Day 28
Sorry for the delay...I had a computer crash on the road.  Seem to be back in business now!

Yawn...another day on the bike.  We woke to cloudy skies and a promise of scattered showers, but it seemed we would skate...at least for the morning.  We met in the lobby for a hearty buffet breakfast that included the usual pancakes, eggs, various meats, cereal, and pastries.  The breakfast item for the ride is usually pancakes,  but today's pancakes were like no other we've ever seen...probably ever.  I think they must have mistakenly put in cement in the batter.  I broke a knife and a fork trying to break into one of them.  Finally, after soaking in maple syrup for about 10 minutes, I was able to crack through the crusty surface.  Then after another 10 minutes of soaking the inside with syrup, I could bite into one...yummy, but it took a lot of energy, probably enough to ride about 20 miles, to enjoy them.

Today we were doing something special...it was a short day of only 85 miles which gave us a little time to tour the Bicycling History Museum in Orchard Park NY.  We loaded at 7:00 so we could get on the road right after breakfast at 7:30.  I felt the morning started off very successful; I saw David and AJ actually start off in the right direction...at least they got out of sight on the right track.  We needed to be at the museum by 10:00 about 40 miles away which sounded pretty easy until we rolled out and seemed to be falling behind a bit.  We didn't get to the museum until about 11:00 but they were ready for us.  It was only an 85 mile day and our route early took us along the eastern shores of Lake Erie with some beautiful views of the lake to our left.  From there we were in and out of towns all morning until arriving at the museum. 

I think everyone enjoyed hearing Carl Burgwardt, the owner of the largest private bicycle exclusive collection in the world, talk about how the bicycle got started and how it served as an influence in developing the automobile, the airplane, modern paved roads, and even changed women's fashions in the 1990s.  Countless inventions that were originally developed for the bicycle were later used in the development of the first automobile...ball bearings, rack and pinion steering, differential drives, band brakes, and wire spoked wheels all were bicycle parts before the automobile was even thought of.  The assembly line process was also developed to mass produce bicycles right after someone thought of interchangeable parts (another great idea spawned by the makers of bicycles).  I found it interesting that early bicycles were all built separately and no two bikes had the same parts (and I thought Campy was hard to work on).  In addition, the first airplanes were built by the Wright brothers in the back yard of a bicycle shop and efforts of the League of American Wheelmen in the late 19th century paved the way for better roads and for organizations like AAA who provide travelers' aids.1  To listen to Mr Burgwardt is like listening to the bicycle history channel.  There's probably little he doesn't know about our silly machine and he dedicates his life sharing his knowledge with the public.  Thanks Carl for opening for us early and for another most informative tour.

After the fun time of hearing the history of our sport, it was time to get back to our task at hand...riding to Batavia.  After leaving the museum, most folks rode at a moderate pace to finish before any rain might set in, but to no avail.  It wasn't long after we got on the road that the showers set in...and the temperatures were on the brisk side too.  As it worked out, this was our last day of rain (I wouldn't know that then, but hey, the ride's over now).  I spent the afternoon in the luggage van with Barbara and helping Shane in the mechanic's van find everyone who needed help with flats.  Again the wet conditions seemed to give us a little more than our share of "air seepage."  When we got to the motel, I think everyone was anxious to get to a shower and get warm.  The rain only lasted about 20 minutes, but the bikes were grimy and definitely needed attention.  The post ride activities included bike wash, warm shower, and get some food for recovery...tomorrow we do it again.  The weather for the rest of the way seems to be forecast in our favor.  As it turned out today...short day, but not easy.  Tomorrow I want to ride...I love NY.  See you then. 

1.  Info provided by Pedaling History Bicycle Museum brochure "America's Bicycling Heritage" copyright 2000.