What a day today was! It started with a bang and ended with a bang. It was a mere 59 degrees out. It is hard to imagine what a relief it is to be out of the blistering heat we’ve experienced steadily since Wyoming. Even starting the day with a 3 mile climb was not a problem for us. It was so cool out, the climb felt good. It’s a good thing we were happy with the climbs, too. We had them almost all day long.

The thing about the climbs here is that they never seem to end. You crest a rise, then see another going up just beyond. It took almost all day to understand this to the point that we didn’t expect a crest to lead to a descent. Some people call these “stair step climbs”. We went up a lot of stairs today.

Because there are so many climbs, the fields are all much smaller. We don’t see the gigantic rows of corn. There may be a cornfield, but it quickly gives way to a forest or meadow. I think the effect is that the cropland is reduced to a more human scale. It is easier to comprehend and embrace.

We rode alone much of the day today because nobody goes as slow as we do up and as fast as we do on the downs. That was the other great part about today. For every up, there was an equal or greater down. We lost 400′ of absolute elevation! And the downhills today were wonderful. Many were very fast. All too often they ended in a speed zone of a little town with one stop sign followed by another climb. That meant we couldn’t carry any of the downhill momentum into the next climb.

We were happy though. It was fun to have so much variety to the roads. The day heated up steadily and by the afternoon it was in the mid-80s. Fortunately, the afternoon also saw us get a 2 mile downhill that dropped us off at Lake Seneca. From there it was basically flat to the town of Seneca Falls. We saw more vineyards than you can shake a stick at. They were everywhere! We saw the campus where Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman doctor in the US when she was in Geneva, NY. We even saw a Dunkin Donuts! You know I had to stop and get a couple.

When we got in, we found our internet connection was very slow and spotty. We’re hoping we can get this posted so we don’t miss a day. But that brings us to the last bang. Just after dinner, Sheila had another episode of esophageal spasm. This happens to her once every few years and isn’t life-threatening, but is extremely painful. She basically feels like she is having a heart attack. It lasted about 20 minutes and we had one of the doctors on the ride help her. She’s better now and we’re hoping it doesn’t happen again.

I should have mentioned how beautiful the whole Finger Lakes region is. This area is gorgeous. It is great biking. We’ve loved every day here. And we weren’t originally slated to be here, so this is an unexpected treat. And tomorrow we ride across the top of two more of them. YAY!