Day 3 - Rochester to Oswego, NY - 75 miles - 3,162 ft of gain

Another perfect day to be on a bike! After a great breakfast at the hotel, we packed the trailer, prepared our bikes, and pulled out of the hotel at 8:02am. The first portion of the ride was navigating the city of Rochester, which wasn’t super busy for a Monday morning. There were bike lanes for a section of the city riding, which is nice. I find that city riding really wakes everyone up, because you have to pay attention to cars, man holes, road apples (literal apples), and pedestrians.

Once we departed the city, there was a short section of the ‘burbs, and then it was farm land. We passed several orchards and lots of corn fields. The terrain was definitely more rolling hills than yesterday. My bike computer registers hills based on certain criteria and on today’s ride there were 9 qualifying hills. This is just the beginning of the hills that are ahead, but let’s not think about those just yet.

We stopped for lunch around mile 42 and got to sit on a dock while eating. A cyclist with panniers (bags for carrying stuff) was passing and stopped to talk with us. She’s cycling across the country and doing a documentary about cycling, so she wanted to interview us. I’m not sure when this documentary will be finished, as she is just beginning her ride from Maine to California. We are connected on Instagram, so I might get an alert when we hit the big screen (or YouTube).

Our ride was taking us around Lake Ontario, but we didn’t get to see the lake until about mile 70. We decided that if there was a place to dip a toe into the lake, we would stop and get into the water. So about 3 miles from our finish we found a spot and a few of us dipped a toe. Then we jumped back on the bike and pedaled the rest of the way to the hotel. Our route took us through the Oswego College campus, which was a little ziggy because of some construction, so I took the lead and rolled us over sidewalks to get back on track. Then we entered the town of Oswego, which seemed cute, and across a bridge to our riverside hotel.

I was getting asked about dinner before I even had my bike loaded onto the trailer. After a little research, I decided that we’d head back to the toe-dipping spot for a swim and dinner at the diner on the shore. The water was on the cooler side, but it felt really good. Then we ate outside on picnic tables. Mike came prepared with devotions, so we made our way across the street to two picnic tables under a tree. We had a donation of funds to take the team for ice cream, and since there was an ice cream shop right there, it seemed like a good idea to end our time on the shoreline with a cold treat.

As we made our way back to the hotel, I decided to pass the hotel and check out a fort that was listed on the map. It was closed, but we could walk around the outside of the star shaped structure. It was a good area for the boys to explore and do boy things. Now everyone is tucked into their rooms for much needed rest. Tomorrow we have a shorter day (just 65 miles), but with more climbing!