The word for today was: “Drizzle”. Say that word a few times – it’s kind of a funny word, really. We had a lot of time and inspiration to consider the word drizzle today.
As we began our ride, it was wet from the very start. We looked over the weather and decided it really didn’t make sense to wait. We had a long way to go, and no matter how long we waited, it wasn’t going to get better.
Our B&B was a couple of miles north of Albion, so we rode back to the trail and headed east. The surface of the trail in this section is finely crushed stone on top of dirt. When it is dry, it rolls well. When it is wet, it is like riding on peanut butter. Today was like chunky-peanut butter. The worst part is that it takes a bunch more energy to push the pedals through the mud.
One random thought: is drizzle an onomatopoeia? It doesn’t really make a sound, so probably not?
Although it rained the entire day, it was a generally fun day. The wet conditions did not put a damper on our day. We stopped under bridges a couple of times to get a snack and take a little break.
This section of the trail, from Lockport to Fairport, is probably my favorite section. Lots of little towns to go into and check out. Most of them are on the south side of the canal, so you go over a lift bridge to get to the town. We checked out most of the towns today, but with it being Labor day, most places were closed. We went into Brockport, hoping to find a brunch. The only restaurant we found was a diner. The line was out the door, so we decided to go to the next major town and see what we could find.
So, what is the difference between drizzle, light rain, sprinkles, and spitting. We debated these options and thought that perhaps drizzle doesn’t leave ripples when it hits the canal water.
When we reached Spencerport, we went into town to find some lunch. Again, most everything was closed except for Subway. So that was lunch.
I didn’t take many pictures today because of the rain. Stopping to take out the phone was a bit inconvenient. That’s a bit sad because the scenery in this area is really nice.
Drizzle… Good or bad? Drizzles of BBQ sauce – good. Drizzles of chocolate on ice cream – good. Drizzles of rain – questionable. Better than hard rain, but kind of annoying after 5 hours.
After making our way through the west side of the city, we got to Genesee Valley Park. We had toyed with taking a side trip up into downtown Rochester, but with the rain and slow riding, we decided to skip the side trip. I did take the guys up to my alma mater: the University of Rochester.
You don’t see locks between Lockport and Rochester. Working east from here they count down to zero. We rode past a few today. Here’s lock 33.
We rode through Pittsford and arrived in Fairport. This is where we exited the canal path for today. We’re staying in Webster, about 12 miles north. After a little snack break, we meandered our way up to Webster using county roads.
We arrived at my parents’ house and decided to hose down before getting into the house. We had quite a bit of the Erie Canal towpath stuck to us, our bikes, and the rest of our gear. A hose did the trick. A thorough rinse down, a shower, and laundry made us good-as-new.
We could have let the drizzle affect our spirits. But it didn’t. It did slow us down, but we had a great day. 66 miles, probably 55-60 of them in the rain, er, drizzle.
We had lots of time to contemplate light rain today. We decided that drizzle is a kind of rain, but not the same as sprinkles. And besides, sprinkles belong on ice cream, not bicycles.
Peace,
Dcn. Matt
Deacon Matt's Blog 