Double Century Day

No pics to post, but here's the quick storyline. MarkL and I left his house at 6am, after me leaving my bike shoes home and having to drive all the way back to get them. We started eastbound, into a solid wind (10-15mph) heading out towards sodus on old ridge rd. Lovely ride, except for the fact that (a) we were riding into a hurricane, and (b) I had to spend half of it looking at mark's butt, as we spent the first 2-3 hours rotating every 5 minutes.
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We did our first of, oh, 30 pitstops outside sodus, wolfing down a quick coffee and a plate of McD's world class pancakes. OK, maybe 2 plates. And a McMuffin. Oh, and an apple pie. And a milkshake...gotta keep the carbs high!
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We broke SouthEast down SR370 to baldwinsville, a lovely little road that we did earlier this year on the erie canal bike ride. About 4 hours in, mark was starving, and I told him we'd stop for bfast #2 at the next town. When I got to the town the business district was about 1/4 off the main road, and so I just biked on through. Hey, why add distance when you're doing 200 miles! A few miles later mark caught up and went insane..."you've got a power bar...you've got a bagel...you've got a BBQ grill and a steak in your jersey...". You get the drift. Like it's my fault that he didn't bring a fridge full of food on a big ride. So, we agreed to stop at the next town, under penalty of death. Unfortunately, both for mark's stomach and my eardrums, the next town had no diner or gas mart. Nor did the next. Or the next. At this point, he was stopping to eat possum roadkill. Maybe a small red fox also. Finally we got to a town with a diner (hereafter our definition of "town") and buried another full bfast.
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When we got to Baldwinsville, we finally made the turn back west; just in time for the wind to swivel from NE to N, so we had a crossing wind which beat us up pretty good. Good, that is, until SR 31 turned north for about 10-15 miles, right into the heart of the huricane. At one point we were down to 12mph, and praying to Krisna for forgiveness. We at again in Lyons, at the fabulous, no, wait retract that, at the "at least they've got a damn diner, so they're formally a town" diner on the right side of the road. There we were fortunate enough to meet a local luminary who told us all about those "bikes that you can't ride in the field", plowing snow at 65, and the non-danger of smoking, as he light up his 3rd smoke in 10 minutes.
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Shortly after Palmyra, we met up with riding partner Therese, who was able to crank off almost 90 miles with us, as the alternative was having her students actually pass a regents exam. We got to see the lovely sights of "the north side of the erie canal", the "back way into Therese's neighborhood", and at least a new butt to look at for 50 miles.
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We cut down the canal path, after yet another meal in Pittsford, and were treated to incredible sights, such as the 90 year old albino shirtless man on his bike, the 150 year old lady on her walker taking up the whole path at -5 miles per hour, and a certain ponytailed blonde runner, who for some reason it took us an extraordinarily long time to pass.
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We busted off the canal path in Greece, to the tune of a 22mph pull from Therese, singing "I am woman" the whole way. A quick refuel in Brockport, and we were off to somewhere just short of buffalo. We made 200.1 miles, and stopped dead at that point, even though we were in a car dealership parking lot. Kathy found us there, salt encrusted (gary), hungry (mark), and well coiffered (Therese).
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Oh, and Mark whined about Therese "racing" the last 10 miles. I guess the "big boy" just couldn't keep up with the "endurance athlete little girl" :-)
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"Slept well that night" Lumpy out

MoMo Madison

Took a quick work trip up to madison this past week. Surprisingly nice city, on a couple decent size lakes. The highlight was the Moo Boat, a boat painted in black and white moo colors, that trolls the campus area (looking for drunk coeds I assume). Check it out!

Euchre Out

TOP: Proof that Carl can shuffle cards all on his own

2nd: Hard at play

3rd: Jane on her way to another victory

4th: Even the kids got into the act this time!

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Last euchre party of the season before we head off into summer, and it was another fun evening. Come fall, we're going to switch to alternating euchre-pinochle parties. The only commonality will be booze...

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"Where the heck does the word pinochle come from anyways" Lumpy out

Pennsylvania 6-5000

TOP: Lumpy kayaking Long Pond. Cliff was underwater at this point

2nd: Cliff's buckwheat pancake...note that it is standing vertical all on it's own. You couldn't play frisbee with it as it would break your hand

3rd: And this is a downhill...the uphills were MUCH worse

4th: Finally, the CARPS getting some much needed recognition

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My old buddy Cliff was heading up to PA for a few days, so we decided to get in a bike ride. I headed south to PA, he headed north from Pittsburgh, we rendezvous'd in the middle, and then returned to rochester where he flew home. Good couple of days of working out.

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So, where to begin this saga....maybe with the 40 degrees 20+mph headwinds...or maybe with Festus riding 3 miles and saying "screw this" and heading back to his bed...or the drit road that turned into the stone road the turned into a cow pasture that turned into a walk carrying my ROAD BIKE...oh, so many stories, so little attention span to write them all.

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After about 70 miles of my planned 100, I finally found a small bar near the PA border that appeared to be open. I popped my head in, and asked if they had any food, as I'd been hours without any food or fluids, and was shivering from the cold and headwinds. They said sure, come on in. I tucked my bike away behind the bar and headed in all psych'd for a nice hot meal. As I asked for the menu, the waitress said to me, "oh, we stopped serving food about an hour ago". I guess I asked the wrong question "Do you serve food" instead of "do you serve food RIGHT NOW, JANE YOU IGNORANT SLUT!!!!". Anyhow, the barkeep took pity on me and talked the cook (being kind with that description) into making me a plate of french fries.

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There was only one other guy in the bar, totally drunk at 1pm on mothers day, in his camo fatigues. Soon, he was joined by another buddy, and they just couldn't get over (a) that I was cycling that far, (b) that I was cycling on a weather day like today, and (c) that I would be insane enough to venture into their bar in full lycra. I smelled a Deliverance type of event in the making.

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Anyhow, they were asking me about my routing, and they informed me that the route that I had scoped out was a really bad idea...lot's of dirt and stone roads. They offered me a reroute that would be "a bit longer" but was better roads. So, like a moron, I took them up on it.

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After touring New Jersey and Virginia, I finally got to our PA rendezvous, miles and miles later. At 6:51...only to be informed by Cliff that the only restaurant in town closed at 7. Longest day of my life, bar none...

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"PA 6-5000...that was the mileage for yesterday" Lumpy Out

Nuvo Lawn Jarts

Had a few friend's kid over yesterday, not something that happens too often, as most people who know me never let their kids get that corrupted. So, the kids wanted to play some lawn games, none of which I have...no Bocci, soccer balls, whiffle ball, you name it, I don't own it.

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BUT! in the spirit of the marines, I improvised, coming up with a game of lawn jarts using the pesticide guys signs. They worked really well, good flight pattern, stuck in the ground most of the time, and hey, kids will see better with a third eye anyways...

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"Captain Chemical" Lumpy out