Saturday, May 30th, 2015

Start/End: Rochester/Niagara Falls, NY
Mileage: 86+
Weather: Rather warm. Very windy, great clouds!

Today was our 7th day riding. One week in the saddle. This has been quite a ride and I am so glad to say that we have all made it and are in good shape. Some of our bikes are in much rougher shape, but hopefully they will be fixed in no time with everyone back on their bikes.

Today we were so excited to make it to our destination that we woke up at 4:55, leaving the church at 6 AM, one hour earlier than normal. This was good for a few reasons, but one meant that we dealt with less traffic and less wind earlier in the day. Our ride was dedicated to a rider’s family friend who recently passed away from cancer earlier this week.

The ride was probably the most flat route that we have had all summer and it was refreshing and relaxing to our muscles which were not strained to climb big hills. At the very beginning of the ride, we passed by Rochester’s airport and a plane passed directly over my riding group- it was so loud and big.

Other highlights from the day include lunch. We stopped in a town called Medina,Monica is a cute, historic looking town. There was a small courtyard with old time music playing across from a historic opera house. Many of the riders indulged in a small ice cream cone from Meggie Moo’s. Let me tell you. This was the biggest cone I have ever eaten and the price was ridiculously amazing ($1.75). I am slightly surprised that I had no after effects from the ice cream when we had 45 miles left to ride.

We passed through towns like Gasport where the population was “Just about right” and later came upon Lockport, the location of our final rest stop for the day. Riding into town, a cookout fundraiser was going on and this man was holding a huge rack of ribs out with him by the street to attract more customers. Smelled amazing, but we kept going. While at our rest stop, we were able to see one of the Erie Canal locks drain and fill back up. They are huge.

Riding into Niagara Falls, we followed the Historic Niagara Trail. Once everyone was in, we went to the falls and took a team picture. Next we ate an amazing dinner that was generously provided by the Church of Faith Love Center, whom we stayed with yesterday. We had pasta and bread, with our additional lentils. Yum!

Afterwards, many of us got to do some fun activities and explore the area. It’s been a fun day, despite the huge headwinds, but it has certainly been a fun,successful journey. Tomorrow is another long day of riding and more sleep is never a bad thing, so I am going to hit the hay.
-LAH