What a blast we had this weekend!

It all started on Friday night when we bumped into Tom and Patti Bates at the Delta Lake Inn and had a celebratory toast to her 39th(!!) birthday. We then went home and packed up our panniers and tuned our bikes for our first official training ride which began at 10 am on Saturday morning. Our destination...an overnight at The Canalside Inn in Little Falls, about 40 miles. It was sunny and surprisingly warm; a perfect day for a cycle! We took the canal trail from "Pic and Pay" in Oriskany all the way to Utica. Along the way we raced a train...we lost... and a motorized inflatable boat in the canal...we won! Holly had a flat tire and while Joel was fixing it a terrific cyclist named Donna stopped by to see if she could help. In fact she did by giving us accurate directions through Utica and onto old route 5S. She rode with us for awhile then branched off on her own. We encountered another biker in Herkimer, a Brit, who rode with us as well as we all searched for the trail again. We never found it but we did come across the neatest old cemetery and church! We finally arrived at the Inn by late afternoon and were welcomed by James the chef/owner. Needless to say it was time for some Cupcake (by the way, Happy Anniversary to Adam and Maria!) and some cheese and crackers! Dinner was delightful; I had duck and Joel had veal and we shared a coconut creme brulee. 6 am came early on Sunday but alas we had to get back in the saddle (ouch!) After breakfast at the cafe next door to the Inn we headed home. The ride home, for whatever reason, took alot less time but was just as enjoyable, however not without mishaps. On route 5 approaching Utica one of our panniers literally flew off the back of Joel's bike and on the Oriskany Trail Joel had two, count em, two flats! Since we were clean out of extra inner tubes Holly rode the rest of the way home to get the Flex while Joel tried to patch the hole...no luck. So I guess these training rides are teachable moments but they are also a ton of fun!! Thanks to Tom and Erv for taking care of the dogs while we adventured:) One last thing; Paige, you would have loved the wildlife we saw: several red winged blackbirds, a plethora of sunbathing turtles, geese galore, a trail trotting turkey, a kamikaze chipmunk which Holly almost ran over, a live snake, several dead snakes and tons of other road kill:(

Joel has some repairs to do and we will be back on the road. Stay tuned!