June 17-18

I think I'm ready for this to be the last week.

It's Saturday, June 18, and I'm in the Airbnb cottage I rented for a couple days in Sylvan Beach, New York. I needed a rest day. My body is feeling tired and I feel like I'm (sorry for the pun) gearing down for these remaining days. If all goes as planned, I hope to arrive in New Bedford, Massachusetts, one week from today. I'm reducing my daily mileage as I get closer to my destination — for two reasons: I want to time my arrival for midday Saturday, June 25, and the fewer miles will allow me more time to absorb the last days of a trip that's provided plenty for me to reflect upon and carry forward.

Sensing the end, I'm also allowing myself to admit that I'm tired of other things:

• hotels and motels

• convenience stores

• restaurants

• getting quarters from the front desk to do laundry

• deciding during a mid- to late-morning break which sugar-bomb of a pastry I want with my 12-ounce can of Red Bull and 12-ounce bottle of orange juice

• checking, rechecking, rechecking and rechecking my weather apps

• Google Maps

For most of this trip I enjoyed those things (well, except for Google Maps).

 I am glad I chose to take this Sylvan Beach break. It's been just what I needed.

Shortly after I left Weedsport at 9 a.m. Friday for my nearly 56-mile ride to Sylvan Beach, I looked to reconnect with the Erie Canalway Trail. I spotted the sign and turned off of State Route 31. I wasn't pleased with what I saw. It looked like the Illinois towpaths. I studied my maps a bit and saw that SR 31 (which had a wide, smooth shoulder and not much traffic) paralleled the canal until the next village. I decided to get back on the highway.

I took the road for another couple of miles until I reached the village of Jordan. Just outside of Jordan I checked the path again and it looked a little better. It was now about 4-6 feet wide. I decided to go for it. A few minutes later I had just settled into my path rhythm when I came upon a young couple stopped along the trail, making adjustments to their equipment. Kyle and Danielle, aka Skipper and Flipper, were riding electric-assist bikes. Kyle said they were attempting to ride more than 4,000 miles across the country so they could claim a world record for the longest trip on electric-assist bicycles. "I always wanted to set a world record in something," Kyle said. He admitted that, with electric-assist bikes being relatively new, it was likely any record they might set wouldn't last long. 

Kyle said they started in Key West, Florida, rode up the East Coast to Maine, and were now headed west to a destination to be determined.  Although they had stayed in a motel the night before to get out of a thunderstorm, they normally looked for campgrounds to stay at each night. The campgrounds had to be equipped with electric plug-ins so they could charge up their bikes' batteries. They're also keeping an online journal detailing their adventure.

I think I'll stick to recharging my legs with a good night's sleep and pursue only personal records.

Danielle and Kyle said my trail ahead would improve after several miles. They were right. As I approached the village of Camillus, the trail improved significantly. It was still stone dust, but it got wider, firmer and smoother. The reason may have been that Camillus had a visitors center along the trail and appeared to be promoting its history with the Erie Canal.

When I got near Syracuse, the trail took to streets, the canal disappeared, and I rode for several miles through the city. On the ride out of town, the trail picked up again. I noticed a sign saying a Rotary International group in Syracuse had "adopted" the next segment. They've done some good parenting. For a few miles I enjoyed smooth asphalt and then nicely maintained stone dust. While the trail had improved, the canal through this part of the state no longer had the pristine qualities I had seen earlier. The canal was no longer navigable. It was thick with moss in some areas and blocked with dead limbs and tree trunks in others.

On the trail, though, the going was so good I was a little reluctant to turn off when Google Maps told me it was time to head north toward Oneida Lake and Sylvan Beach. I followed the directions to take Black Creek Road, and then turned east on Lake Road. The wind was strong along the lakeshore, but fortunately it was mostly at my back. I made great time over the last eight miles or so. I cruised into Sylvan Beach and pulled up to my Airbnb cottage at about 3:30 p.m.

The cottage is in a great location, maybe 100 feet from Sylvan Beach's main drag. Restaurants and a large Circle K market are short walks away. Inside, I've had more than enough room to relax.

On Friday evening I felt I had to have dinner at Eddie's restaurant, a local institution since the 1930s that occupies a prominent spot. I noticed an item on the menu that had no explanation. But I needed one for "Chicken Riggies." When I asked the waitress what they were, she smiled. "You're not from around here, are you?" she replied. "Everybody who lives here knows what Riggies are." She informed me that, like the Chicken French I'd had that originated in Rochester, Chicken Riggies was/were a local invention from a chef in nearby Utica.  The dish consists of chunks of chicken and pork sausage, sautéed with banana and cherry peppers and onions, then mixed into rigatoni (the riggies) with cherry tomatoes and vodka sauce. I loved it. (Although, I was left wondering why the pork sausage doesn't get any billing.) It was so good that after I finished it off I decided to celebrate with one of Eddie's hot-fudge sundaes.

From Eddies, I walked to the Circle K and bought a few drinks, snacks and breakfast items to take back to my cottage. Since I didn't have to get up early, I stayed up to watch the Dodgers game from L.A. on my laptop. I fell asleep before they lost to Cleveland in extra innings.

Today, I slept in and vegged out. I did some trip planning and used the unit's washer and dryer to wash yesterday's bike clothes. [By the way, you may recall I left a day's cycling clothes in my Cleveland hotel. The hotel finally found them and sent them via FedEx to our home in L.A.] 

Around 3 p.m. I went for a walk to the lake, and around the amusement park and business district. The weather was chilly, in the 50s, and windy. I'd love to be here when it's hopping on a hot and sunny July weekend. I shot a couple videos and a few photos of the surroundings.

I finished off my excursion around Sylvan Beach with an early dinner at the Lake House. I had a huge plate of fish 'n' chips, a salad and a Sam Adams Summer Ale as I looked out at the white caps on Oneida Lake.

I returned to my cottage and, sleepy after that big meal, took a short nap before sitting down to write.

Tomorrow, I'll head back to the Erie Canalway Trail and push on to the town of Little Falls — rested and ready for what remains.

Contact me: Thoughts or comments? Email me at richardridesusa@gmail.com.

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