T1 Day 54 (Kayla)

July 30th : Welland, ON to Rochester, NY

Since I have gotten so far behind on writing my blog posts I have decided to try to catch up by using voice to text to write this post while riding my bicycle along the erie canal trail in New York. Since I kept the microphone on while we chatted about our Canada review you will find that interspersed throughout this post are the other random things that come up while cycling. So here it goes: 

Our last day in canada started at the home of our warm showers hosts, Sandi and Jeff. While Jeff helped me map out the the best route to Niagara Falls, Liz and keelin ate their breakfast. When I went to check on my breakfast I found that I had burnt my bagel (the last bagel they had) to a crisp. Fail #1 for Kayla for the day. Luckily I was able to make some toast and wasn’t going to go hungry. Next I headed out to the garage to finish packing up my bike. Jeff, having heard about my saddle issues, had graciously gifted me a gel padded saddle cover to see if it would make a difference. I just had to adjust my seat post to account for the change in height of the saddle. I got on my bike and immediately biked into his car that was parked in the driveway. Fail #2. Once I got my saddle height squared away we were off, biking out of the driveway right in front of a car! Strike #3. Luckily everyone was fine, but Jeff did shout “car” at us, realizing we weren’t paying attention. Then we realized we didn’t know which way we were turning and had to ask for directions. That was fail #4 and it was only 8a! “Left” Jeff shouted. Then we thought we heard him say, “I don’t know how they made it this far”. It’s a fair question, neither do we! From their house it was a short ride to Niagara where we stopped to take lots of photos of the magnificent falls. Then we crossed over rainbow bridge and through customs back to the United States! 

Here’s our review of Ontario Canada (as written in voice to test)

OK scenery in Ontario: 

Keelin says 8 1/2. Liz says 8 and Kayla says 8. Liz switches her answer to 8 1/2. Update Liz is to 8.75 now. Liz says it gets an extra .75 because it’s Canada. 

Bikeability rating:

There was a lot of gravel the first day but not too many potholes, there was a tail wind, but also head winds and cross winds, a few days were flat and one had some climbs. 

Keelin says 7 1/2 because there were no real bike trails. 

“there’s a car coming, you can probably keep going”

Liz gives it a 7, I’ll give it a 7 1/2.

Weather: 

OK well we had that half a day of rain. It was very hot and muggy. I feel like the day that we got to Niagara was nice. Keelin gives it a 6, because of the rain delay for half a day, Liz and Kayla give it a 6.5. I gave it a 6 1/2 because I really dislike the heat.

favorite town: 

My gears start skipping: “oh dear why is it doing this again? Dammit I’m not doing anything. Try to get ahead of me if you want I’m struggling. Oh gosh, it just voice to texted everything. I don’t know. I guess I’m gonna have trouble shifting now I messed things up more than I thought , yeah I need to adjust the other screws probably…”

OK yes favorite town. “Yeah ha ha turn left here.” Niagara Falls was all of our favorite place and port Stanley was the favorite town for all of us. 

favorite food: Keelin‘s favorite is Finnish Pancakes. Liz’s favorite was the cookout with beyond burgers and local sweet corn. Kayla’s favorite was the finnish pancakes.

Favorite thing about Canada in general: 

Liz says Lenny the hawk. Keelin‘s favorite thing about Canada is the accents. In particular she really likes the use of the word “eh”. My favorite thing about Canada is the knowledgeable people that we had great conversations with. 

Favorite piece of gear for Canada: 

I say new gel saddle cover that is saving my ass, literally.

Keelin says her electrolyte tabs.

 Liz says that it’s kind of lame but it’s her sunscreen that’s protecting her from Tanlines (sort of she really still has bad Tanlines )

“Yes, agreed next bathroom we see we’re stopping. GEESE! Don’t run over the geese!”True this looks like a town there might be a bathroom. I need to stop recording.”

Okay later I gathered our advice for biking through Canada. Liz said she would advise that you bike along Lake Erie and make sure you hold a hawk if someone offers. Keelin recommends checking out bagged milk from the grocery store because she didn’t and she regrets it. I would recommend biking along Lake Erie and carrying a bit of Canadian money to avoid getting into a pickle. 

For the rest of the day after crossing into NY we made our way to Lockport, where we were amazed to watch boats and jet skiers cross through the system of locks along the Erie Canal. From Lockport we followed the erie canal trail all the way to Rochester. 

It was a long 104+ mile day, but luckily it was very beautiful and peaceful and flat along the canal. 15 miles from our destination at my friends house in Rochester I was met by another friend, Zoe, who rode out to meet us and biked with the rest of the way. It was an awesome way to end the day and she also helped ensure we made it in record time, as she zipped us around the city streets like she owned the place! It was a great time and we also learned some new hand signals that we have since adopted! Eventually we made it to the home of my friends Katie and David and their adorable dog lily. we shared stories while feasting on an incredible homemade meal of fish tacos, then finished the night in the hot tub. It was such a treat to be able to spend time with friends, and the boost I needed for the final push home.