Total distance: 307.1 miles
Day 8 – 52.2 miles – Paradox, NY to Deerland, NY
Theme: Trying to race the raindrops. We did not win! Mostly it was a tortoise and the hare sort of situation in which we stopped to play cribbage and eat a snack allowing the rain to catch us. The last three miles were pretty wet.
Highlight: Finding the sun at a public picnic area in Newcomb. After a drippy morning it was so nice to see the sun and the picnic area looked like the perfect place for a rest.
Overnight: We pulled into Hideway Campsite, rode up the gravel driveway in the rain, and were greeted by a welcoming elderly lady who pointed us to a tent area under a large tree. We wheeled our bikes over to the covered porch on the bathhouse, unloaded them there, and pitched our tent under the big tree. Luckily we had stopped on the way at Turner’s Pizza in Long Lake, so we could just crawl in the tent and go to sleep.
Day 9 – 32.9 miles – Deerland, NY to Inlet, NY
The forecast showed a small window without rain between 10am and 12pm, so we made breakfast and coffee on the covered porch of the bathhouse and then packed up our bikes as soon as the rain stopped. We had roughly one and a half hours of dry before the rain came. We made it to Raquette Lake (20 miles) and hid in the Raquette Lake Inn and Tap Room trying to decide whether we should spend the night there or push on. After chatting with some fishermen over lunch and a beer, we decided to try to make it 10 more miles to Inlet, NY. It was a very wet and miserable 10 miles and felt like some of the most difficult riding we have done. We arrived in Inlet soaking wet and decided to splurge for a night at the Wood’s Inn. Of course, that evening the sun came out.
Theme: Rain, rain, go away!
Highlight: Watching the sunset over the lake behind the Wood’s Inn after a very rainy day.
Overnight: We enjoyed a comfortable, dry night at the Wood’s Inn. As soon as we got into the room we strung up a clothesline to dry all of our wet clothes and gear and everything was dry by the morning.
Day 10 – 59.85 miles – Inlet, NY to Osceola, NY
The day’s forecast from the night before showed a clear window between 9am and 3pm, so we got up early to take advantage of the good weather. We stopped for breakfast sandwiches in town to fuel up and got on the road while the sun was shining.
Theme: Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. The forecast says rain is coming tomorrow, so we did 16 miles more than planned to avoid biking in the rain.
Highlight: Getting into the tent moments before it started raining after a record-breaking day. Luckily the lunch we got when we stopped in Boonville was massive and we could eat it for dinner too!
Overnight: Stealth camping in the East Osceola State Forest. We spent 18 hours in our tent (and 12 of them asleep)!
Day 11 – 29.67 miles – Osceola, NY to Pulaski, NY
We emerged from our tent at 10am when the rain finally stopped, packed everything up and got on the road. We were heading to our second Warm Showers hosts in Pulaski, NY. The route took us through some very small towns and we stopped at a gas station in the biggest one, Redfield, for lunch.
Theme: Eric whining on an easy day. Eric’s legs are tired. It’s been 11 straight days of biking and that’s a lot for us newbies. However, it was mostly downhill, we had just spent twelve hours sleeping, and we didn’t even hit 30 miles, nothing to whine about!
Highlight: Our second warm showers hosts, Kit and Lou, were super nice! They gave us a nice mowed patch of grass to pitch our tent, let us take showers, do our laundry, and cook dinner in their kitchen. We had a lovely evening with them.
Overnight: Camping on Kit and Lou’s lawn
Day 12 – 45.7 miles – Pulaski, NY to Fair Haven, NY
We took our time at Lou and Kit’s, enjoying the sun on our faces while we ate breakfast and then got on the road. Shortly after leaving we found ourselves near Lake Ontario, winding our way around to small towns on the coast. We arrived in Fair Haven in the early afternoon, grabbed some groceries from the local store and headed to Wildwood Lakes Campground. We had chosen that one only because it was closest to the route, but it was a good choice because the owner likes cyclists and only charged us $10, and the winds blow in such a way that there are hardly any bugs. This was particularly fortuitous as Jess’s bag of mosquito clothes that we had just treated with Permethrin a few days earlier had sneakily jumped off her bike during the day’s ride.
Theme: Sun’s out! Beautiful day for a beautiful ride.
Highlight: Finally testing out our hammock! Awesome night at Wild Wood Lakes Campsite where we met Larry, the owner, and there were almost no mosquitoes. Eric slept in the hammock all night and loved it.
Overnight: Camping at Wild Wood Lakes Campsite. We made ourselves a fancy dinner of pork chops and mashed potatoes over the fire. Jess slept in the tent, Eric slept in the hammock.
Day 13 – 42.85 miles – Fair Haven, NY to Pultneyville, NY
We continued our path through small lakeside towns. There is clear evidence of flooding in this area. At Sodus Point, the restaurant we stopped at for lunch normally has a back porch and walkway but it was all underwater. There were massive pumps trying to move the water, but it looked futile.
After lunch we visited the Sodus Point lighthouse and ran into a street closed due to flooding and saw sandbags lining most of the roads along the edge of the lake, and many houses in the water.
Theme: Taking the long way around. We did 12 extra miles, more than half due to road closures and detours. When we finally got to our campsite, the closest option for food was five miles round trip from our campsite.
Highlight: Watching the birds fly from tree to tree from our private island campsite in a bay of Lake Ontario.
Overnight: We had a private island campsite at Hugh’s Marina and Campsites. It was definitely the most beautiful spot we’ve camped at so far with only two small problems. 1) we set up our tent underneath a floodlight without realizing it. The light went on just as we wanted to go to sleep and shone all night. We found out the next morning there would have been a switch to turn it off if we had called the owner, but we hadn’t wanted to bother them; and 2) The battery on a boat in the marina had died and the depth finder kept restarting over and over again, beeping the whole time. The beeping noise happened all night long, despite Eric’s efforts to turn it off.
Day 14 – 43.93 miles – Pultneyville, NY to Rochester, NY
What would you do to save $1,200? We biked 585 miles in 14 days without a rest day to make it to Rochester, NY. Jess’s company offers $1,200 savings if you get weighed and measured and offers specific appointments in various offices around the country. Before we left Boston we made appointments in the Rochester, NY office. When we set out, we knew it would take us 17 days to make it here at 30 miles a day and we only had 14 days to do it. Set yourself a goal, and do what it takes to achieve it. It feels good!
After all the hills in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, Jess’s rear brake was feeling pretty loose. Eric had helpfully tried to tighten it a few times, but it was always either loose or constantly engaged. Just before we got to Rochester, the rear brake gave out entirely. It would make this crunch noise when Jess pulled it as the caliper jumped in a strange way, but it had no braking power. Jess said pulling the brake felt like running over an accelerator in Mario Cart – instead of slowing down, the bike felt like it went faster.
Theme: Erie Canal trail
Highlight: Meeting our third Warm Showers host, Coleridge, who signed up to host us for two days so we could rest up. He fed us, showed us around town, took us to REI so Jess’s Space Horse could get its brakes in working order, gave us a bed, and regaled us with tales from his life and childhood.
Overnight: Sofa bed at Coleridge’s house. It poured with rain all night and we were thrilled to be inside a warm house.
Our second week was a little rainier than our first, but we still mostly managed to dodge the raindrops. After 14 straight days of biking an average 41.7 miles per day, we are exhausted but feeling accomplished. We have definitely earned our first rest day tomorrow! Average cost of week 2: $73.80