My childhood friend Frank Shelp has been here  for several days.

I picked him up at the Bufflalo airport, getting a flat tire just as I arrived.  (I ran over a piece of metal that got imbedded in the tire.)  We spent the next hour assembling his bike from the box he carried it in.  Turned out to be perfect timing, as I could repair my flat, and we could wait out a torrential rain that arrived just then.

We stayed at a motel in Buffalo that would probably not pass the Fussy Girlfriend Test, and it was sadly the last night of cousin Jenn’s week on the trip.  We ate her farewell dinner at the Anchor Bar, where Buffalo wings were invented.  Not bad, but also indistinguishable from other good ones I’ve had elsewhere.

The other regional food find was roast beef on weck.  Weck is a roll with caraway seeds dipped in a salty brine and allowed to dry.  Tasty, but salty.

The next day, we crossed into Ontario at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo.  There we ran into Erin, who volunteered to be our tour guide for the first 10 miles of our time in Canada.  She did everything from showing us the best cycling routes to telling us which restaurants to eat at.

The day started great, with Erin’s help, but things turned bad at the end.  We misjudged the distance, and the day turned out to be 75 miles, rather than the 55 expected.  This is a terrible, horrible, very bad way to start a tour.  I almost killed Frank through my bad planning.  Then as we descended to our destination, down the face of the Niagara escarpment, I popped a spoke.  Plus we couldn’t find our hotel and it almost became dark before we rolled in.

The next day, we found a bike shop open on Sunday (All the Right Gears in Hamilton, ON).  The mechanic there, Michael, did a great job of the repair and some other preventive maintenance.

We also met the shop owner, Sam.  We waited out a rainstorm and were there for a couple of hours, admiring the hundreds of bike gizmos that are available these days.  Sam donated a couple of inner tubes to both of us for our trip, a very generous gesture.

From there we made our way north across Ontario.  Heading toward the Bruce Peninsula.  We visited Elora, an amazing historic village.  Frank has photos I may add later.

We eventually made our way up the Bruce Peninsula, staying near Lion’s Head, a very charming town.  It’s also a dark sky refuge.  Hooray!

For dinner, we went to the restaurant (Ukranian!) next door, which closed at 7.  (Maybe you city folk like your restaurants open until 8, but not here!)  Sadly, we got there at 7:15  The owner kindly made us yummy fish and chips, even though we arrived late.  F&C turns out to be another regional delicacy.  It is especially good made from fresh Great Lakes whitefish.

For breakfast I tried peameal bacon for the first time.  This was a local food recommended by Erin.

As may be clear, I’m trying to sample regional food specialties.  Unfortunately, peameal bacon ends up being an awful lot like Canadian bacon.

On my food quest, I’ve also had maple donuts at Tim Horton’s and poutine several places.  The latter is fries smothered in cheese and gravy.  Perfect for cycling.

The other thing Tim Horton used to be famous for were butter pies.  You see them all over this part of Ontario.  Luscious, sweet, buttery tarts that a hungry cyclist can eat in two bites.  Here’s  a tray-full I saw in one shop.  Or maybe they were just in my handlebar bag.

We took the ferry to Manitoulin Island.  It’s mainly woods and a few pretty farms.  Here’s one.

We stayed in Providence Bay, a lovely, sleepy town on the south side of the island.

NB: This post has been updated, but is still being modified.

The first week was a trip across New York and the NE corner of Pennsylvania.  Two things were different from expected.  Jenn fell sick, and rented a car, joining me only part of each day.  But we still had fun.  The other was that navigation apps didn’t act completely as expected, so I ended up on unpaved roads more than I liked.  There was also a fair amount of rain, so lots of waiting periods.

Lodging was a mixed bag.  Day 2 ended at a motel in Liberty NY.  It wouldn’t pass the Fussy Girlfriend Test, or FGT.  This picture is not where I stayed, but pretty close.  Note the owner jumping on the dumpster.  Classy.

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My cousin Gretchen drove her sister Jenn to Liberty and we all had breakfast together.  We mutually  concluded that Jenn was too sick to ride any longer.  This was very disappointing, as Jenn had been planning on this almost as long as I had.  After we parted with great sadness, we independently had the great idea of renting a car so Jenn could still follow along, and even do some riding as she began to feel better.

The next day started with rain, but soon cleared. One dirt road led me to a great little pond, and the sun was out, so I had to take a dip.

The day ended at a very nice place in extreme NE Pennsylvania, the Starlight Inn.  Almost empty, historic, v nice.  Jenn, visited a friend, and had not yet rejoined me.

The next day I made my way to Nichols NY.  It was a VERY hilly area, almost all either steeply up or down. It rained a few times, so i spent a lot of time waiting it out.  I eventually was on a dirt road in the rain, a real mess. But I finally pulled into Nichols NY, where I met Jenn at a nice B&B, the Elegant Lady.  The owners very kindly gave Jenn her own room for free. She also started the excellent custom of having refreshments waiting for me at the end of my long day of cycling.

We had dinner at a strange restaurant housed in an historic former jail.  Many booths were previously cells, with real bars separating them.  Jenn said the bathrooms had steel toilets.  Nice authentic touch.  Sorry, no photo,

Jenn was feeling well enough by now to want to ride some.  She tried to pedal back to meet me at the end of the day, but we couldn’t connect.  Instead she ended up at Watkins Glen, which judging from her photos is quite beautiful.

IMAGES TO BE ADED

From there we headed west to Bath NY.  The day was spent mainly on pretty wide roads, though traffic was not too bad.  Still, it lacked the charm of the smaller roads I had used before.  Jenn met me at the southern entrance to Letchworth State Park.  It’s a pretty amazing large gorge, with three huge waterfalls and a charming old hotel.

We cycled through to Perry, staying at a modest Bed and Breakfast.  We drove to a funny restaurant out in the country, which ended up having the BEST ribs I have ever eaten.  Not barbeque, but with an interesting spice rub.  Jenn was planning to visit Niagara Falls, while I cycled the next day, so we rented Niagara with Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten.  I’m not a big MM fan, but her acting/face twitching was pretty amazing to watch

I began the ride on schedule on Saturday, 6 June 2015.  Actually, events began the night before, when family and friends enjoyed a simple barbeque and a bon voyage cake.

An extremely supportive group of friends and family rode along as we left my house in New Haven and started up the Farmington Canal Greenway.

Lisa (middle) and her sister and niece Willa.

They watched as I dipped my rear wheel in the Mill River, not far upstream from where it enters Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.  I felt this was an appropriate spot, as I am on the board of directors of the Mill River Watershed Association, and it has a special place in my heart.

My cousin, Jenn, is accompanying me the initial week.  The first day ended up being rather grueling after we left the bike trail, with lots of steep hills.  My app kept directing us onto dirt roads, and climbing on them was really challenging.  We finished the day really worn out, but were hosted by dear friends Jodie Schwartz and Rick Jones in Poughkeepsie.  Yes, we left Connecticut on our first day out.

On day two, it was clear that Jenn had contracted a bad cold.  Terrible luck and timing.  I set off alone on day 2 after saying good byes to everyone on the rail trail.  It’s located high over the Hudson, and was developed on a former railroad bridge.  It is very cool and worth a visit.

Jenn went on to visit her sister, Gretchen, in Kingston, planning to rejoin me the next morning.

My day 2 was hard pedaling, but a great experience.  Again it was very hilly, and I seemed to be going either 6 mph or 36 mph all the time, depending on the slope.  Part of it was a climb over the Shawangunk Ridge and then a descent for miles with speeds sometimes over 40 mph.  That feels really fast on a bike!

I also rode by a huge prison.  There was a Shawshank Redemption era brick building and lots of warehouse looking additions.  But mainly there were very tall fences and razor wire. (Note to self: Escape via a tunnel.) Not a person was in sight.  I couldn’t help feel the contrast between me on a bike, unencumbered in almost any way, and those poor souls inside.

This post is about what I plan to carry on my bike.  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I will not be camping (except in an emergency), so I don’t have to carry much of that kind of equipment.  For clothes, I will wear a biking outfit (shorts and fluorescent yellow shirt for visibility), and have a single change of clothes that I will wear in the evening while I wash what I wore during the day.  (That also allows me to look a little more presentable when I go for dinner.)  Everything will be synthetic so it can dry overnight.  I suppose if I were a real nut, I’d just wear something different to bed and wash my single outfit at the end of the day to avoid carrying the change of clothes.  I’m not a nut (he declared forcefully).

I will be traveling through some high altitudes in the west, and even in summer, it can be cool.  For this I have a few layers.  I will bring silk long john bottoms and  top to go under long pants and shirt, an ultralight down jacket (at 5.8 oz for large, world’s lightest at this writing), and a wind shirt (also close to the lightest available).  I also have a super light balaclava and gloves.  Of course I will wear a helmet, the world’s lightest (Limar) at 7.2 oz.  I also have a powerful (but light!) taillight just in case I have to ride in the dark.

I will not wear so called clipless cycling shoes (these are the ones that attach directly to the pedals).  That would require a second pair of shoes for walking, and shoes are heavy and bulky.  I use strapless cages on my pedals and can wear a comfortable stiff-soled shoe that can be used for walking.  Some people have strong opinions about this, but I don’t think there is a significant increase in efficiency with clipless shoes compared to my system.

For rain gear I have only a silicone coated poncho and rain hat.  (The latter is a luxury, as the poncho has a hood, but the increase in ventilation and visibility makes it worthwhile.  The poncho doubles as an emergency shelter, and is well ventilated while cycling.  I’ve tried, and there is no real chance of staying dry while cycling in the rain with jacket and rain pants.  Water gets in, and what’s worse, sweat soaks me from the inside out.  No, GoreTex doesn’t help.  Even a completely non-waterproof outfit gets wet in humid weather even when it’s not raining.  I basically plan not to cycle when it rains.  In the summer, most rain comes in short thunderstorm cells that usually clear up in an hour or so.  The frontal systems we see for much of the year, which can last all day, are rare.

As emergency shelter, I have a 6′ x 8′ tarp along with super light Triptease line and Nobendium stakes.  This can be pitched as a rain shelter by attaching to some standing object: a tree, rock, or fence, or by draping over my bike.  With a mosquito head net I am bringing, I could sleep under this in an emergency in the buggy East or drier West.

Another option would be to bring some basic camping gear that would add 3 lbs to my load.  This would include my MontBel Alpine Down Hugger #5 sleeping bag (18 oz), a mat (11 oz), and a bug bivy (17 oz), a one person, mosquito netting enclosure/tent (see below).  I am resisting this for now.  I don’t want to bring even 3 lbs of equipment that I end up not using.  I definitely will not bring any cooking gear except a plastic cup and spork (a cross between a spoon and a fork, of course).  Cooking is really a luxury when you go ultralight.  There’s plenty of good food that doesn’t need to be cooked, and I can get hot food along the way most of the time.  There will be minimal toiletries as well.  Most important will be sunblock.

Bug Bivy

To round things out, I’m bringing a few emergency type items, like basic first aid, flashlight (world’s lightest: Photon 2), space blanket, knife, and the like.  I’m bringing a Steripen to UV purify water if needed, as I do when ultralight hiking.  My Galaxy Note 3 will be my camera, GPS, phone, and means to update this blog on the road.  I’m toying with bringing a 4 oz flexible Bluetooth keyboard to make my blog entries.  TOTAL luxury.  The phone can also be my books and music.  I also am carrying paper road maps cut down to include just my route.  I will be away from cell service a lot, and smart phone maps need that.  Another minor luxury is a monocular (Golden Eye), the world’s lightest at 0.8 oz.

To secure the bike I will rely on a coil type cable lock (5.8 oz).  The bike will be with me at all times, including in my room at night.  Only at some meals and a few other times will it be out of my sight.  I know there is a risk here, but a Kryptonite is just too heavy.  On a practice ride in Pennsylvania, I ran into a German woman on a solo cross country ride.  I later heard her bike was stolen.  Sobering.  Luckily, virtually all my gear will be in the daypack, which I can remove from the rack and carry with me, so at least that will be safe from theft.

I’m still working on tools.  These can be heavy.  Again minimalism is the key: flat blade and phillips head screw drivers, just the 3 hex keys that fit my bike, an adjustable wrench, chain tool (necessary?), spoke key, a patch kit, compact pump, spare tube, and spare cables.  They all go in a seat pack.  I’ve learned to change tires without levers.

I’ve described my pack system elsewhere (world’s lightest titanium Tubus Airy and 12 oz daypack strapped to it).  I also am bringing a small handlebar pack to carry the day’s food and keep things like paper maps and sunblock handy.  So far the lightest useful one I’ve found weighs 23.4 oz, a major weight item, and I’m still looking.  Of course I will have a couple of water bottles in light plastic cages.  Re-used Poland Spring bottles are lighter than the ones designed for bikes.

Tubus Airy: titanium

I’ve read several articles and blogs about people biking cross country, and nearly all describe shipping things home after the first week or two.  I’d much rather start with too little and buy a few things along the way if I find I need them.  Most of my previous touring has been with panniers loaded with too much stuff.  It makes riding (especially climbing) hard.  But the worst thing is that it takes the fun out of riding.  For me cycling gives a feeling of lightness, freedom, and speed that is not matched by any other mode of travel, including (especially?) driving a car or riding a motorcycles.  Heavy packs would kill that sense of freedom.

I’ll post a complete list with all weights soon.

BTW: I am indebted to this guy (http://ultralightcycling.blogspot.com/) for many ideas.

I’ve spent many hours over the past month plotting out my exact route.  I’m taking a northern route to avoid the most tedious parts of the Midwest/Plains in the middle of the country and the heat of the south.

I am not bringing camping equipment, so I need to end every day at a location with a motel, hotel, or B&B.  For some parts of the trip, there are relatively few locations with lodging, and this has been a driving factor in selection of parts of the route.  There remain a few spots where lodging is 80 – 100 miles between locations.  These will be challenging days.  I plan to average 70 miles a day, a pace I have managed on week long bike trips in the past.  To see details of my route, click the following links:

Click to see Early route

A reservoir and mountains along the route in New York

Click to see Middle route

Farmland in the upper Midwest

Click to see Later route

A view of the Pacific near where I hope to finish in Oregon

This blog is about a cross continent bike trip I am planning for this summer (2015).  I am currently in the planning phase.  That involves buying a bike, selecting gear, laying out a route, and arranging to meet friends who will join me on portions of the trip.

 The first step was buying a bike, which I did last summer.  It’s a Cannondale Synapse Alloy 7, a bike optimized for touring.  For gear heads, it has an aluminum frame and carbon blade fork, with a design that reduces vibration for comfort on long rides.  Importantly it has a triple crankset (50/39/30) and came with a 12-28 cassette for low gears to climb hills.  It uses decent quality Shimano Sora components.  The bike weighs only a little over 20 pounds, which is pretty amazing considering it is a relatively cheap, entry level machine.  I have actually purchased a broader range cassette to get even lower gearing (this required a new rear derailleur too).  I will be crossing the Rockies, after all.  I’ve been on many 20 – 30 mile rides on it and like it a lot.

I plan to stay in motels and not camp, and that will allow me to keep my load very light.  I am a bit of a fanatic about this, and my goal is to keep my gear and the bag(s) I carry it in under 10 pounds, not counting food, water, or clothes I wear.  I already bought and installed the lightest rear rack made, the titanium Tubus Airy, a 7 oz miracle.  I’m using a 12 oz backpack to hold my gear, and it will be lashed to the top of the rack.  I plan to bring a single change of clothes, all synthetics that can be washed in a sink and dry overnight.  I’ll post the complete list at some point.

My route is from east to west, even though that means having the wind more in my face than at my back.  The idea of finishing the trip in the east was just not appealing.  The route passes through Ithaca on its way below the Finger Lakes to Niagara Falls (the American bride’s second biggest disappointment).  From there I enter Canada and head toward the Bruce Peninsula which lies between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario.  I’ll take a ferry to Manitoulin Island (world’s largest

Bruce Peninsula (in red)

freshwater island!).  Then things are a little tricky.  I need to get from the western tip of Manitoulin to Drummond Island back in the US.  There is no regular air or boat service, and I am looking for a “ferry godmother” to carry me across, someone with a private boat and a sense of adventure.  Once on the mainland I’ll travel west across the upper peninsula of Michigan, through Wisconsin, and on toward Minneapolis.  From there the route makes a bee line for the Black Hills of South Dakota.  That’s a long stretch of the Great Plains, and a little desolate.  From there I’ll head across northern Wyoming to the Yellowstone area.  There are sections here with no lodging for nearly 100 miles.  Next I work my way across Idaho and Oregon, ending at the Pacific Ocean.  I’m still working out the route details.  In Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon there are relatively few roads, so my choices are limited, but it’s all beautiful country.