Hoping for a Tail Wind

The second day of a long ride is always the same. Ghostbustin ass, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray level. Neither my mind nor body has adjusted yet. Not to riding all day. Not to sleeping outside. Not to the required lower standard of hygiene or required level of hydration. What can go wrong will probably go wrong. Ain’t nothin’ to it but to do it.

Our gracious hosts send us off full of vegan pancake. I also went with the optional eggs. Damon follows a strict diet. I eat anything at this point.

Coffee, poop, ride.

We knock 25 miles out at a moderate pace and roll across New York State to the sounds of RTJ4. Damon takes the lead for a bit and I realize we probably need to stay out of the sun from noon to 3pm today. Parts of him look lobsteresque. His right calf is a shade of pinkish red that I’ve never seen before. I start to consider options.

I miss a sign to stay on the Erie Canal Trail and wind up finding a slew of barnacle encrusted bicycles. Derailleurs beware, nature is metal.

We detour onto the Genesee River Trail and 4 miles later we’re in the center of Rochester New York – at the apartment oasis of one Gabriella Gauger. Gabi is a fantastic human, I truly love the shit out of her. As usual (which is now just “as yooozz” – but I don’t know the proper spelling), she is out of town doing awesome out of town shit. But she was cool with us chilling for a couple hours and a midday break was needed. Detour approved.

Theres a tasty blond ale in the fridge. The liquid lunch goes down smooth. I shower. I lay down. I start to drift off into midday wonder nap land…

BTW Gabi has a blog, it’s just like mine but totally different – so check it out or don’t.

On days like today, there’s very few places that the sun doesn’t shine.

Damon and I hit Lockport around noon – the first of many a “Port”s around here – and head straight to the coffee shop on a 93° F day. After a late start due to my ultra eventful 24 hour shift ending at 8am, the caffeine kick is a prerequisite to my continuing to ride and continuing to hold bike tour 101 with Damon.

Shit. I need to go back in time don’t I?

So Damon Bodine is basically my bestie. Really though I was Best Man at he and his wife Riana’s wedding. I wore a lion pajama onesie at the reception and smuggled drinks to the kids because it was the first time I was “best” at anything. This is Damon’s first bicycle tour and has now become a four man crew on a 1400 mile mission. Normally I’d be going alone, but this is the new normal, bitches.

Now that we’re caught up.

I sip my latte under the shade of a tree. Damon has crushed his iced coffee. The eastbound Erie Canal Trail awaits, through such towns like Lockport, Gasport, Middleport, and Brockport. Apparently, one town even changed it name from Newport years ago. Weird. It’s a fantastic path and has been off road, crushed stone most of the time. So dust is getting all up my everything. Especially my bikes gearing and my taints swamp.

We push on to Brockport. Our remaining tour cycling comrades, Chad and Daniel, will be meeting us in another day or two. We’re happy to finish day one.

We meet Gloria and Daryl and they offer to let us pop up our tents on their backyard – literally along the Erie Canal. Pandemic times cause for a little feeling out between humans, but all in all folks are still super nice and hospitable and Gloria and Daryl are super awesome hosts. We chat for a bit, play with their dogs and consume calories at frenzied pace. As the sun sets, I jump in the tent and get me a good old fashioned wet wipe shower before drifting off to the sounds of birds and ground animals… it’s fucking fantastic to be outside of a city, away from sirens and cars and noise pollution.