11 | August | 2012 | Steve Prichard's 2012 Cross Country Bike Tour

August 10th: Newark to Pulaski, NY

August 10^th Statistics: Newark to Pulaski, NY

Today’s Biking Distance – 77.7 miles
Today’s Average Speed – 14.2 mph
Today’s Time In Saddle – 5.5 hours
Today Ascent – 3,258 feet
Total Trip Biking Days – 47
Total Trip Biking Distance – 3,612.7 miles
Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 76.9 miles
Total Trip Ascent – 89,948 feet

Today’s weather was threatening and the ride long, so I began riding about 7 am. Our days of flat riding are certainly over – today we climbed over 3,000 feet, which we had done only day (Osceola, WI to Red Wing, MN when we were climbing the bluffs above the Mississippi River) since leaving the Rockies in Western Montana. The overcast sky, occasion sprinkles, one rain shower, and terrain didn’t allow much photography so I only have two photos today. However, they do provide you a good picture of today’s ride. One more note – the road conditions in New York continue to be great for biking.

Dinner in Pulaski, NY at the River House Restaurant in Pulaski was exceptional – highly recommended.

Mile 32: Typical view of the roads and scenery we biked today showing the rolling hills and road conditions.

Mile 45: Another typical view of today bike ride showing the rolling hills (note upper right hand side of photo which shows how this road continues).

August 11, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | 1 Comment

August 9th: Brockport to Newark, NY

Mile 26: See story below.

Mile 26: Doug and Tom, the owner of Bill Wahl’s Ice Cream Microcreamery (see story below).

August 9^th Statistics: Brockport to Newark, NY

Today’s Biking Distance – 56.6 miles
Today’s Average Speed – 15.6 mph
Today’s Time In Saddle – 3.8 hours
Today Ascent – 380 feet
Total Trip Biking Days – 46
Total Trip Biking Distance – 3,535.0 miles
Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 76.8 miles
Total Trip Ascent – 86,690 feet

Relatively short day – 57 miles, nearly all of the riding being on the Erie Canalway Trail. Much of the scenery was similar to what we had seen on the trail earlier. On today’s section of the Erie Canal we saw many more homes, private boats and rowers, and commercial establishments, particularly around the Rochester area (which unfortunately also had a lot of graffiti – something we had not seen earlier). Today ended our biking on the Erie Canalway Trail (we covered 95 miles).

One town the Erie Canal passed through that was particularly pretty and upscale was Pittsford. Doug and I had an exceptional experience in Pittsford. As Doug, Robert, Jim, and I were biking through an area of upscale stores (including an exceptional bike shop) and restaurants in Pittsford, I noticed the Bill Wahl’s Ice Cream Microcreamery on the bike path. We stopped in front of it and I joked about the use of the term “Microcreamery” Cream to the others. Robert and Jim continued to ride, but Doug wanted to try the ice cream. Not being adverse to trying the ice cream myself, I joined Doug and went to the store’s front door. Unfortunately, the store didn’t open until noon and it was only 10:30 am (still not too early to try microcreamery ice cream in my opinion). Dejected, we started to leave, when a man we had not noticed who was sitting on the porch outside the store, spoke to us and said he was the owner. Tom graciously offered to open the store for us, which Doug and I readily accepted. With two scoops each, we pulled out our cash to pay but Tom refused to accept payment. The three of us sat on the porch and spoke for an hour about Tom’s background, the history of this ice cream store (it burnt down in 2002 and was rebuild in its current form about the time he bought it), the ice cream business, and education. We found many connections (e.g. Tom graduated from Villanova and lived for a while in Doug’s home town). We also found out that the term “microcreamery” has a legal definition which Tom discovered as he was crafting the business. It is restricted to an ice cream business that 1) manufactures its own ice cream and 2) produces no more than 60 gallons per day. It was a nice way to spend an hour in a beautiful setting on the Erie Canal. By the way – my cinnamon and caramel delight ice cream scoops were delicious.