Truckin' ...

Damn, that thing is heavy!

My Surly Long Haul Trucker. Complete with 48 spoke wheels and wide squishy tires, racks, fenders, generator for USB charging and lights, a double legged kickstand and a Wald basket too! Then load it up with three water bottles, a backup battery pack, two iPhones (one dedicated to GPS duties), tools, two spare tubes, a tube of DZNuts, a PB&J and my bikie face mask and off I go into the hills to Branchport, Penn Yan and Keuka Lake. It didn't seem all that heavy until I got to Italy-Friend Road south of Potter. After that climb, it was heavy all day. The bike is a tank, but durable too and oh so comfy with that Thudbuster seat post.

Yet another sunrise start, and knowing that it will be a slow hot and humid day, I was OK to "twiddle" most of the day (except Italy-Friend Road … there's no twiddling there) since it's like the longest days of the year right now. Even if I came home after dark, I got lights, so that could have been good. The "Plan" was to get in a Double Metric Century, 125 miles … or 200K Rando as my buddy Paul  reminded me while I stopped for coffee in Canandaigua.

Again, I didn't follow my planned route exactly since toward the end of the day, as the temps reached high 80's with high humidity, I sought the shade of the Canal Trail getting back into town, and ended up with 131 miles … er … 210K.

It was all worth it for one reason alone: Hemlock Road. From the top of Italy-Friend Road, cruising down Hemlock is a biker's dream. It's roughly 3 miles of uninterrupted swoopy downhill and nearly all in the shade.

A turn south at the bottom and a turn west in Branchport leads to the Keuka Lake overlook.

From there, a pass-by of Keuka Park before hitting the Byrne Dairy in Penn Yan for a slice of pizza and a coke, and off again toward home. The "exciting" part of the ride was over but the countryside leading north out of Penn Yan, although nothing spectacular, is mostly pretty, quiet and serene farmland all the way to the Canal. By now, I was slowing down and just enjoying the cruise … except for the heat and humidity. I had to stop in Palmyra for water, and again in Fairport since I was guzzling till bloated.

By the time I got home and on the scales, I had lost 5 pounds today from dehydration. I'll be guzzling all night.