Today was again magical and maybe my best day of riding. For some reason nothing was hurting and my legs felt turbo charged. I don’t know why but at the end of 97 miles I felt fresh and charged to keep riding. The weather was pretty perfect as we had sunshine again and low humidity. Well low for around these parts. Temps went into the high 80’s but it was manageable. The miles flew by as if I’d found a genie in a bottle.  You know you’re in for a great day when your butt doesn’t hurt. 

Another highlight today was a town we went thru, East Aurora NY. What a great town and one of my favorites of the whole trip. It was alive with people jogging and we actually saw a handful of cyclists as well. The town was really beautiful and had a really great feel. The homes were awesome as were the farms as we got out of town.  

One of my favorite take away feelings on this trip has been the vast amount of American flags we see on display. On homes along with red white and blue banners   Also many towns we ride thru have flags flying all the way down their main streets. We have seen so many cemeteries as well, more than you might imagine. And almost every single one has so many flags on gravestones. Seeing so many flags flying makes you so proud to be an American. It’s a memory of this trip that should stay strong in my mind. 

At our route meeting last night we were cautioned to keep concentrating on safe riding. At this stage of the crossing in the past they’ve had three bad crashes. People start thinking about going home Etc  so we are told. So today I put my riding on the defensive mode. I made sure to leave an extra wheel between the rider in front and my wheel. When group riding ( peleton) there are tons of factors and things going on. You want to concentrate on the pace, soft pedal as needed. Leave your lane a little to spill speed as you use the wind as a brake. You also want to trust the wheel in front of you as obstacles and hazards pop up all the flipping time. There’s a long list of unspoken do’s and don’t do’s. Group pace line riding is super fun but best with riders really experienced at it. Holes alone are science. There are small ones that are harmless, then medium ones that require being pointed out. Then there are hospital holes that gobble up rims and riders at will. Other hazards range from rocks, sticks, various metal objects and road kill. Each of them warrant being pointed out for riders behind to avoid. When a good peleton works it’s magic but trouble can happen in a nano second and can be  be ugly. So with all that said and being defensive I went off the front today for some good old solo time at about 60 miles. 

We are now in Canandaigua NY on one of the finger lakes. It’s a really cool place as its a popular summer lake vacation recreation area. In fact after our ride today we jumped in the lake for a fresh water swim. It has a nice older historic downtown with a typical Main Street. Nice place if your visiting western NY. 

See you tomorrow in Syracuse.