Days 1-5:Ride Elevation Profiles

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 5: I miss Mike!!!!!

All,

Today was a light day with Viktor riding about 50 miles from the border to Ottawa, Canada.
Photos and other information later.

Now it is time to visit with family!

I will let Mike update everyone on his trip home, but the plan was for him to get a lift part way to Watertown, NY and then to ride to Watertown where he will meet his son and father.

They will take him back home so he can return to work tomorrow with a great story to tell...

More photos and commentary later today (probably) or tomorrow...

The final leg for Viktor will be on July 2 (110 miles or so) from Ottawa to just north of Lachute, Quebec.

Thank you so much for following us and for the support each and every one ofyou has offered. It was great to know that although there were only two of us riding, there were many of us involved!

Have a great Sunday!
Viktor

From Mike:

I made it home safely thanks to Yves Dupont for driving me to Watertown, NY and my Dad and my son for driving me back home. I arrived around 9:05 pm.As Viktor stated, we are blessed by the tremendous amount of support we’ve received: both from our friend and families and from complete strangers.This is something that I will never forget.

I plan to update everyone in a day or two with the last bits of trip.

Thanks again for all your support!

Best,Mike

What Viktor took with him

I asked Viktor if he could tell us what he packed for his trip and if he wished he'd had something he didn't pack or pack something he didn't need. Here's his list.....

Contents of my “clothes pack” (i.e. the thing on the rack):
- 1 zip lock bag with shorts, t-shirt, ear plugs and eye cover (as used on airplane)
- 1 zip lock bag with a 2nd kit (jersey, shorts, socks, headband)
- 1 zip lock bag with electronics – camera battery charger, i-phone charger/cable, paper cue sheets, spare batteries for GPS, wallet
- Rolled up water shoes (to walk around in when not cycling)
- 1 zip lock bag with Chamois Butt’r and Coppertone Sport sunscreen (SPF-30)
- 1 zip lock bag with toiletries – razor, toothbrush, toothpaste
- 1 zip lock bag with pro-link lube
- Spare tubes
- Power bars, gels, Nuun tablets, and hydration powder – all individual sizes for quick mixing

I also kept my usual saddle bag which contains:
- 2 spare tubes
- 3 allen keys
- Full size chain tool
- Tire levers
- Screw driver (flat & Philips)
- Chain master link
- Derailleur cable, brake cable (1 each)
- Money (eaz comment: now we know where he keeps it!!)
- Emergency ID with doctor and family contact info
- Elastics and twist ties plus zip-ties

The only thing I wish I had was a safety pin since the rack/pack combination was held together with Velcro and the Velcro was not holding well.

If I have forgotten anything that I actually took, I’ll let you know, but no, there’s nothing else that we needed…

Day 4: What were we thinking???!

Good Morning Mike!!!!

ZZZZZZZZZZ This is going to be a long day!!!!

Viktor writes: I'm happy to say that we arrived safe and sound and much earlier today. I would have sent information to you all sooner except my phone would not connect to the AT&T carrier here in Ogdensburg. It kept trying to connect to Roger's in Canada... So, this is being sent as an email from my computer from a hotel room!

Here's a summary of the final day with Mike and Viktor riding together:


We departed North Syracuse around 7:50AM and headed north on Route 11. We stopped fairly early on when we met up with 2 fellow cyclists in the area who were preparing to go around a local lake. Sadly we didn't get a chance to ride with them, but we did get their photos. Say hello to Mark and Chris..



By 11AM, we had made okay time, but were ready for a hydration break. By 1:30PM, we made it up to Watertown and were mid-way through both time andmiles-wise for the day. We actually stopped by a bike shop (which will remain nameless) that we had actually contacted before the trip. They were not any more helpful in person than they were on the phone. There was no one in the shop either and I think there may be a good reason. Regardless, we then stopped for lunch and took a few photos in the heart ofthe town. By 2:30PM, we started off again - better hydrated and fed!

Now recall that the terrain is basically flat and that there's a steady 10 or so mile per hour head wind, so we're doing okay, but my (Viktor) front derailleur is starting to shift sloppily. Uh-oh, cable is fraying... We'll replace it at the next rest stop (yes, I had a spare cable), but no luck -cable breaks. Took longer than it should to fix, but okay, off we go again.

Riding a bit more and then about 15 miles later, the clouds open up and boom- lots of water everywhere. Fortunately, we ducked into a local gas station to wait it out. At that point, Leslie, Marisa and Julianna (Viktor's family) who were driving up at that point, stopped to keep us company. They continued as the rain started to slow and about 20 minutes after we stopped, we had started again. Unfortunately, that put us about 40 minutes behind our target schedule. However, we then came upon a sign that we were really getting close...



Soon thereafter, we meet up with Yves Dupont, a fellow WCCC rider who moved up with his wife Mary Lou to Huevelton, NY (just southof Ogdensburg) and who was kind enough to take Mike in for the evening (Viktor and family stayed at a hotel).



Yves had a good time, at least until Mike got a flat - 10 miles from our final destination!!!

When the tire was changed, we continued on and actually past the hotel whereViktor was to stay and found the "Welcome to Ogdensburg" sign ...

..and continued to the bridge to Canada. Mike then went home with Yves and Mary Lou (in the car) to shower and get ready for dinner and Viktor rode back 5 miles to the hotel and showered/changed. We all met for dinner (including Viktor's family) and laughed and ate and enjoyed each other's company!!!

Yes, it was a good day and a great way to end a 4 day, 465 mile trek.

More observations tomorrow, after I get done with my 60 mile ride to Ottawa. I'm not allowed to ride across the 2 mile metal bridge, but as soon as we get across and I clear customs, I'm back on the bike and will update you on both other thoughts about the trip to date and on the fun from the border to Ottawa.

Enjoy - we did!!

Mike's Comment: WE FINISHED THE RIDE! (short and sweet!)

Extra Extra Read all about it....

The Watertown Daily News picked up the story about our valiant men in blue (and green).. Read all about it

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090627/NEWS05/306279946

Day 3: Are we there yet????!

Viktor's morning missive....
We are at Day 3 and about half way done. Along the way we notice many things. Here are some observations:
* there are roads out there that are worse than Chester County and tar and chip can use bigger stones
* any WCCC rider can do this ride. The hills may be longer but they are not steeper
* there are very few cyclists on the roads (we only saw 2 - one per day - in the 230 mile ridden)
* Texas isn't the only place where pick up trucks dominate the roads
* PA Bike Route L is very well marked
* the people we spoke to think this ride is both impressive and a great idea. They love that this is helping the SPCA
* not many loose dogs on the road
* there is a lot of diverse landscape including cities, towns and villages but mostly there is a lot of forest and farm land
* having supportive families is great!!
Thanks, Viktor



At the NY/PA Border

Whitney Point Friend:

We met up with Tim Hanna a cyclist with Soutern Tier Bike Club. He braved risky weather to ride with us. Thanks Tim!

Here's a link to other pictures Tim took.. www.timhanna.net/SPCA

As you can imagine, taking the photo is much easier than annotating and emailing for the blog, so here is the first of several photos from today, day 3.

This photo is of us at Whitney Point with the local high school in the background. The photo was taken by Tim Hanna, a rider from the Southern Tier Bike Club (STBC). STBC is based out of the Binghamton area but they tend to ride north of that city because the roads and scenery are so exceptional. We must agree. Today was one of the easiest rides, not just for this trip, but ever. The roads had huge shoulders to ride on and they were very well maintained. PA could learn from NY in that area!!

From Whitney Point, we rode with Tim for about 30 miles to Cortland and all along the way Tim took photos which we will be posting on the blog as soon as we get them.

.
And here is one now.......Killawog area (between Whitney point and Marathon)

This photo and the other similar one show that we were in Marathon, NY. We stopped by a famous landmark, Three Bear Inn, and if you look at the right side of each photo you can see the sign for the place. We literally stopped just for the photo with the bear and given that the SPCA is our charity in this ride, the idea of "adopting" this bear for the photos seemed fitting! http://www.threebearinn.com/History.html

Riding into Cortland.....

This is Kathleen from the Community Restaurant in Cortland NY where we stopped for lunch with our new cycling buddy, Tim.

More good samaritans: We are stopped because of a storm and are in a garage with Chad, Kayla and Emma in Preble, NY (about 20 miles south of Syracuse. Thank goodness for kind souls!!

Onandaga Nation: There are few places where you can get as exceptional a view as this. In truth it was several hundred feet down from the really spectacular view we originally saw but neither Mike nor I were going back up the hill for the photo. Maybe next year. For those wondering where this is, look for Syracuse and go south by about 10 miles south. When we finished the decent we were about 1100 feet lower than we started. Nice!!

Rain about to hit: If you look over the barn you will see the scary dark clouds that made us run for the Currie Farm house. What you won't see is the lightning or hear the thunder but we sure did! More photos show the sheets of rain and puddles after 5 minutes. The good news: by 20 minutes, we were back on the road.

Opening up of the skies: This picture does not adequately show just how heavy it was raining.Thank goodness for the kindness of the Currie's

Syracuse! As with each evening, we take photos of those we meet. Say hello to Sam from our hotel and Carrie from our restaurant.

It was a great 3rd day of riding and tomorrow we tackle the 125 mile trek to the border at Ogdensburg and the Watertown Daily Times with our reporter friend, Max Mitchell who is covering our arrival. I spoke to Max about the ride today for about 5 miles with my headset on. Very cool to have reporters at both the start and finish!!

Day 3 Observations

While Chester County, Pa has it's beautiful country-side, scenic farmlands and picturesque villages-Southern Tier New York has all that PLUS miles and miles of bike-friendly roads, wide shoulders and smooth macadam (for the most part).We are very impressed with the roads in this part of New York so far.

On a humorous personal note, Mike found that sweat, climbs and rain combine to make for good a chafing experience. He also found that walking into a drug store in full lycra is okay until you ask for diaper balm. When he got to the cash, there was an odd look on the cashier's face. "Don't ask...", he said.

While in PA, we saw 2 police cars. In NY,we saw 10 already but half of those were in Syracuse during rush hour. Incidentally, that is not a good time to ride through a city. In fact, it appears that all big cities seem to suffer from the same malaise - they are scarey and noisy and generally speaking the roads we followed were not in good parts of town. Those of us in little towns or rural areas really don't realize just how good we have it...

Rain can arrive very quickly. We saw several almost blue skies change to a thunderstorms in less than 30 minutes. Although we were certainly moving towards these fun situations, it is still very humbling to realize just how much Mother Nature can do to mess with you.
More later today - we may let you read about it in the paper if the Watertown reporter and photographer really do show up tonight for our big finish!

Day 2: The journey continues...

Albrightsville: Meet Sue, our good Samaritan and water friend. Our first rest stop done





Bear Creek Water Stop: Around noon and stopping for water. Gina Musto gave us water and a smile




Scranton Area: Lunch with Mac and Rita, Mike's in-laws




We dodged rain and thunderstorms and finished at 8pm in Hallstead, PA after logging a 130 mile day. Time to eat - a lot!

We decided an Italian meal was in order, so we stopped by Tedeschi's and Katie took care of us.
We also learned tha both Farrah Fawcet an Michael Jackson had passed away...
Until...


Mike's take on the day....
About 7 minutes (time spent at Bear Creek rest stop)
Today was the hardest day of riding...ever!!!
Not sure of the total feet of climbing but the climb out of Jim Therapy was C900 feet over 2.5 miles.
We climbed from 900 to 2100-twice.
130 miles total
I am whipped.