Saturday, August 7, 2010

ride for africycle day six (part two)


as one feature of our day
we rode thirty one and a half kilometres along the lake ontario state parkway.

basically an interstate with a shoulder devoted to bicycles.
it makes for super smooth cycling of course with cars whizzing past to the left.
well most cars. see, some have to enter and exit and they get sorely bugged if you're in their way -
which makes sense!
one grumpy lady in an audi yelled at us to "use the bike trail".
she left before we could provide her with the information that we were in fact right on it!

in some parts there's a bike path that parallels the roadway.
sometimes we took that route.
it was also super fast and lots leafier!


otherwise we stuck to the road.


when we got to the turn-off for the park we realized that the support bus hadn't passed us
so a brief meeting ensued with some snacks.


it was agreed that those who wanted would pedal back to the turnoff for the town of hamlin where we were told there was an excellent place for food and drinks with a big screen tv with hd.
for the record it's known as the 1549 grille and is run by very personable people!

what's a twenty km round trip when there's that much goodness in the middle of the trip?!

we rode past fields of wheat.


through the most incredible heat
until most gloriously and joyously we saw the place that we'd been told about
where we were greeted by the owners and a steady stream of locals who had been told of our presence
and had come to see the cyclists who had chosen their watering hole to linger in for a while.

here we are watching the world cup.



spacious, amazing showers, a laundry, and telephone kiosks,
the first i've seen on the trip so i phoned home.
my first contact with my wife and children since i'd left
i was so happy to hear the voices of my family!
so happy.

dinner tonight was basmati rice and curry!!!
my favourite meal to make for myself.
a blissful ending to a very good day.


here are the google map directions to get from sodus point to hamlin beach state park.

2 comments:

  1. Much of the area just south of Ridge Road East is a bit "dodgy". The ride along the lake further north of your route, along the Durand Eastman Park is quite nice. That will also take you to the bridge that crosses the Genesee River and onto the Ontario State Parkway.

    Durand Eastman in part named for George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak which is based here in Rochester. If you and your family ever pass through Rochester, the Eastman House and Museum is very interesting. When you have time, check out the info about that and the film archives located there.

    Rick

    http://www.eastmanhouse.org/

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  2. hi rick! thanks for this link. i knew about the eastman family connection to rochester but i've never followed it up. it was at times a wild ride through rochester but as i mentioned above also very lovely. the tree-lined streets with beautiful little homes were really nice to pass through. some of our riders took a different route through rochester and i think that might be the one shown on the google map link. i do remember one monster hill with two lanes of traffic each side that passed by a little harbour. it made its way through a rock cut up the other side. that was a dodgy bit for bikes for sure! steven

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