Diane Loves a Windy Day

Saturday October 4 –Conneaut to Dunkirk

A very day of strong cycling with Diane crushing it. The magic numbers were 77 miles in less in 6 hours of biking.  Plus we started pedaling in Ohio, literally blow through Pennsylvania and ended the day in New York.

We arose early, and had a quick bite in the hotel room.  Diane had an instant Starbucks espresso, a yogurt and some almonds; Rob slurped down cold peaches and chocolate pudding. 

We were on our bikes by 8:00 a.m.  It was partly cloudy and 47 degrees with a Southwest wind blowing 15 to 20 miles an hour. We set off to beat the probability of rain and take advantage of the favorable wind.   The plan was to get in an hour of biking before sitting down for breakfast in some café up the road.  Rob assured Diane there would be such an opportunity, since we were passing through one town after another.  Wrong!  After two hours and 22 miles of houses, farms and fields, we found Teresa’s Deli.  No breakfast fare, so Rob had a piece of pizza and a Mug root beer (the breakfast of champions) and Diane had a salad topped with bacon, hard-cooked eggs, cheese and olives plus a hot cup of cocoa.  Diane also bought a Starbucks Frappuccino for later in the day; when lunchtime arrived, she had that, plus more of the salad. 

We were biking the scenic Seaway Trail highway and occasionally had great views of Lake Erie.  Roads were good all day, no challenging hills – instead a few sharp dips down to the lake level and then returning to the ridge running parallel to the shore, fairly light traffic, plus we continued to have that fabulous  tail wind.  We were biking though wine country, and but the most interest vineyards were concord grapes which gave off a heavy “Welch’s grape jam” aroma – and it was harvesting time.  The fragrance of the grapes was almost overwhelmingly rich.  

Can’t say the day held any particular joy, though.  It was just very solid biking from Point A to Point B.  The wind is even stronger now.  And the forecast for tomorrow is the same - cold, windy and probable rain.  We intend to beat the odds again tomorrow.

Its 47 degrees out there, I hope 3 layers proves enough.

 

But Diane remains warm by flying by grape vineyards and climbing out of the few "dips in the road" that punctured the day of fast riding.

 

The ride also included a few trout streams and views of Lake Erie under a threating sky.

But our constant friend of the day was a strong favorable that audibly rustled the leaves in the trees and bent the grass toward the Northeast.