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.