Day 29

Today we were doing something special...it was a short day of only 82 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 Tom actually start off in the right direction...at least he got out of sight on the right track with Ron and Mike in tow.  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.  The last riders didn't get to the museum until about 11:30 but they were ready for us.  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 has dedicated his life to 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 keep warm.  Other than a couple missed turns and a blown tire or two, everyone got in pretty early...around 3:30.  The wet conditions yesterday seemed to give us a little more than our share of "air seepage" today.  Most of the riders spent the day picking little slivers of stone or gravel out of every little abrasion they could find in their tires.  When they got to the motel, I think everyone was anxious to get to a shower and get warm.  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 and maybe a little warmer.  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.