Ride to school (200+ miles)
09-08-09, 10:22 AM
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Ride to school (200+ miles)
As some of you know, our kids have had a tandem for a couple of months (we spent a week riding around the Finger Lakes on two tandems), and now it was time for my daughter to head off to University of Waterloo. My son is already at University of Guelph (~40 minutes away by car), and he has space to store the bike. We have no means of transporting that bike other than riding it - no mini-van, roof-top carrier, etc. only a hitch-mount single-post bike rack which is fine for half-bikes, but not for a full-length (large) tandem with fenders, even if the wheels are off. So they rode it. From just east of Rochester NY.
We joined them for maybe 20 miles along the Erie Canal towpath and then various roads towards their WarmShowers hosts for Thursday night. Great ride. First day was an easy 50-ish miles.
Friday they rode to Goat Island where I met them and drove with them tailgating me across the Rainbow Bridge (I had all her "stuff" in the Prius). The roads were good to very good until we got close to Niagara Falls NY. Adventure Cycling has its route crossing the Lewiston-Queenston bridge, which isn't nearly as nice as the Rainbow bridge, but doesn't have Niagara Falls NY at one end. I'd still be interested in knowing a better way from getting from the Lockport area to the Rainbow bridge. The roads we encountered going through Niagara Falls varied from bad to worse - not a huge amount of traffic, but potholes in such concentration they were hard to avoid. I heard later that a co-worker of my sister-in-law (she works in NF/NY) had been pulled over for DWI once when he was perfectly sober but was avoiding the potholes. Second day was 70-ish miles, and they were still running on full.
Google Maps Walking directions had no problem directing us to turn left - the wrong way on a one-way immediately after leaving the bridge, but we recovered fairly easily. Then it was Victoria/Ferry/Lundy's Lane, which is heavy traffic and somewhat better road surface than NF/NY - in other words, just fair to poor, not awful. My sister-inlaw was just off Lundy's lane, so this was the next night. Then a long stretch of Highway 20 to get to Ancaster, avoiding the worst of Hamilton, esp. the drop to lake level, and its subsequent climb.
I'd like to know if anyone with local experience has a better recommendation for getting from Niagara Falls Ontario to the Ancaster/SW Hamilton area, as that road was heavy traffic making talking difficult, and the surface varied from good with wide shoulders to fair with next-to-no shoulder. We may be repeating a similar route, perhaps next summer.
Tricky thing in Ontario is knowing how to find less-traveled but still-paved roads. Google maps walking has no problem sending you down gravel.
Their third day was 80 miles, and we met them in Ancaster around 3. They had started in NF/ON at 10, so this was a slow 50. Some altitude increase, noticeable headwind, and a slow leak they had to re-inflate every 45 minutes or so. Changed the tube in Ancaster, but failed to find the cause of the leak. They made it into Guelph that evening; the last 30 miles were much easier than the first 50 that day. Altogether it was roughly 202 miles, although they got a bit off course and don't have a working odometer. Next morning it was empty again but they were done.
Pretty well everything has been done before, but I don't know of anyone else who's gone off to college by riding a tandem 2 1/2 days.
We joined them for maybe 20 miles along the Erie Canal towpath and then various roads towards their WarmShowers hosts for Thursday night. Great ride. First day was an easy 50-ish miles.
Friday they rode to Goat Island where I met them and drove with them tailgating me across the Rainbow Bridge (I had all her "stuff" in the Prius). The roads were good to very good until we got close to Niagara Falls NY. Adventure Cycling has its route crossing the Lewiston-Queenston bridge, which isn't nearly as nice as the Rainbow bridge, but doesn't have Niagara Falls NY at one end. I'd still be interested in knowing a better way from getting from the Lockport area to the Rainbow bridge. The roads we encountered going through Niagara Falls varied from bad to worse - not a huge amount of traffic, but potholes in such concentration they were hard to avoid. I heard later that a co-worker of my sister-in-law (she works in NF/NY) had been pulled over for DWI once when he was perfectly sober but was avoiding the potholes. Second day was 70-ish miles, and they were still running on full.
Google Maps Walking directions had no problem directing us to turn left - the wrong way on a one-way immediately after leaving the bridge, but we recovered fairly easily. Then it was Victoria/Ferry/Lundy's Lane, which is heavy traffic and somewhat better road surface than NF/NY - in other words, just fair to poor, not awful. My sister-inlaw was just off Lundy's lane, so this was the next night. Then a long stretch of Highway 20 to get to Ancaster, avoiding the worst of Hamilton, esp. the drop to lake level, and its subsequent climb.
I'd like to know if anyone with local experience has a better recommendation for getting from Niagara Falls Ontario to the Ancaster/SW Hamilton area, as that road was heavy traffic making talking difficult, and the surface varied from good with wide shoulders to fair with next-to-no shoulder. We may be repeating a similar route, perhaps next summer.
Tricky thing in Ontario is knowing how to find less-traveled but still-paved roads. Google maps walking has no problem sending you down gravel.
Their third day was 80 miles, and we met them in Ancaster around 3. They had started in NF/ON at 10, so this was a slow 50. Some altitude increase, noticeable headwind, and a slow leak they had to re-inflate every 45 minutes or so. Changed the tube in Ancaster, but failed to find the cause of the leak. They made it into Guelph that evening; the last 30 miles were much easier than the first 50 that day. Altogether it was roughly 202 miles, although they got a bit off course and don't have a working odometer. Next morning it was empty again but they were done.
Pretty well everything has been done before, but I don't know of anyone else who's gone off to college by riding a tandem 2 1/2 days.
