Finger Lakes Wine Country Tour

[OakLeaf]

Yikes on the hills! Hope the weather clears up for you.

[tulip]

I rode the Bon Ton Roulet a couple of weeks ago. It was great, and quite hilly. I had my bike with a compact double, but my legs would have really appreciated my other bike with a triple. I also got rained on, but it was actually kind of fun. It was blissfully cool compared to the SE US at the same time. I am not able to do wine tastings and continue on a bike, so I didn't taste any wine on the trip.

Enjoy your ride!

[Crankin]

I don't do wine tastings and ride, either, but it appears that we are in the minority. I might buy some wines at a store here in town, that come from the wineries we passed yesterday.
Today's ride is 41 miles, with hills in the beginning. I ate a ton of pasta last night and didn't feel the least bit guilty! The ride is over earlier today, so we plan to do some shopping in Skaneateles, which seems like a nice place so far. We're on our own for dinner, so just made sushi reservations.
Yesterday, a group of 3 people out of 5 were pulled over, just after we started riding after lunch, in the rain. They were screaming "we need help," but the leader was right behind me, so we just rode by. They all had flats and appeared to have no tools, or know what to do.... I think they're pissed at us, but I am not the leader here, so I don't feel bad.

[tulip]

There were many flats on the Bon Ton Roulet. Those NY shoulders seem to have alot of glass. Bring extra tubes.

[Crankin]

OK, today's ride was hard. 41 miles, with 2700 feet of climbing. The hills never stopped. It was gorgeous, we hugged the lake for a long time. There was one scary descent, though I am sure the others loved it! The sun was out, until we got to the lunch stop, which was only 9 miles from the hotel... you know what happened here. Dawdled at lunch, and at mile 8.5 to go, the skies opened up. Well, it was only a short way. The sun is out again.
Several mechanicals today, in the group and we came back ahead of everyone except 3 people, and that's with an average of 11.9!

[bluebug32]

The Finger Lakes are a strange cross between pancake flat and screaming hills. I never believed it until I did the http://www.highlandercycletour.com/

11,000 feet of climbing and 20+ percent grades.

[Crankin]

OK, I am home.
Our last day of riding was rain-free, and mostly rolling, no steep climbs. There were 2 hills I would consider climbs and since this was a 60 mile ride, I took it easy. The first stop was at 12 miles, where there was a tour of the Seward House, and I just got a snack and pressed on. And, it was a good thing. I had a flat after riding through gravel and DH had 2 flats, from the incredible amount of glass on the shoulder. The shoulders were wide, but on main roads for part of the time, so full of crap. I am not used to this. We ate lunch in Aurora, at a great place and called the leader and told him we were out of tubes and down to one CO2 cartridge. And people made fun of us for bringing all of these supplies! The van came by, gave us 2 tubes and we got more of our own cartridges out of our bag. After lunch we had the 1.5 mile climb and about 10 miles to King Ferry Winery. We did stop, did a tasting (I spit the wine right out) and bought a case, which the van came by and took for us. The leader said we were making good time, so we pressed on to Ithaca. Lots of downhill and through some beautiful areas of suburban homes. Then we had to ride over a brick road near Cornell, which was OK, but also down a very steep (20%) downhill right into the main part of the city... I was freaked out and wanted to walk, but DH started yelling at me to just go , use my brakes and remember my mtb skills! Yea, well there's no disc brakes on my road bike and the hill ended at a stoplight in traffic. But, I went, and riding in the city to the hotel was fine. We got cleaned up, and the leader drove the people with cars back to the original inn, where we had left them; about 20 minutes away. We went out to dinner at the Moosewood Cafe, a great experience! We sat with our friends and another couple who rode the tour on a tandem. He's a racer and super strong guy in his early 60s and she does not ride a single, at all. They were nice. As we saying goodbye to everyone (a lot of weirdness came out over the 5 days), the male half of one of the couples, who we had spent some time with, came up to me, took my hand, and told me he "had to to tell me that he loved my blue eyes," and that i was beautiful. Oy, I am getting hit on at a bike tour, with my DH right by my side . He had kind of done something a bit weird the day before, which I let roll by, but it was kind of strange... my friend (the male half) told me this guy also told him some inappropriate stuff while they were riding together.
All in all, this was not my favorite tour, but it's the first one where I did all of the miles. The rain did put a damper on doing some of the stops and there was not as much cultural stuff as on my last trip. But, it was fine. We drove home today, stopping in West Stockbridge, in the Berkshires for lunch, in a place I have only seen while on my bike! It's nice to have the weekend to recover.
ETA: total of 225.6 miles, with 11,000 feet of climbing in 4.5 days