Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A New York State of Mind Day 45




We're in Hamburg, New York, after an 82 mile ride today. I thoroughly cleaned my bike yesterday, so naturally it rained! Fortunately, the rain was brief and mild, and the ride was enjoyable. Pictured at the State sign are Howie, Pete, Philippe, Jeff and me, starting at the left. After only riding about 40 miles in Pennsylvania since we left Ohio, we were in New York. Who thought you could cross PA that quickly?
We passed many vinyards on our ride along Lake Erie, as shown on the second photo. The grapes are looking good to my untrained eye, at least. While we saw signs directing us to several wineries, none had distances listed, and we didn't actually ride by any wineries. And since we were riding bicycles, we decided against doing any wine tasting. Rats!--oops, I hope that doesn't sound like sour grapes! We also had many views of Lake Erie to our left, including at our SAG stops.
After arriving at the hotel, seven of us hired a "taxi van" and were driven to the "Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park. There we spent an hour looking at hundreds of old bicycles--by far the largest collection any of us had seen. From the first "Ordinary Bicycles" (called the penny farthing in England) with the large front wheel, we saw how the development of rubber tires, then pneumatic tires, as well as the chain and cassette (which allows gear changing) affected the bicycle. The automobile and airplanes used many bicycle innovations, including ball bearings, rack & pinion steering, differential drives and wire spoked wheels. It's a great museum!


2 comments:

Bob said...

I note in an earlier post that most riders lose weight on the ride. Dave is always in good physical shape, and I never doubted his ability to ride the bike across the country. Still I now look forward to seeing him in new incarnation as "Mr. Slim" when I next am in Gettysburg.

Dave's Cross Country Bike Ride said...

Bob Nordvall, I presume?

Since I have an awful lot of weight to lose, it may be awhile until you see "Mr. Slim". But thanks anyway.

BTW, my weight has dropped 18 pounds as of the rest day in Erie.