Sunday 22 May 2011

Erie Canal...Day 28...Warren to Dunkirk, NY...Sat 21/05/11

To be honest, I was not overly looking forward to what could have been a long and hence uncomfortable day in the saddle: after all, 140 miles was never going to be that enjoyable, was it?

The weather was kind with blue skies, temperatures that wouldn't rise much above 65F and a light Westerly wind that all helped. First result!

No don't ask me what this was...at Warren's Contemporary Art Museum...


Another peaceful Saturday morning...



Of interest to Mr. Wickham, perhaps...

Right where you wanna be...this is energy conservation...I was passed by Lasse (our version of The Tractor) and he was hammering along which meant a quick decision: should I try to latch-on or not...

The Norwegian Express runs fast and non-stop! (L-R: Lasse, Me, Mark and Lee.) We passed both of these guys fast and they both decided that this was the way to travel...all the way to the first stop at 48 miles!

                                  (Courtesy Mike Munk.)

This was another tri-state day, which means cheesy photo ops...


Me leading things briefly just before lunch. Lesser-spotted...

No. No beer yet. D'oh!

Cheesy photo op, part two...

Not sure what this was but the rule-of-thumb is...take the photo anyway.

Our route followed the shoreline of Lake Erie- how big is that? Well, very. And fantastic to look at too.

Reaching Barcelona meant about 20 miles left to run and I was cycling with Sir Clive at the time. I was moaning about my derriere so he said he would let me me set the pace to see whatever worked best: in the event we ended-up almost achieving speeds that The Big Man would've been proud of. Needs must, etc..
Mind you, Las Ramblas ain't exactly how I remembered it...

                                     

A welcome sight after 135 miles? You bet...the legs were still willing but the backside was revolting, hah-hah!

Thanks to some judicious drafting and kind weather we ended-up with a 19mph average. Ridiculous!

Tomorrow (well, today by the time I can post this) will be our last short stage at around 90 miles. More nonsense for sure though. Cheers!

Numbers...numbers...stats for you!