mile day, but by now we are used to it. So far we have covered about 320 miles in the last four days.

Day 3 - Cape Vincent to Picton...67 miles...245 total so far

Another great riding day today - lots of sun...very few hills...a little wind in our faces. Shown is the campsite we left this morning in Cape Vincent.

Christoph, Ken and Edmund are enjoying the ferry ride from Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island.

So far no flats (are you happy, Carlo ?). We ended up at a nice camp site near Sandbanks Provincial Park (Martin's River Resort). They have a beautiful beach within walking distance. For dinner we had burgers - just no better choices near the camp site. I will update again tomorrow (son Christoph: haver a safe trip back from Venezuela tomorrow - I will be thinking of you) - Cheers...

Day 2 - Oswego to Cape Vincent - not able to post

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Day 2 - Oswego to Cape Vincent - 84 miles ...

Day One - Honeoye Falls / Macedon to Oswego, NY

It could not have ended any better...

We ended up at our warmshowers.org hosts Dave and LeeAnn Bauer just East of the city of Oswego - just before 6 pm (seen on the picture above) - we are being absolutely pampered by them...from champagne for welcome, great dinner with home made cheese cake and red wine, beside the wonderful warm shower, laundry service and our own bedrooms...how can you top that...Thank You, Bauer's !!!

So, the ride went very well. We were able to avoid some bad weather, but ended up riding in pouring rain for the last 4 miles. Christoph and Edmund started at 5:30 am and met up with Kathy and Ken in Macedon a couple of hours later. For the Napp's, the trip was about 100 miles (about 160 km) - the Nawrocki's rode for little over 75 miles. Christoph and Ken trailed the trailer for the entire distance (Thanks !!) - tomorrow is Edmund's turn...(for one trailer)

Our first short break was at Pultneyville (the other pic) , where we still looked reasonably fresh...

Tomorrow we are heading to Cape Vincent - not sure where we will stay, yet - nothing will be as fancy as our first night.

One day to go...

13 hours to go before we take off...
Christoph (shown on the left) arrived last night in Rochester - on time. Today we finalized the packing - stopped by at Nawrocki's to pick up some bags...checked out the road between our house and Nawrocki's house to make sure we find our way tomorrow.
We test rode our fully loaded bikes around the HF neighborhood - Christoph was able to try to ride with the trailer - he liked it ;o) .
Oh yeah - we caught a chipmonk this morning and set it free at Nawrocki's house...

4th of July - Happy Birthday America...5 days to start the trip

What a beautiful weekend we have in Rochester...I am working on the preps for the trip. I installed the new SPD (clip on) pedals on my bike - now I need to practice using them without falling over every time I stop.
A really big Thank You to the Stewart, Middleton, Lamendola and Napp families for their sponsorships !!!
Ken and Kathy have been busy securing places for us to stay - we are almost all set all the way to Toronto - through www.warmshowers.org and a friend of Ken's, it looks like we won't have to pitch a tent until after Toronto (at best). Kathy just discovered that her bicycle frame was cracked - but they were able to replace it and are setting it up for the trip.
Christoph will cross the Atlantic (by plane) to join me on Wednesday - Thursday we do last minute stuff and on Friday early in the morning we head to Macedon, NY to join Ken and Kathy...and then off to Oswego, NY.

Have a great weekend and Happy 4th of July...

13 days to go...

During a 57 mile practice ride yesterday (it was a perfect day to ride), I had my first flat for the season - happend right next to a bike shop in Pittsford - so they fixed it for me...;o)

Today I packed all the camping gear (tent, 2 sleeping pads, 2 sleeping bags, stove and butane bottles) and put them on my trailer (see picture) - only 24 lbs. The clothing will go in the sattle bags.

Next activity: pitch the tent to make sure everything is there and working...

Preparation Update (June 20, 2010) - 19 Days to start

Things are beginning to shape up !

I have secured a better bicycle for my brother Christoph (brand new Kona Dew Plus) road / trail hybrid bike - has two disk brakes - very sturdy - and I mounted the rack today.

Got a light weight stove to make coffee, etc. (from my kids for father's day) !

Then I split the ride around the lake into 7 riding days of 62 miles to 88 miles per day (just a start - that leaves us with 3 days for weather contingency or sight seeing). The entire round is about 550 miles. The highest point of the ride is 730 feet asl, the lowest point is 240 ft (at Lake Ontario sea level). The total ascent per day varies from 925 feet to 1234 ft (very flat ride).

The first day we plan on riding to Oswego, NY and plan on camping on the lawn of a private house (via www.warmshowers.org - which is a network of bicycle riders that offer their yards, showers, etc. to riders). Second night we probably go to a camp site in Cape Vincent, before crossing over to Kingston, Canada....

More upgrades to follow.

Edmund's 69 mile (110 km) training ride

Had a beautiful training ride with my tricycle (not loaded) this morning - from Honeoye Falls up to Lake Ontario (Williamson)- perfect temperature (70 deg. C),very little wind and a slight sprinkle of rain near the lake.

The bicycle (tricycle) handled well - the only issues are my brakes (they work - but not very well) - In the next couple of weeks I will have a full tune up done on the bike.

Riding for Robotics

Edmund has decided to use the "Tour around Lake Ontario" as a fundraiser for the Honeoye Falls - Lima / Henrietta FIRST Robotics Team (Team 2228).

The vision for FIRST Robotics is to inspire in young people, their schools and communities, an appreciation of science and technology and an understanding that mastering these can enrich the lives of all.

Students from High Schools around the world design, build and test radio controlled robots that need to accomplish specific tasks that change every year. In doing so, they get exposed to and learn technical skills, problem solving, strategic thinking, project management, team work and much more.

If you are interested in making a tax deductable donation to Team 2228 as part of this fundraiser, please make out a check to the "Mendon Foundation" and write "Team 2228" in the memo field. 100% of the donations will go directly to Team 2228. The check can be mailed to my home address: Edmund Napp, 20 Gravel Hill Lane, Honeoye Falls, NY 14472.

If you choose not to donate to the team, we would still enjoy having you follow our journey around the Lake Ontario by following this blog.

Thanks for your interest !