May 19 -- Niles OH to Dunkirk NY

A three-state-day ... Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York ...

The winds were in our favor today -- good thing too, because it was a long day at 138 miles.

We loaded at 6am and then immediately hit the road for the Perkins Family Restaurant .8 miles down the road where breakfast was being served. Jerry, Geoff and I got there first -- if you get there first you can usually get served before they get swamped feeding the rest. Unfortunately the staff had no idea that we were coming ... or what our menu was supposed to be ... this is the third time that the management of these places does not communicate very well with the a.m. staff. Barb goes over the night before to confirm things ... to no avail.

Perkins is like many other chain restaurants -- if you go in one direction long enough you will find another restaurant. That is just what Dave Dubuc and A.J. did -- they went the wrong way out of the hotel and found a Perkins 8 miles the wrong way -- I guess that they didn't realize that it was supposed to be .8 miles ... anyway, they ate breakfast there and that Perkins called the other Perkins -- notified Mike, who then picked them up and moved them down the road to match their odometers. That was the laugh of the day. We all contribute ...

Anyway, we got away quickly anyway and they adjusted our order to the "allowable" items. Bill Reenstra sat down with us and we four left together. Bill rode with us for about the first 20 miles -- our speed was gradually increasing as we warmed up (I'll come back to that one) and Bill dropped off once we were rolling at 20 mph.

Warming up ? -- we started off at 37 degrees, climbed out of town and there was frost on the ground. Brrr. I was ok, wearing the same as yesterday -- the wind was with us, more or less, so it was in fact warmer than the day before when you consider wind chill. Jerry and Geoff and Bill did not fare as well due to the clothes bin being stolen -- yes, someone stole the clothing drop bin from the motel so anyone who had not picked up their clothing by early evening lost stuff. I was ok, thank goodness. I would have died without my warm gloves. Bill was minus his shoe covers; Jerry was missing his heavy gloves (he had picked up his other stuff and forgot the gloves); Geoff was minus his leg warmers and warm gloves. It warmed up within the first hour though so everyone was ok and in fact dumped clothing at the first SAG stop. Later in the day it was cold whenever we stopped due to the following wind, but warm while we were riding -- so the morale of the story is ??? -- keep riding !!

Our route went from Niles OH to Erie PA to Dunkirk NY. The stretch to Erie had the winds mostly with us, depending on the direction of the county road and the stretch along 5 from Erie to Dunkirk had a great tail wind. Mike considered this a rest day while doing 138 miles -- but that all depends on your definition. Most of us pressed pretty hard, so it just made the day shorter, not less effort in whatever time you spent. In fact the last 40 miles, from Erie to Dunkirk, were a lot of work because we pressed hard maintaining a speed of 20-26 depending on the strength of the wind. There were only a few dips in the road, i.e. downhills to a river then uphill to the plateau surrounding the lake. That plateau is only 50-100 feet over lake level, so the hills, while seemingly steep, were not long.

Ride stats -- 138 miles; elapsed time 8:30; rolling time 7:37.

There were only two SAG stops today -- at 47.4 and 93.1. Given the long distances between SAGs though, the vans are available for water replenishment and of course there are convenience stores along the way, now that we're in the northeast.

The scenery and terrain changed after we left Ohio -- from hilly to flat; from farms to vineyards -- in PA and NY. Along 5 east of Erie you are in constant view of Lake Erie -- homes along the waterfront -- none of them very large, but with sizeable properties. It's quite a pretty drive -- worth doing again. Lake Erie itself, given the high winds today, showed whitecaps.

On the way into town we saw a Clarion hotel, but had not gotten to the Ramada yet (our destination). I was watching the street numbers though, because with such a stiff tail wind (20+), it would be murder having to backtrack a long distance. The numbers seemed wrong, so about 100 yards past the Clarion we stopped by the side of the road and called the Ramada -- the switchboard answered "Clarion Hotels" -- bingo, it had changed names since the printing of the cue sheets ! Since we were the first ones in, I called Barb to let her know but it was too late for her to get the word out to the riders -- a number had to backtrack.

The luggage arrived about 1/2 hour after we did and Ian and I unloaded. I showered and changed and walked into town (only 1.2 miles this time) to 5pm Mass. I got back to the hotel a little after 6pm and Geoff was in the lobby just looking for me for dinner, so timing was perfect. 8 of us dined at the hotel restaurant -- it was quite good, actually very good -- and it seemed like the only game in town. There was a wedding going on as well and groups in for Prom night.

Tomorrow we breakfast late -- 7am -- here in the hotel, RAP at breakfast and then our ride is broken into two pieces -- 40+ miles; then bicycle museum tour; then 40+ miles. They are calling for showers ... yucch ... but we'll manage whatever. I just don't want to do a tour soaking wet and then start riding again.

Just before we got to the PA state line we passed three riders carrying / pulling full camping gear. They were doing a ride from Alabama to Owen Sound Ontario, following the route of the underground railroad. We took pictures of them with their camera and they took a pictures of us with our cameras.



At the New York state line there was a golf course and a golfer came over and took pictures for us.