Almost all days on a bicycle are special, just some days are more special than others and today was one of those days. As we started out from Palmyra the temperature was just a bit brisk at 59 degrees, the sun was shining with a promise of blue skies and almost no chance of rain.
I was anticipating that it would warm up fairly quickly even it was a bit chilly at the start, I left my jacket in Chuck's SUV. From the Best Western hotel it was a bit over a mile to re-join the canal trail. The hard packed trail had dried out from the showers yesterday with only a couple of isolated puddles that we could easily maneuver around. The canal was on the right and at one point had opened into a fairly large lake. At eleven miles we pulled off the trail for a morning espresso and danish but were a bit confused when the coffee shop was closed. We knew that there was another shop ahead in Lyons so we headed off. But it too was closed. Finally it occurred to us that it was Memorial Day and it would be difficult to find anything open. Nothing to do but press on.
It had warmed up by now and everyone that had started off with jackets had removed them and stashed them away. Shortly after 27 miles we popped out of the trail and on to Route 31 where we had some climbing in front of us. The road was smooth with only a few cars as we just zipped along. If you take a look at the ride trace below, you will note that the flatter portions are where we are following the canal and where there are bumps and climbs are where we are not adjacent to the canal and are climbing a ridge that the canal had bypassed.
Lunch was a bit pass 41 miles and we were ready for something to eat. Frank had driven the SUV to lunch and picked up additional lunch items and Chris was going the drive the SUV to the hotel.
After lunch we were following the original route of the canal that was built in 1812 (the canal was rebuilt, re-routed twice more with the final updates made in 1932). The original route and second route has fallen into disuse with many portions choked with plants. Some older routes have been turned into parks and outdoor museums.
Shortly before 3 PM we pulled into the town of Jordan and much to our surprise we the trail cut through a park filled with bands tuning up, floats making last minute preparations and crowds of people. We had stumbled on a Memorial Day parade that was minutes from starting. I stopped, took some photos and proceeded. At one point I crossed a street that was lined with people expecting the parade at any moment. So of course, I couldn't just cross the street, I needed to go down the street in one direction before heading back in the other direction while waving the entire time. After that I exited the street and was on my way.
It was many miles down the trail that I caught up with Chris, Mike and Douglas as we had become separated when I stopped to take the photos at the parade. At this point the trail was still in excellent condition and the temperatures were in the low 70's and the ride only got better and better.
Sometimes you will start a ride, looking forward to the next coffee or bite to eat, but there are magical days when you just don't want the day to end and as we winding down our last 5 miles or so and started to enter the outskirts of Syracuse, we just didn't want the day to end. It's this kind of day that you live for and want to get back on the bike to do it all again.
For those of you keeping count, we add two more "port" towns today, Weedsport and Port Byron.
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