Day 29 – Sunday 22nd May 2011 – Dunkirk NY – Batavia NY

With the day scheduled to be a short day of just 83 miles, we had the luxury of staying in bed until around 7am. Opening the curtains revealed an overcast sky with dry ground and little wind. Breakfast was a basic affair at the hotel restaurant including cereal, yoghurt, muffins, small cinnamon rolls, waffles, processed egg, sausage patties, coffee and orange juice.

Route maps were given out at 8am and only one sag, including lunch, was scheduled. The location of this was different from that shown on the sheet due to the planned Pedaling Museum location being closed. The weather forecast indicated possible showers and thunder storms so luggage was loaded straight after rap and we were on the road by 8:20am in a mild temperature of 21°C.

As there was no rush, we just cruised along with little wind. The road rolled occasionally but with no steep climbs. Some of the route cues were wrong as the roads had changed with extra roundabouts and roads being named Road vs Street or similar. Despite these issues, we stayed on route.

Lunch was at around 38 miles in a carpark. We reached this about 10:30am after covering some rough roads. A few bystanders asked for brochures on America by Bike when they saw the van and the riders. A lady then drove up and said she was a keen cyclist but had spent two hours at spin classes this morning as she did not want to ride alone. We invited her along and even though she was tempted, she declined. One of the riders in our group is actually a spin class instructor who takes 8-10 classes per week.

Riding with just the odd drop of rain, we reached Batavia without any bonus miles. However, the hotel was listed as a Holiday Inn but unfortunately in New York they spell this as Clarion. We soon worked this out and arrived at the hotel at 1:30pm to be told our room was not ready. The luggage truck had also not arrived. Signs in the hotel say the hotel name change occurred in December last year.

 Riding for the day was 4hrs 43m with 133.7km covered at an average speed of 28.3km/h. With longer days and more climbing in the next four days to the Atlantic, today was an “active recovery day” and staying basically dry with little wind was a bonus.

The luggage truck arrived from the opposite direction of the riders and was soon unloaded. I then asked the hotel clerk nicely for a room and was told, yes, our room was now available. The wi-fi connection in the room would not work but they have cable access.

The hotel was apparently unhappy at the congregation of bikes and cyclists in the lobby caused by their lack of available clean rooms.

Rap was held at 5pm with route sheets to Liverpool given out. Navigation is relatively simple but some more climbing will be encountered. The weather forecast is similar to that of today. Breakfast is at 6am at the hotel with luggage load at 7am.

After rap, Patrick took his bike to the mechanic to get his chain replaced.

For dinner, walked to the suggested restaurant but this had at least a 30 minute wait to even get a table. As such, we wandered further afield to a Bob Evans restaurant for smoothies, banana & blueberry bread, chicken and pie. All good stuff!

Numbers for the day:

Departure time: 8:20am
Distance: 83.1 miles (133.7km)
Riding time: 4hrs 43m
Average speed: 17.6 mph (56.0km/h)
Maximum speed: 34.8 mph (56.0km/h)
Vertical climbing: 2,684ft (821m)
Temperature range: 21-23°C
Arrival time: 1:30pm
Weekly (Monday – Sunday mileage) to date: 760 miles (1,224km)
Total kilometres ridden to date / approximate kilometres to go: 4,814km / 771km
Rolling last seven days total kilometres ridden including today: 1,224km