After my last entry last night, I was all cuddled up and ready to fall asleep in my tent. I was the only person in the park at Lock 20. I was looking forward to a good night’s rest.
It didn’t happen! Out of nowhere the wind started to howl and thunder and lightning rang out. Then it poured buckets. The storm apparently passed right over – the peals of thunder shook the tent and the whole tent illuminated in the lightning! I’m not saying I was scared, mind you, but I did call my wife Ragon in order to hear a friendly voice!
The storm lasted until around 4 in the morning. Thunder and lightning, and rain that would go from a deluge to a light sprinkle. My poor bike and everything else outside the tent got drenched. The tent itself held up ok, which was nice. Only a few drops managed to find their way in.
I got woken up again around 7am when a boat was trying to pass through the lock. I tossed and turned for the next hour, then decided just to get up. I had some breakfast and tried to dry stuff out (to no avail) and by 9 just put everything wet into the panniers and headed out.
Today by far was the hardest I’d had. For the first three hours of the day, the bike path was muddy slush. It was the kind of stuff my touring bike tours were not made for, and time and again I was forced to stand up on my pedals just to get through. On top of that, the rains started again, and I was drenched completely through.
It got so bad that at around noon I had to stop and wait out the rain. But even then, the roads were still mostly horrible all day.
I did manage to come across a few sections that were paved and these were like riding on a little slice of heaven. But then invariably the trail would go back to dirt and the going was horribly slow.
By 2pm, I had been on my bike 5 hours already, and had only gone around 20 miles. My legs were simply exhausted. Clearly they are not used to this kind of heavy exertion hours on end. Also I was tired from the night before, so I was a bit grumbly.
At around 3:30 I called Ragon. I was sitting on the ground, about to all but give up. There would be no way I was going to make Syracuse. After a quick pep talk from her, I hopped back on the bike and forced myself to keep going.
The terrain I was passing through was so lovely. I went through meadows, corn fields, a few small towns, and of course parts of the trail went along the Erie itself. Altogether gorgeous stuff. But I’m disappointed in myself because I was so intent on my aching muscles and fatigue I felt I didn’t really appreciate it enough. I just kind of kept my head down and forced myself to keep pedaling.
Anyway, by 5pm I found myself having an early dinner in a town called Chittenango. I inquired about motels or camping in the area. The closest place to spend the night was a campground in Green Lakes State Park, which was another 5 miles. So that’s where I am now, surrounded by a bunch of families and other campers. Exhausted and ready for a good night’s sleep. Hoping the weather holds up tonight!
Altogether I ended up doing around 48 miles today, but it took a good 8 hours in the saddle. A gruelling day, to be sure. Tomorrow as I head through Syracuse I’m hoping to hit more paved roads. Can’t believe tomorrow I will have been on the road 4 days already.