Rode 87 miles from Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY. If I complain about the headwinds I have to give credit to tailwinds. I was riding NE all day and had winds out of the West all day. It was easy to do 20-22 mph on the flats even with tired legs.

Terrific day, great weather and roads. I was on HWY 5 all day. It's a great cycling road. Views of Lake Erie most of the day.

Tons of grapes. There has to be a Welchs plant not too far away. The aroma of ripe grapes lingered all day.

We stopped and ate lunch in Dunkirk. Great BBQ sandwich and fries......but way too large a portion. It's the most uncomfortable I've ever been when I started riding again.

Another flat early in the ride. The tire was down a good bit this morning when I pumped it up but I left the tube in and rode it anyway. It lasted about an hour. I didn't see anything in the tire so I'm betting it's a pinch flat.

I need to have a tube patching party when I get back home. I bet I've replaced 5-6 rear tubes and 1 front tube. I'm glad I've picked up some new ones along the way. And I normally don't have but maybe 1 flat every couple years......

Will get some pics up later.

Thanks for the posts and for making me a bit jealous, . I did the northern tier a few years back. I'm starting to think I need to do another cross country; your posts aren't helping.

Interesting stats re the number of flats. What about tires? Also, what tires are you riding?

Speaking of riding, most of the photos I've seen, you're riding the Cervelo. How much time or miles have you ridden on the TT bike? (Sorry if I've missed this in another post).

Get ready for broken pavement from now on all the way to Boston! And awful, heavy food on the road, too. Today's rain probably set you back a bit, but the weather should be good the rest of the week. Expect hills when you get closer to Utica....

Was thinking tires as well, especially as well over 2,000 miles so far.

Hard to know when they've worn out until you start getting a lot of flats.

Then new tires, although I'm usually cheap and just swap rear to front, I know, I know....

I had asked about his tires/flats earlier but got no response... I was curious as to what he's using as well...

Not sure if he reads responses to his previous 'daily posts', so probably better if I would have asked in a PM...

On tires, I'm using Continental 4000s. I'd use Gator Skins next time. I started with a worn out tire and got to Boise on it. I put on aa used Conti that had about 1000 miles on it and it still had a lot of tread left after 2000+ miles this trip but it had a couple large gashes in it. Decided to just trash it. I probably get 4000-5000 miles on Conti's around the house. However I've been riding mostly shoulders with all the debris on this trip across the US. It's definitely rougher on the tires. Live and learn. I have been running higher pressure trying to avoid pinch flats.

I have only ridden the TT bike twice for about 170 miles. I was thinking about how today would have been perfect for it though. Oh well.

Since I adjusted my saddle the R3 has been so comfortable I just haven't wanted to mess with what's working.

Another observation is my cadence is a good bit higher than what I normally used to ride. With my muscles being more tired I just can't create the watts I normally could. I guess I've compensated for it by pushing an easier gear and spinning faster. It's become the new norm......for now.

I've experimented and found I can go faster by spinning an easier gear at a higher rpm. Saves the legs as well.

It used to be a gear with a cadence of 90 felt pretty easy. 90 rpm is a pretty hard gear for me to turn right now so my cadence has increased to the high 90s. I know the upcoming hills will feel harder so I'll just go slower than normal. I really haven't used my 32 (50/34) so I will have that if needed.

Hmmmm... Wine-bottle shaped route markers? Wine ride perhaps???

Makes me think that it is not so much Welches, but wine grapes

I stopped and talked to a fella who appeared to be an owner of one of the fields. Some of his Concord grapes are going to a winery but most are going to Welchs.

Re route markers.....interesting markers!! Later on there were MS markers on Hwy 5 so they also used that road for part of the MS rides.

Yes, in the western end of the state, the domestic varietals make pretty poor wines, but make good jellies and grape juices. The better wine region is in the Finger Lakes, where they grow more European varietals suited for wines.

I mostly have been using Conti Gatorskins. They ride OK except on chip seal which is rough. This summer I've been riding a 28mm Specialized Turbo Pro on the back wheel which is smoother than the Gatorskin. At about 1500 miles the tire has visible wear but barely so. I can see getting another 1500 to 2000 miles out of it. This tire is mounted on a Velocity A23 rim and measures 29.5 mm. If this tire seems a bit too plump, they also have a 26mm tire. I don't have the 26 mm tire in hand but when I do, it will go on the front wheel that currently has a 25 mm Gatorskin. I think the Turbo Pro is a fine combination of smooth riding and long wear.
https://www.basinski.com/shop/specia...FRJbhgodGq4O5A

Thanks Berner!!!

I know all of us have debated tubes vs tubeless and I've always come back to tubes. However if I were ever to do a long ride like this again I'd at least evaluate tubeless more seriously. The fella I rode into Yellowstone with that was doing a 500k gave a lot of good reasons to go tubeless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikemig

Thanks for the posts and for making me abit jealous, . I did the northern tier a few years back. I'm starting to think I need to do another cross country; your posts aren't helping.

As mentioned on a few of jppe’s threads, my wife and I also did a cross country ride in 1977. How I cope:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

A couple of times on your previous trip threads I referred to a cross-country honeymoon we did in 1977. Yesterday, I found I am “resonating” between that trip and your current one

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimfrom Boston

So, jppe, I hope you don’t mind us spectators glomming and reminiscing on to your Ride threads. My recollections ofoff-the-bike activities are numerous [including]repairing flat tires.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jppe

...Another flat early in the ride. The tire was down a good bit this morning when I pumped it up but I left the tube in and rode it anyway. It lasted about an hour. I didn't see anything in the tire so I'm betting it's a pinch flat.

I need to have a tube patching party when I get back home. I bet I've replaced 5-6 rear tubes and 1 front tube. I'm glad I've picked up some new ones along the way. And I normally don't have but maybe 1 flat every couple years......

We had good success touring in Michigan on fully loaded French Mercier road bikes with sew-up tires, but experienced a lot of flats especially out West. A lot of our down time was spent on those tedious repairs on sticky black tires. Usually it took about two days for the black glue to rub off our hands, only to encounter a new flat.

We lost three rest days when we would have to store the bikes in a motel and hitchhike to a city to buy more tires; we started off with six.

BTW,jp, you show a picture of apparently Niagra Falls…did you visit there? It seems a bit out of the way, but certainly a worthy detour.

Rest Days?

We drove up to Niagra Falls and took our dog. She had a great time. They've really commercialized the area since my last visit 40 years ago!! I can never get over the volume of water going over the falls.

I've taken two rest days. One was to spend an extra day in Yellowstone. My wife had us touring a good bit so it didn't feel very restful!!

I took a day off in Sioux City.....That day off helped a lot. At this point I'm not sure if I'll take another one. My legs felt very good today..... But my trend has been my legs have felt pretty strong every other day. I've noticed that on past tours I've done as well.