Today was meant to be a rest day; however, we had to get ourselves to Rochester before we could rest. We had a dinner appointment with my grandparents in Port Colborne. We wanted to arrive at my Aunt’s place in time for showers and to do a load of laundry before dinner.
The day started early. I was up at 5 am with the birds. We’ll need to get a recording of the birds from a few different places to compare. I enjoy listening to the birds most mornings; however, there are times when I’d prefer to be allowed to sleep in!
The ride to Rochester (actually Webster, the eastern-most suburb of Rochester was 30 km).
About 10 km outside of Rochester, we met our first self-supported cycle tourist of this trip: Gerry Olafson from Austin Texas. Gerry road with friends from Chicago to Rochester, and was just beginning a one month stint by himself. He plans to ride for a month, through New York to Quebec and possibly to the maritimes. His only criteria was that his trip ended someplace where the could get a train back to Chicago. We exchanged information regarding the road ahead, and we were on our way again.
The road was mostly flat with some rolling hills (a nice change from days past). When we arrived in Webster, we stopped at MacDonalds (quick food and Internet).
As usual, we parked our bikes out front and found a place to sit inside where we could see our bikes. We were soon approached by a nice gentleman who was curious about our bikes and our trip. He was a local cyclist named Yar. He helped us find a good bike route to the rental place, and even offered to lend us his car! It is great to meet such friendly people :).
Frinding a rental car place turned out to be more challenging than we anticipated. We soon discovered that most non-airport agencies were closed on Sundays. The airport was more than 30 km away and I was not mentally prepared to ride that far! (I prepare for 30 km). Eventually, we found a place that was open and only 15 km away (yay!). Before we headed off, Yar gave us his number just in case we needed help. Thanks :).
We did successfully find our way to Port Colbourne in time (only just) and had an enjoyable dinner with my grandparents and a brief visit with my Aunt and Uncle.
By 10 pm we were both ready to collapse. We defininely need to find a way to get more sleep!
Thank-you Aunt Sharon and Uncle Mike for allowing us to take over 1/2 your home with our stuff. Our visit was brief but greatly enjoyed.
Becky and grandma at dinner.
Port Colbourne sunset.
Congratulations on making it to Rochester! Kevin and I have been keeping up with your blog. Are you enjoying your recumbent bicycles? Are you able to travel further on a recumbent than a conventional bicycle? It seems like you guys went a long way.
Cheers,
Ali
Hi Ali,
Thanks, good to hear from you. We can definitely travel longer on our recumbents, because we’re in a more natural and comfortable seating position. I haven’t hit a day yet when I said “Thank God I’m off this bike”, which would have happened several times by now on my upright touring bike. I feel like we’re slower on our recumbents, but that may be the 50+ lbs of gear we’re carrying too. I think the net effect on distance travelled is positive, with the comfort being a major plus.
cheers,
Scott
Besides increased comfort, I’m guessing reduced wind resistance is an advantage of the recumbents.
From your speed profiles it sure looks like you’re making good time! At best my average speed when biking to work is 20km/h — and that’s just for 20 minutes on level terrain!