Tricia and I cycled around Hemlock Lake as part of our quest to ride all 11 of the Finger Lakes, part of teh Finger Lakes Cycling Club's Bike the Finger Lakes Challenge. #BTFL. We've now ridden all the lake to the west of Watkins Glen where we live. We still have the two largest left, as well as some that are smaller, but farther away.
This ride, according to the club site, "boasts both one of the longest climbs and one of the steepest climbs in the Finger Lakes Region.Yet we survived and even had fun.Curtis Corlew in Bicycle Land
Curtis Corlew blogs on bike commuting, retirement, buying new bikes, maintaining his bicycles and other bike and bicycle related stuff. Complete with lots of photos of Tricia.
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Hemlock Lake loop, Lake 6 of #BTFL
Monday, August 01, 2022
New chain day and first ride with Finger Lakes group
In fact, it's super better, because I installed two new chains, one on the Roubaix and one on the gravel bike. It took a while, mainly because I cleaned the heck out of both bikes first, and because I couldn't find my Park quick link tool that disappeared in our move to NY. I used a wire wrapping technique I found on youtube, and it worked. Of course, afterwards (but in time for chain two) I was reminded by a comment online that I have a pair of tire levers that could double as quick link pliers. They worked better than the wire method. And I have the proper Park tool on order now.
Let me rant a bit. I know there are "supply chain issues" but holy smokes, the price of chains has sure gone up. And cassettes are even worse. At least I don't need the multi-hundred dollar 12 speed versions, but still, they are almost $100 now. Crap.
In happier news, Tricia and I rode with the Finger Lakes Cycling Club for the first time on Saturday. They're a nice bunch of people, and gaining some local knowledge is always a good plan.
Of course, I screwed up a bit. Just as we were leaving a cyclist rode past and told me "You left your van side door open." So I rode back and closed it, then spent too much energy killing myself to catch the group. I did catch them, and just as I did they stopped to regroup. I'd have been fine riding normally. Maybe I should just think of it as a bonus workout.
We look forward to riding with them again. But next time I'll check the doors more carefully.
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Beer and the Trek 520 Grando


Saturday, July 16, 2022
Continuing quest to cycle all Finger Lakes #BTFL11
We had to cancel our planned ride Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany. I tested positive for COVID the day before we were going to travel to the ride start. It was a mild case, I recovered quickly, and best of all didn't infect anyone else.
As a consolation we decided to ride a couple more of the Finger Lakes. It went beautifully.
We tossed the bikes into our Adventure Van™ and headed to Canandaigua Lake for Tricia's birthday ride. Just joked she was "45 miles old today." as we finished
We tent camped at a beautiful park and had it all to ourselves. Except for the zillions of fireflies that put on a great show into the evening.
The next morning we rode one of the shorter lakes, Honeoye Lake before returning home.
Thanks to Finger Lakes Cycling Club for providing a wonderful resource for us. Their Bike the Finger Lakes 11 Challenge web page has suggested starting spots, suggestions for food, road info and RideWithGPS maps. We could even attempt this without them.
Wednesday, July 06, 2022
Wild ride of amazing excitment
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Adventure Van and Bike the Finger Lakes Challenge #BTFL11
When Tricia and I bought our Pacifica last fall we decreed that it was not a minivan, but rather an adventure van. Our plan was to use it to transport our bikes and our own bad selves to fun places.
Sunday, June 26, 2022
Burly trailer test with live subject
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Can't fix this with duct tape
I took my Ti commuter bike/gravel bike/almost touring bike out for a ride and boom, my derailer exploded/melted/died. It's this bike and derailer setup.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
It's all uphill from here
I've been here in Watkins Glen NY less than a month. As far as I can tell everything is uphill. Some a bit, most a lot.
The Catherine Valley trail is slightly uphill for 10 miles. It's a smooth gravel path, 5 miles of which cross no (as in zero) roads. In fact, riding from home we put a foot down only once or twice during 20 mile out and back.
But the other routes out are brutally uphill. These roads are often double-digit grades that hurt.
My plan: Get stronger or die.
Monday, June 06, 2022
First ride at new home.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Primavera Century 100K 2022
Holy smokes. I rode my first 100K in quite a while. I haven't been riding enough. Between teaching, visiting New York and just being busy with moving, my time on the bike hasn't been what it's been in the past. If nothing else, I'm missing my daily bike commute to work. All this means my simple 100 K ride was completely and totally exhausting. It took a lot out of me. I feel a little silly about that but at least I got it done.
Tricia and I had signed up for the Primavera Century two years ago. But each year it was postponed due to COVID-19. Now that they finally held it they used our old registration payment so we could ride. Alas, Tricia is in New York while I'm in California. Instead of letting it go to waste, we gave it to our good friend Dan, a.k.a. Lanceoldstrong. He and I wrote it together, me riding as hard as I could and him riding at a very social chatting pace.
I was surprised that they had changed the route this year. We rode out toward Calaveras road from Fremont just as we had in the past, but rather than heading up the access road along 580 and climbing the relentless Palomaras Road to the terrifying no-room-for-bikes Niles Canyon to finish, we instead rode the route as an out-and-back. I'm not normally a fan of out-and-back back rides but getting to ride along Calaveras Road twice made it OK. Although Calaveras Road is weird. It seems like it's uphill both directions. If it wasn't so beautiful it would be downright annoying.
We had great weather, and as always, the support was perfect. But holy smokes was I hurting by the time we got done.
Friday, April 08, 2022
Trek 520 Grando
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I installed two panniers on the bike with a temporary rear rack just to see how it looked. Yes, the bars are rotated up too much. I'll fix that. And add water bottles. |
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Bonus non-cycling East Coast cold photo
After a lovely dinner at The Graft Wine and Cider Bar in Watkins Glen we strolled down to the Seneca Lake harbor on our walk back to new home. It was a bit chilly for this newly-arrived Californian, but not too cold to appreciate the beauty and wonder of my new village on the Finger Lakes of New York. It's been in the 20s and I'm too wimpy to ride for fun in this weather. I've been Zwifting in the unheated garage, which is hard enough.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Spring in February on Diablo
Sunday, February 06, 2022
Mr. Steve’s Mystery Route to Danville
Tricia rides through the mystery tunnel under Ygnaico Valley Road. |
Today we rode "Mr. Steve’s Mystery Route to Danville," a route through the rich folk neighborhoods in Walnut Creek, Alamo and Danville ending up at Peets Coffee. I'd have never found it again without loading our previous ride into the Garmin.
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Once around Diablo
I'm back in California under beautiful skies while my family is in 11 degree weather and snow in New York's Finger Lakes area. I should feel guilty, but, well...
Saturday, January 08, 2022
Back in California for a while
No, this isn't California. It's from my last ride in New York before I came back.
Friday, December 24, 2021
Adjusting to colder temps in the Finger Lakes
As I contemplated the new dusting of snow outside thinking how cold it is I saw a young lad cycle past my house. Apparently I am not a "hard man" at all.
But there's Zwift! Lance OldStrong, master of route finding in the real world as well, organized a meetup in Zwift France with friend Monroadie and myself. That's me closest to the camera, looking in Zwift pretty much exactly as cool I must in real life, though I wear a helmet in the non-virtual world. That's Lance Oldstrong with the cool hat, and MonRoadie looking as calm as he really does.
Bonus photos:
It really is somewhat cold. The nearby waterfall is growing icicles.
We walked downtown to watch the 49er game (it wasn't on any TV I could get) and it started to snow. Even I had to admit it was wonderful.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Rural NY is different than suburban California
Monday, December 06, 2021
First ride from Watkins Glen house
