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Erie Canal Ride, the day before Prep and Plan

Tuesday

So the plan is Tuesday (tomorrow as I write this), Jacqui and I drive separate to her folks place just south of Albany.      Jacqui's folks will be busy, so we'll just be dropping off Jacqui's car and she'll ride with me in the truck as we continue the drive to Buffalo.    It'll probably be about 6-6.5 hours of driving Tuesday.
 
Anyhoo, I booked a nice hotel (homewood suites by Hilton) that's closer to the airport than downtown.    We'll be a 20 minute drive from the Erie Canal starting point.    I would have booked something downtown, but I didn't want to worry about parking my truck in a downtown parking garage.    The room has a little built-in kitchen so I'm bringing a thawed bag of my meatballs and sauce so I can carbo load some spaghetti Tuesday night.     I have all my cooking stuff in the back of the truck in case the room's kitchen is poorly stocked, and I have the truck's electric cooler to bring food too.    We'll stop somewhere nice for lunch on the drive out.

Wednesday
I'll start the trail Wednesday after we drive the last 11 miles.   Might wait until after 9a.m. to avoid downtown Buffalo rush hour traffic.    So my bike ride will probably begin with a mid-late morning start.     Jacqui will drive the truck back to Albany.   There's a cross-stitch shop she wants to check out near Rochester.      She'll probably check in on her folks, and then drive the Accord home, leaving my truck at her parents' place.    When I eventually reach the end of the Erie Canal trail (360+ miles later), I'll be able to bike to their place via the Hudson greenway, then another short rail trail that goes west from the Hudson greenway,  and finally, some backroads south.   Only adds 14 miles and 400ft of climbing to the end of the Erie ride.   It'll be easier and safer than asking someone to drive my truck into busy downtown Albany (we'd need a vehicle that can transport my bike and gear).

I do see in the forecast that rain's expected later Thursday.    I don't expect an "early" start Wednesday, so I'll probably only ride to Middleport, about 45miles from the start.   With the weather Thursday, I may only go as far as Brockport, which will only be 30 miles further.     Hopefully, I can pitch my tent before the rain starts around 3p.m..   Or...maybe I'll try riding to Rochester and get a hotel.   I will have rain gear I can put on.  It'll depend on how far/fast I ride per day    The weather looks nice though, so I'm inclined to try camping in the rain.  It'll be a good test of my gear.   I'll play it by ear.    There's always the slim chance I get to Brockport the first day, but I doubt I'll want to pedal 75 miles, but maybe I'll luck out with a heck of a tailwind.  Lol.


Seeing how I have zero flat terrain near me in Mass,  I have no idea how slow/fast I'll be on the bike.   My touring gear adds 20-25 pounds, depending on how much water/food i have.   In my hilly terrain near home, i only go 8-9 mph when my bike is fully loaded up.   I suppose I should also mention, when I got the bike in May, I was 30 lbs heavier.    So even adding all the cargo on the bike, I'm still lighter than when I started biking a lot this year.   I'm still a few pounds from officially being halfway to my weight loss goal, maybe I'll be halfway after this ride!   fingers-crossed!

Anyway, I figure even if I only manage 50 mile days, I'll be in Syracuse later Saturday (most likely).   There's a nice Erie Canal museum in Syracuse along the trail I'd like to check out.    I also plan on meeting my folks when I make it to Syracuse.   It's about an hour drive for them to get to where I'll be in Syracuse.   I'll probably just book a room in Syracuse.   There's a dearth of camping spots when the trail gets near the big cities (Rochester, Syracuse).

I'll have my phone, a backup battery, and a good AC/plug-in, fast usb charger to help keep everything /charged up.    I'll post updates as I traverse the trail.    Maybe even some short videos on instagram or youtube accounts.  
 
my instagram hunneymandc
 
 
 Oh well, enough blogging, time to wrap up some last minute errands.   I need to get some cash and buy some birdseed, so Jacqui can feed the birdies and squirrels while I'm gone.   Like my Dad, she doesn't have ladder privileges, so the tiny birdies will have to manage without their specific feeder getting refilled.     There is a tray feeder she can refill though.   The blue birds and cardinals just bully the titmouses and finches.
 
Below are some screenshots of the maps.  I broke the big 360 mile route map into four 90 mile route sections.   The smaller ones load easier on my bike's GPS computer gadget.

Notice at the bottom of the screenshot it shows the miles between campsites.   I worked on adding those from the ny campground map website manually.  

Please Note:    you can double click on the photos below to make them bigger.   On a computer use your arrow keys  on the keyboard to scroll through the slideshow.   Press Esc key when done.   On a phone/tablet, you have to click on each thumbnail at the bottom.
 






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