Webster Wander 2020

For as far back as I can remember, and likely long before that, the Season Finale ride of the Rochester Bicycling Club has always been the Webster Wander at the end of October.
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Above: Webster Wander circa 1979 / 1980. Paused at Inspiration Point Road. The late Dusty Miller, former Membership Chair, in the orange jacket at far left. Maybe Andy S. in the green sweatshirt? Likely Carolyn K. in the blue and yellow shell in the back right side?
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Yes, the club always kinda "quits" before winter, officially anyway, but many people ride deep into fall and some of us never quit at all. Impromptu rides by individuals and small groups of friends can still happen since our club uses Meet-Up to make the arrangements and I'm certain the next impromptu ride will likely get posted soon, since the Irondequoit Bay outlet bridge will soon swing shut to boaters and reopen to road traffic the first of November.

But first, we wrap it up with the old Webster Wander classic, and yet again this year, the route was revised, but for different reasons. Over the years, the route has had a number of revisions based on volunteer members in the Webster area being the "host home" of the cider and donut stop. Even Karen and I hosted it for a while before we moved into the city from Webster. Our friends Ann & Steve have been hosting it for several years but wisely opted out this year due to the pandemic. Even with no cider and donuts, we still had a good number of folks join the ride this year, and the payback for the adventurous was no snow or rain (for once!).

So of course, I just had to expand the day's ride a bit by riding to and from the ride, turning the 28 mile ride into a 60 mile wiggle.
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And much of it was trail riding … on the Pugsley, of course! Heading out to the start, I used a stretch of the Webster Bikeway, North Ponds Park, and the Bird Sanctuary Trail. On the way home, I visited the trails in the Whiting Road Nature Preserve and Gosnell Big Woods. I was riding with Karen when we passed the Four Mile Creek Preserve, so opted not to cruise in there … this time!

Sometimes I miss living out in Webster just because there are so many quiet roads and streets to wander, but I'm certain that thousands of this year's miles on the ticker were accumulated just within the borders of Rochester, so it's not like I've given up much. And Webster is right next door and available anytime.

And speaking of "miles", as of this writing, I've logged 9,468 miles of my 10,000 mile goal for 2020.

532 to go and counting down … rapidly.