Day 45 – Lock and Load

August 1, 2018

Day 45 – Rochester to Liverpool, NY – 92 miles, 1,950 feet vertical

Mmmm.  I got such a good night’s sleep last night. 

I woke up this morning feeling really good.  I stretched … and slowly opened my eyes.  As I lay there, slowly regaining consciousness and awareness, I saw the morning sun streaming in through the window.  The sun had been up for awhile and it was a beautiful day outside and … WAIT! … WHAT??!? … THE SUN IS UP ALREADY????  Sunrise was at 6am and I had set the alarm for 5:30.  Wait!  What time is it? 

HOLY SH*#%@$%*!!  It’s 7:13!!  Load and go is at 7:30!!! 

I spent about a minute – a minute that I didn’t have – pondering my options.  I finally decided to suck it up, cupcake –  and go for it.  I plugged in the coffee machine and made a cup while I jumped in the shower.  Most of my clothing was already packed, because I had done a wash the night before.  Focus!  I multi-tasked and packed my laptop and electronics while simultaneously zipping my luggage.  I shoved all of my charging cables into their ziploc bag, packed up my toothbrush and such and got dressed.  Shorts, heart-rate monitor, jersey, socks, gloves, do-rag, cycling shoes, helmet.  Fill the water bottles, turn on Garmin, load today’s navigation.  Stuff back pockets with phone, camera, extra camera battery, lip balm, gel blocks, money, credit cards. Sunglasses are filthy, but no time to clean now – will have to wait.  Tires seem hard enough – will check air pressure later.  Pack extra bag with sneakers and rain jacket – this bag goes in the BAT van.  Double-check the room. Twice.  Got everything? Good.  Head clumsily out to the elevator.  Press down button.  

Do I have time to look at my watch? 

Do I dare look at my watch? 

Oh, come on – be brave.

7:32.  I’m late.  

A minute later, I’m downstairs.  Most people have left already.  There are a few left, but they’re saddling up and heading out.  I haven’t had breakfast yet.  

I loaded my luggage and signed in (dead last).  Karen was riding sweep, so I asked her if she could just wait a few minutes.  I hustled inside and had a quick bowl of cereal.  Later Robin would tell me he was having a good laugh watching me eat.  (Robin is easily amused.)  I grabbed a banana, headed outside and off I went.  Alone.  

I turned on my speaker and decided to listen to the morning news.  I made it to the bike path, took a deep breath and decided to just ride steady.  I felt a lot better once I was cycling and even had time to stop and take a few pics.  I basically chased for about 20 miles before catching up with the gang at Lock 30 on the Erie Canal.  Emergency, over. 

At Lock 30, we watched the canal locks in action as three kayakers paddled along to the gate at the upper level.  The lock operator signaled them into the lock and closed the gates behind them.  He then opened the water sluices and the entire volume of water inside the gate drained out, lowering the kayakers with it.  Finally, with the water level equalized at the lowered level, he opened the downstream gate and our happy kayakers paddled away, waving at all the bikers.  Pretty cool. 

Other than all that, we had a great day.  SAG 1 at 34 miles was at Bee-Tee’s Ice Cream stand.  Oh, what the hell – I had a vanilla milkshake.  Yum.  All in all, 92 miles and we celebrated our LAST 90-plus mile ride!   Yeah!! 

On a temporarily sad note, we said goodbye tonight to our dear friend Tom Gjelten who is putting a very large bookmark in his cross-country journey.  Tom is taking a timeout to attend a family wedding this weekend, in Charlottesville. (Yes, that Charlottesville.)  He’s ridden this far and he just can’t quit, so he’s coming back to resume the ride on Monday (at the same time we hope to be doing our wheel dip in the Atlantic).  He’ll follow the same route (more or less) and finish four days later.  I have confidence that he’ll finish, but he’s going to sorely miss Arlene’s eternal optimism, Audrey’s funny sarcasm and my jokes and entertaining repartee.  Oh, and shhh, … we also allocate a few minutes each morning to share our Outrage of the Day (current events).  

Go, Tom!! 

Please enjoy these photos from the day including Lock 30 in action.  Watch the dwindling red dots at Where’s Jeff at jeffblye.com  Keep those cards and letters coming, and thanks for following.  

…Jeff