Start: 8:25 AM

Finish: 2:50 PM  

Saddle Time: 4:25

Ascent: 585 feet

Descent:  600 feet

Miles: 58

Total Miles: 3,270

Highlight: Realizing this is my last day of all road riding.

Lowlight: My dumpy motel didn’t have a room for me on the ground floor so I had to carry my bike and bags up a flight of stairs.

Cyclemeter:  Follow this link to see the data I’m collecting with the cyclemeter app. You can see gps information, speed, elevation, distance, cadence and heart rate. Better viewed on a computer where it’s easier to play around with the graphs.

Like yesterday, today was another short day, about 60 miles to the south side of Buffalo.  I wanted to stay downtown but everything was too expensive since it’s Saturday night. I left late and made it a slow ride so I didn’t get there too early.

I cooked up oatmeal on my camp this morning in my motel room. I do this once in a while when hotels don’t offer breakfast and there’s nothing close by. I don’t want to go further than next door and would rather eat before leaving for the day. This motel like most places I’ve stayed has a microwave but I don’t have anything microwaveable.  A collapsable silicone bowl would have been a good addition to my gear.

Most of today was a continuation of yesterday on route 5 all the way into Buffalo. I was not looking forward to this ride.  I expected poor roads with heavy traffic which turned out not to be the case.  Traffic picked up in the afternoon as I was closer to Buffalo but the shoulder was good for most of the ride. Like yesterday the map showed me close to the lake but I would never know it’s there most of the time.  I caught glimpses here and there but trees and houses along the shoreline blocked most of the view.  I passed a couple state parks but for the most part the entire shoreline is privately owned.  I had some good views closer to Buffalo.

About 20 miles out of Buffalo I passed a sign saying I was entering Seneca Nation of Indians Territory.  I wondered if I would be asked to show my recreation pass like back in Blackfeet Nation.

I made a couple stops for food along the way, one at a Tim Horton’s which I see everywhere around here so figured I would give it a try, had a fine breakfast sandwich.  Later I had ice cream at a local place which fueled me for the rest of the ride. I pulled into a couple of the state parks and turnoffs but didn’t find anything of interest to photograph. The town of Dunkirk had a nice waterfront area. It was a steel town well into 1950’s then manufacturing thereafter until recent decades. The waterfront was improved to attract more tourists and fishing boats. They did a nice job.

I had another guy talk to me while riding.  He pulled along side and asked where I was heading.  He had done a cross country ride years ago from Maryland to Oregon.  We talked for a little while until cars started to pile up and being New York someone started honking so he moved on. While driving away he yelled “you look good!”. I guess I look better than I feel.

I’m staying in an EconoLodge about 10 miles south of downtown right off Interstate 90.  The receptionist is behind bullet proof glass so that’s what kind of a place this is.  They didn’t have any single rooms on the ground floor so I had to take my bags off my bike and carry them and my bike up the motel stairs, not a big deal but annoying. Its dumpy but half the price of hotels downtown.

There’s a large mall across the highway but not much else in the immediate area except for a place called The Original Warehouse right next door.  Before heading to my room I headed over for a late lunch, it’s like a Chuck E Cheese for adults with a restaurant, bar and games.  It was fine but I don’t want to eat here tonight. I realized I’m back in populated areas where things like UberEats and GrubHub exist so I ordered Indian food for dinner. The room will probably still smell like Indian food for whoever stays here tomorrow.

Today was the last of all day road riding.  Tomorrow I start the Erie Canal where most of the next 5 days will be on canal tow path. Albany to home also has a good amount of rail trail. The rest of the tour should be pretty easy, there will be some long days but trails make riding much more enjoyable.