Peppermint Kiss

Yet another beautiful day in upstate New York! Nice temperatures, low humidity, plenty of sunshine, and Karen suggests a nice bike ride. We spent our 26th anniversary the day before on a motorcycle day ride waterfall-bagging …

… and I was almost feeling guilty for not spending the day with her riding bicycles, so I'm game!

So, "Part Two" of our anniversary … Karen dug up a club map called "Peppermint Kiss", a 52 miler that meanders through the drumlins of Wayne County to Lyons. Familiar territory and familiar roads, as we have a ton of rides in that area and some that visit Lyons, but neither of us can recall ever having done that particular ride. The mystery to us was how the ride got that name. Let's find out!

Starting in Ontario Center and heading west and south, we had some nice tailwinds and made good time getting to Lyons where we crossed over the Erie Canal and stopped at the Subway for lunch. Crossing back over the Erie Canal at Lock E27 …

… we started to make a left turn uphill onto Water Street … OPPOSITE the way we come into town on a different ride. Whoa! We stop. This time, going slow, we see a museum on the corner not noticed before since we usually zoom right past this spot.

Mystery solved! And who would have guessed little old Lyons New York was once "world-famous" for it's production of Peppermint Oil. I had to giggle a bit. I keep seeing ads for trendy health-freak "essential oils" and now realize that the term isn't actually a new-age thing, or at least, it got co-opted. Anyway, there's a really cool mural on the side of the building that is what actually caught our attention.

It illustrates how important the canal was to the business, and in fact the village and farmers of Lyons, like countless other small towns between Albany and Buffalo. And there's another plaque telling the story and making a reference to "Peppermint Pattie" too. Important enough to score a place on the National Register.

Feeling "educated" once again … Peppermint oils, made by the HotchKISS family, hence: Peppermint Kiss … and some history lessons to boot, we meander back toward the start point, more slowly with gentle headwinds, and finish the day exactly on our overall average for a ride … 10mph. 52 miles in five hours. Never changes. I'm good with that. 

And I got my vanilla shake at Netsins too. Perfect day.