Today was a day filled with variety. After a sound night’s sleep I slogged four miles into Fairport for breakfast. I ate at Riki’s, a family restsurant that I ate at in 2004 on my Erie Canal west to east tour. Country fried steak, home fries, two eggs over east, Texas toast, and coffee. It was the best diner breakfast I’ve had on this trip.
After eating I hit the canal trail. It was warm and muggy but that didn’t diminish the trail traffic one bit. When I wasn’t dodging people, I was riding through massive gaggles of Canada geese. There were goslings of every stage of development mixed in with the adults. The goslings seemed to be older the further west I went.
The path in most places was hard packed dirt with crushed limestone and geese poop on top. I’m serious. I’ve never seen so much geese poop.
Pittsford was the next town. It’s a bit bougie and the canal was very busy so bikes are shunted off to the town streets, past all the cute little shops.
After Pittsford came the great Rochester bypass. The trail is paved but in pretty nasty condition. Root heaves, some marked, some not, gave me plenty of jolts.
The canal trail mixes with other trails in this area so I am grateful that somebody thought to put yellow arrows on the pavement to keep through riders on course.
After Rochester the trail conditions improved. I waved at a passing packet boat. Rowers we’re learning how to use a shell.
I stopped and talked with an eastbounder. Mike had started in Los Angeles. He was headed to the Gaspe Peninsula then onward by plane for two more months in Europe. I noticed that his hand had tremors. I didn’t ask but wondered if he had Parkinson’s.
I stopped in Spencerport for lunch and bought some water and lunch at a grocery store. The humidity has been riding and I didn’t realize that I was getting dehydrated.
The next couple of hours featured some wonderful riding on the canal. Ah, but storm clouds were looming ahead. After Brockport it started to rain.
And rain and rain. The trail surface became harder and harder to ride on. The added resistance of the wet limestone slowed me considerably.
A woman was waiting out the rain under a bridge. She told me of a new hotel near Medina just a few miles further. After a few more miles of slogging I looked it up on my phone. $150+ tax. Nope.
As luck would have it, a few miles later the rain came to an end. A tailwind started nudging me along. And the trail seemed to be dryer with each passing mile. The sun came out.
I met up with a group of two adults and three kids, aged 14, 13, and 10. They were riding the trail end to end. They had gotten soaked just like me and seemed to be having a blast.
After some very tough trail riding through Medina, I came to Middleport where five eastbounders were discussing next steps. One of them learned from a bridge attendant that we could camp on the opposite side of the canal with electricity, bathrooms, and showers for a $20 donation.
By now the ground had dried and the sun was still shining so I joined them in camp. It turns out they one of them had been through Wisdom, Montana the same day as Corey, Mark, and me last summer. He and his friends were riding east and we were riding west. He swears he remembers seeing us go by. None of us remember him but he knew details of the day (a stranded father and son trail riders, a bazillion mosquitos). What a weird coincidence.
I had pizza for dinner and an finally got in my tent 9:30. It looks like tonight will be dark and stormy. And tomorrow will be stormy too. I booked a bed in a hostel in Buffalo for tomorrow night. But first I need to finish the canal and then slip into Ontario for some waterfall fun.
Oh, and The Mule hit 72,000 miles today.
Miles today: 70
Tour miles: 1,923.5
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
I biked across NY State years ago with my biking friend John, who I mentioned previously. We tried riding a little on the Erie Canal trail for a little bit, but like you said, the soft surface can slow you down alot. So we hopped on the road instead and went much faster. 🙂 I enjoyed riding across the state. 🙂
Sometimes a trail isn’t the best route. I rode the Sparta to Elroy Trail in WI (the first rail to trail conversion) and then rode the parallel highway, which was a much more enjoyable ride – low traffic, better surface, and followed the contours rather than cutting through and leveling out all the fun parts.
By the way, one of the neat things I saw on my Cross-NY bike ride was the cobblestone houses. Very cool. 🙂
There was a cobblestone church in Middleport last night. Very cool construction.
Wow, lots of human interaction today. How wild that you met up with a guy who saw you/was there on the same day. Small world indeed. Despite the rain, this sounds like a great day of the tour.
Taking notes on the canal from you. My friends and I plan to pass through Medina 10/5 and stay at the Comfort Inn. These ladies refused to stay at the hostel in Buffalo; only hotels for them. 😦
Nothing wrong with a little luxury. Hotels off route are easy to get to