Weekend Photo Dump - Words to follow this week!

My Camping Bike Setup - yes it is slow but it can haul the stuff you need!

Leaves are changing in the Southern Tier

No Wind At ALL!!!

Almost 80 degrees in October - No Complaints here!

Cool Fog over the lake

Sunset with the Kayak to end Sunday

 Have a great week!

Canandaigua Lake Bike Ride

I had a little free time yesterday afternoon and I hatched a plan that has been in the works for a while now.  I wanted to ride my bike around Canandaigua Lake.  I figured it was around 50 miles or so and the weather was supposed to clear so I headed out on the roadie for some pedaling fun.  The clouds never let up all day long but the rain never fell either!


View to the South of Canandaigua Lake

This is a beautiful part of New York - the Finger Lakes Region.  A lot of bike riding and wine tours in the area.  I am not into one of the two and I will leave it to you to guess which one that is ;)

Looking North East over Canandaigua Lake towards Syracuse, NY area

 This was a great ride - as good as I had expected it to be.  I wish I had a road map for the area so I could explore some more on the side roads and to maybe ride around the whole lake instead of off in the country side which I was forced to most of the ride.  I didn't want to make a wrong turn and have to climb back up - 1 of those was more than enough!  Bopple Hill Rd - they had paintings like they do on the climbs during the Tour De France - it was pretty cool - but man what a hill!  No pictures of that I had to keep pedaling to make it to the top!

Fall is coming but the leaves are still mainly green

Canandaigua Lake

Same View Sideways Though

All downhill from here!

Family Cemetery from early 1900's

All in all it was a great ride and one I would love to do again.  I want to ride around all the Finger Lakes and then put a plan into motion to ride around 1 great lake a summer.  That would be pretty cool!

How I Feel When I Have To Drive To Work

Last week on Facebook someone wrote how they feel miserable in the car and always happy on the bike so I thought about that for a while.  It really struck me today as I drove to work for the 2nd day in a row (I am officially tired and just taking a couple of days of - more to be explained in a minute) how unhappy being in the car at all makes me.

I wonder if the car is even happy being driven to be honest with you.  It is not like I have a long commute (30 minutes max most days.  That is until it snows and it takes 90 minutes sometimes!), I have a comfortable car, and most days it is not an "ugly" commute by any means.  But, in the end I am never happy to be getting in the car on my way to work nor do I get out of my car once I arrive feeling like a million bucks!

Is This Car Faking Being Happy?

Now, when I ride my bike to work I would have to really struggle to come up with a time that when I made it to work that I felt like throwing my bike to the ground, never to be picked back up again.  I have arrived wet from rain, soaked from thunderstorms (trust me there is a difference), cold from freezing temperatures, sweaty from humidity out the ying yang, but always happy and content.  Just like the picture below!

Biking Always Makes Me Happy

To jump back to an earlier point - the ride home is not always the same.  Take Monday for example.  I had ridden over 350 miles the previous 5 days and was just plain tired.  The winds were against me and the umption in my gumption was running very low.  So low, I even contemplated the bail out phone call to the home phone number.  After a brief rest at the library printing out my daughter's essay for school, I trudged the rest of the way home and decided that was enough riding for the week.  So, I am taking off until this Friday unless it is rain free tonight and I sneak off to our last "official" Wednesday Night Group Ride.  No commuting though until Friday and that is only if it is dry out!

So if you see a grumpy 45 y/o man driving a Tahoe on the road - take pity on him for you see his legs are tired and his bike needs a rest and he is not smiling because he is not riding.  But he will be next week for sure!

Might be heading somewhere new again next week so I might get to take some cool pictures again!  Will keep you posted.  Have a great week and get out there and ride your bikes!

80 Mile Ellicottville Sunday Ride

The forecast Sunday was a beautiful one.  So I rode to church and then headed South to Ellicottville for some Pan Pizza and bike riding.


The Valley Home

  It was a non-fun headwind all the way to Ellicottville.  Zapped my energy pretty quickly so I kept munching on clif-shots, zone bars, and other goodies I had in my bento bag that provides super easy access.  I was dreaming of pan pizza the closer I got to Ellicottville and I knew my ride home would be pretty smooth with the tail wind that was promised by battling head winds all the way to my destination.

Been Pretty Dry I Guess

I arrived at my pit stop site, grabbed pizza, chips, pop, and a lot of other snacks to re-energize myself for the ride back home.  You would not believe what I found while heading back home?

Falls Is On It's Way

Gravel - There was not a lot of it but it was a fun climb anyways.  I believe I had driven that road about 6 years ago or so.  It went in between private hunting grounds and would not be accessible come winter time.  I even found access to the Finger Lakes Trail in this area.  Did not lead very far but I need to grab the maps to explore more of it!

I Found Gravel In Western New York

 Made one last stop for some Pepsi and more snacks that I had with me.  I should have grabbed another slice of pizza across the street but I wanted to see how Davie G rolls with the vending machine stops in the middle of Iowa.

My BMC Monster Cross At Rest

The BMC treated me well today and I sure slept very sound last night.

By the way there are still 4 days of Commuter Sponsorship Openings available!  Drop me a line if you are interested.

You Can Sponsor My Daily Commutes

A photo from my daily commute to work

People sometimes ask me what I think about when I am riding my bike so much (most don't ask because they are afraid to know what is really going on inside my mind and I can see why!).  Today on the way into work I had a genius idea come to mind.  I was thinking about a computer friend Kevin who was in a pretty bad bike crash last weekend doing a race and the fact that he is going to be off his bike for a while recovering.  I didn't really want to commute today because it is supposed to be wet this evening on my way home and then I thought hey Kevin can't ride even if he wanted to - you need to step up to the plate Bill and ride anyways.  I have rain gear and fenders and I surely won't melt.  So I rode!

Now onto the idea:

I am selling my commutes to the highest bidder.  I only have 4 slots open right now because a BT'er Bopper was in a pretty bad crash last weekend and I am setting 1 commute aside a week in support of his recovery.
This leaves any business owners/entrepreneurs with 4 other days to chose from.  In return for your contribution here is what you and/or your company will receive:
1 - I will post a thread thanking your and/or your company the day you sponsor.  I can highlight what your products/services are and help spread the word about you around BT.
2 - I will post a blog post on my blog which will copy #1 listed above.
3 - If you have logos/stickers I will put them on my panniers/backpacks/clothes to advertise your company while I ride to and from work.  Most days I am on the bike around 2 1/2 + hours so that is a lot of face time for your company.  Some days it is even longer - yesterday I rode for over 4 hours (but don't tell Jane please :) )
4 - In my training log I always start the blog out Commute #___ - Then I will add sponsored by _______________________.  Sort of like the Rose Bowl sponsored by Citi or Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium.  It is pretty common practice today so I think you get the idea.
5 - If, by chance, you want to purchase a pre-designed bike with decals and all your company stuff on it and ship it to me - that bike will be ridden the day of your sponsored commute.

The only reason I wouldn't commute on a particular day is travel for work but I will still post information about you weekly.  There might be some serious weather issues that I don't commute because of either but those are limited in the Buffalo, NY area.  And I believe that with sponsorships being sold that will only drive me to commute even more.  You could 30+ days a year of advertising if you went with the annual deal.  More if you chose to pick up others days as well.

I am willing to sell it by the week, month, or annually (this is where the bike would come in handy for you (and me) - I prefer a Gates Belt Drive setup so you can prep the frame with that in mind.

Many photos will be posted of your logos as well on my Facebook page as well.

E-mail me via my blog if you are interested.  I am open to discuss rates.

Thanks in advance (and yes this is what my brain contemplates on the bike at times).

Been A While But I Have Some Photos To Show Off



Looking North towards Lake Ontario


Fall is right around the corner in Western New York and I love riding my mountain bike in the fall and getting new photos.  I have not been taking many pictures lately on the rides because it is always the same area and nothing new to show the world.  Yesterday I got to sneak off to Ontario County Park again and was looking forward to some views that I have not seen in a while.

My Surly 1x1

 I rode the Single Speed today for a switch up.  I have put a lot of miles on geared bikes this year but not nearly enough on the single speed versions by any means.  Makes hill tougher than running gears but it is also a great gage of leg strength and overall bike fitness when you can power up some hills without bailing and walking (which happens enough trust me!)

Same view but with protective wall so you don't fall?

 I love Ontario County Park.  I had the whole place to myself.  One biker was coming in as I was prepping to leave but other than that I only heard the workers mowing the grass in the camping area, caught a glimpse of 2 people walking to the above overlook area from the road, and spooked about 3 or 4 deer up from the fall after lunch naps.

Zoom View

Canandaigua Lake

I was going to bring my road bike and do a 50+ mile loop around the above pictured lake but the forecast the night before called for afternoon rains so I decided to take the mountain bike instead.  They got the forecast wrong and I missed out on a beautiful day to ride around the lake.  Someday I will pull the trigger and go and do it.  Can't experience everything all at once - what else would there be to look forward to :)

May Photo Dump

I went to do a blog last week but it would not let me sign in and I forgot what it was going to be about so I will just do a photo dump.  Weather has been rainy, cold, foggy, sunny, warm, and a mixture of all of them on any given day.  One thing it has not been is close to Hot and I am missing that right now.  It is almost Memorial Day and we had the wettest Mar-May ever in history and will add to our totals again tomorrow and the weekend with more rain.

I hope I am not around the next time we break this record!!!!  Enjoy the photos!  I just realized I have more at home on the other laptop and that is where I was going to post from.  Maybe I will add some more later but here are some fog and no wind/sun pictures of the Lake Erie Lakefront area.