Next Time, Plan Ahead!

Thursday, May 14th. I looked at the weather reports the night before. Looked pretty "iffy". Possible rain showers in the afternoon. Temps looked OK, but not if ya get wet miles from home w/o raingear, and who wants to carry raingear when it's reasonably warm?

Accepting a "short" ride, I got up later than necessary if I had planned a big ride. Had pancakes. Karen was good for a ride today, but wanted to head out later when it warmed a bit more. Not sure when the rain might move in (but thinking early to mid afternoon), I wanted to get out earlier.

Took off mid morning and headed southeast toward Canandaigua, unsure how far I'd get. Still hadn't looked at the weather reports today. Duh. Wiggled around and out of the metro area and again used the Auburn Trail to avoid town traffic around Victor. Southbound on NY444/County Road 3 aka "Victor-Holcomb Expressway", I could enjoy the high point view of Stid Hill far to the south and started questioning my last weather update. Checked.

Looks like I can get more than the 50, maybe 60 miles I had envisioned. OK, let's keep the power on and see what happens. After a brief stop to check out the Peanut Trail "Parking Area" on County Road 30 …
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​… I continued on into Canandaigua and was lured to a stop by a street vendor doing Italian Sausages. I have little discipline, and stopped for lunch after only 33 miles. It was soooooo good too. From here, I had a "plan" now. I could head sorta west out of town toward the Bristol Hills, and if I encountered any marginal weather, I could turn north back toward Rochester for the quickest route back. Headed out on Bristol Street / Bristol Road, I crossed Route 5&20 and started into the hills. No wind at all today, so getting to the store in Bristol Center was pretty quick … especially the downhill to the Dandy Mart at the RT64 crossing. Nice view from the top to what lies ahead to the west.

But then it's back up … miles up CR32 to the high point of the day's ride. THAT took a while as it's one big north/south ridge between Bristol Center and Honeoye. Once on top, I could see that I was running out of time, so decided to skip Honeoye and start zig-zagging to the northwest and grabbed the Egypt/Gregg roads to get back to RT20A and the turn north on Buckelew Road. I love the name of that road. I always giggle 'cause it reminds me of a crazy cult classic movie from the mid-eighties "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension". Check it out!

Yeah, the mind wanders on long day rides, 'eh?

And what was I thinking? I thought it was time to head home, but then I get to Baptist Hill Road. Which turns into Simmons. And then Bell Road, which has been mostly paved over the years but still had a tiny dirt stretch past a sheep farm.

But those three east-to-west roller-coaster roads followed by Belcher do NOT constitute the quickest way home. Once I hit County Road 37, it was definitely time to head straight north, no delays. Well … maybe just one last wiggle through Mendon Ponds Park.

Nice Day! The weather turned really nice all afternoon. Ended up with 84 miles and kicked myself for not planning ahead. Had I got up early and checked weather, I would have realized I could have knocked off Century #4.

No matter … spring has sprung. Lots of nice days ahead.