Get Bent
 
Coast to coast by recumbent bicycle

Niagara Falls ON to Medina NY

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Niagara River

Distance(miles)
Day71
Total3188
Speed(mph)
Average11.4
Maximum35.0
Expenses($ US)
Lodging45.90
Breakfast7.12

Rode east on Lundy's Lane, the main commercial strip in the Niagara Falls tourist zone: tasteless, gaudy, and obscene. City streets to the falls and Rainbow Bridge then over the Niagara Gorge to the United States. One of the easiest border crossings ever. A motorist even let me jump ahead of him in line. Two questions, "What's your nationality?" United States. "Are you bringing anything back to the states with you?" No. "Thank you." You're welcome. Goofed around for a good hour at the falls. The water is an unusual shade of antifreeze blue. It's the natural color and has nothing to do with the proximity to Love Canal (now renamed Black Creek Village).

Rode north along the gorge (New York Route 104) but couldn't really see it for the expressway (excuse me, parkway). Another Robert Moses nightmare in the middle of what could be a gorgeous park. Rode over the Niagara Power Plant. A few miles, then I hit the Niagara Escarpment where the falls started ten thousand years ago. Coasted to the bottom and switched to New York Route 18F. Quiet and uneventful. The rain tried but the only thing that got wet was the air.

Rode 18F until it became just regular 18 at Lake Ontario. Now it's raining. Followed the lake shore. Some cottages, some farms, nothing out of the ordinary except.... Where are the towns? Word at the gas stations has it there's nothing on the lake until Rochester. I need to do laundry so I don't have the time for a one hundred mile day today. I'm going to have to bail on Lake Ontario. I never even came close enough to touch it. I've been close enough to smell all five of the Great Lakes, but I've only been in four of them. An 80% success rate. What a disappointment. At least the rain quit after an hour.

Turned south at nowhere on New York Route 63 and headed for Medina, birthplace of Mohammed. That's a lie. This town is pronounced me-DINE-ah not me-DEEN-ah. During last year's trip, this is where I suffered my first in a series of a dozen or more broken spokes. That was on a twenty-year-old Schwinn Varsity. The Ryan is nothing but serious touring components. I would be quite surprised if I had any major mechanical problems in the next ten thousand miles. Stayed in the same motel I stayed in a year ago. Did my laundry. I feel like a human again.

The phones in this place won't work with the computer. It's some sort of odd centralized system. It looks new, but it wasn't designed for the telecommunications age. I haven't sent out an email in six days already. People are going to think I'm dead or something even worse. Called my Mom to tell her what's going on.

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