Day 30 – Monday 23rd May 2011 – Batavia NY – Liverpool NY

Loud claps of thunder and the sound of torrential rain were not promising noises to wake up to this morning. However, the clock read about 3:30am so they were ignored and I went back to sleep.

Getting out of bed just before 6am, the sky was still overcast, the ground wet and a strong wind was blowing from the south. It was not raining though and no thunder storms were visible.

Our expectation of breakfast at the hotel was very low and the hotel managed to easily meet this expectation. At check in yesterday, we were told breakfast was not included but were given one ticket for a breakfast at the hotel restaurant which the first hotel clerk said was closed for dinner but another one said would be open. Arriving at the restaurant at 6am this morning, no food or staff were visible. We were then told our breakfast was in a separate room which was locked. Hotel security were called and unlocked the room which only contained pastries, muffins and plain bagels, along with coffee and orange juice and a small bowl of fresh fruit. We attacked these and a single hotel staff member then brought in scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. That was all. No cereal, no oatmeal, no sausages, no donuts, no waffles, no yoghurt. Not a good start!

We loaded our luggage around 7am and were soon on the road. It was a pleasant 22°C and the sky slowly began to clear. The first mile or two were across and into wind before we turned left and had a 13 mile stretch of reasonable tail wind. Patrick, myself and another rider engaged in some excessive tootling in this section, cruising at well over 20mph up and down the rolling countryside before calming down again as we turned right and across the wind.

The first sag was at 36.2 miles at a Mobil Gas Station which they spell in New York as “Farmers Market.” Close I guess! We rode through the towns of LeRoy, Caledonia, Avon and Lima to get there. While there, Karen, one of the ABB staff members told us one of our group had been hit by a car and taken to hospital. It appears the car did not yield and despite the rider’s best efforts, he was still collected by the car. He has nothing broken but his bike is reportedly written off. He hopes to ride tomorrow on a new bike after being cleared by the hospital to ride.

Carrying on a little subdued and riding more carefully, we continued on Route 5 through the towns of Geneva and Waterloo. We passed a tin man who was opposite a party hire centre.

Lunch was at 75.6 miles in the town of Seneca Falls at a petrol station which was closed last time the ride went through but is currently open again. A rider who did the ride last year turned up at lunch after riding 25 miles to meet us and she said it was the longest ride she had done since then.  

Climbing up numerous gentle rolling hills broke up the riding as did a few short downhills and tailwind assisted sections as the road curled around. The day was also notable by us easily riding through more sets of traffic lights than there are in the whole of Hawkes Bay! We also spent a couple of miles on a bike path, directly into the wind.

We arrived at the hotel at 2:51pm after covering 194.7km at an average speed of 28.1km/h. The temperature hard reached 25°C and the sky had started to darken but no rain or thunder storms touched us. The official climbing for the day was 3,780ft but actual climbing of over 5,000ft was recorded by some riders.

Rap was at 5pm, just as the last people arrived at the hotel. Tomorrow is scheduled to be more of the same in most regards – distance, route and weather. Climbing is supposed to be a little less but the profile shows some interesting climbs.

For dinner, we walked across the road to a Chinese buffet which had a wide range of American-Chinese dishes and seafood. As we returned to the hotel, the forecast rain had just begun to fall.

Numbers for the day:

Departure time: 7:02am
Distance: 121.0 miles (194.7km)
Riding time: 6hrs 55m
Average speed: 17.5 mph (28.1km/h)
Maximum speed: 33.3 mph (53.6km/h)
Vertical climbing: 5,007ft (1,527m)
Temperature range: 22-25°C
Arrival time: 2:51pm
Weekly (Monday – Sunday mileage) to date: 121 miles (194km)
Total kilometres ridden to date / approximate kilometres to go: 5,009km / 576km
Rolling last seven days total kilometres ridden including today: 1,223km