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Page 2 of 8 Day 1, Saturday, May 20, 2006 - Shaker Heights, Ohio to Hamburg, New York Fun Facts
Today's Distance: 181 miles
Today's Riding Time: ~9 hours 15 minutes
Today's Average Speed: ~19 mph
Today's Climbing: ~4000 feet
Weather: Cloudy and ~50 degrees in the morning with light WNW wind becoming sunny in the afternoon with a high ~63 degrees and 10-20 mph tail/cross wind.
View a map of today's route.
 The six rider ready to leave for Cape cod
After scrounging up some bike rack parts from Chris Coburn's brothers, the six riders left Chris's house about 7:50 am. This is the only time in the trip in which all will be able to ride together because Hoj and John's wives drop the SAG van and another car to meet us down the road. We had a little early fun with the wet roads as Chris Pierce slid out on a tight turn at the Gates Miles-SOM circle.
We followed 84 out of town and stayed on 84 until Geneva. At the Ashtabula County line, the road was torn up for repaving. We rode on this miserable surface for about seven miles before turning north to cut over to hwy 20. We stayed on 20 to North Kingsville where we met the SAG van. Miles Coburn and Tom returned to Cleveland from there, Miles riding his bike and fighting the growing head wind. From here on, one of the remaining four riders would be driving the SAG for the rest of the way. Chris Coburn took the first turn, as we decided to break it up into 25 mile intervals. We had lunch at "the best new restaurant in Erie," which was in fact several mile west of Erie. Hoj took over driving from there.  We met the SAG van in North Kingsville
 Crossing into Pennsylvania
 Lunch stop just outside Erie. PA
We cut over to route 5 as soon as possible and had a gorgeous ride across the PA and NY borders supported most of the time by a strong tailwind. East of Erie, route 5 was closed for construction of a new bridge, but this did not stop our intrepid group. (See photo below)
 Crossing into NY
 Route 5 blocked by bridge repair
 No bridge is no problem
When we reached Dunkirk, NY, (our intended stopping point for the night) we decided to take advantage of the good riding conditions and keep going. As it turned out, there were no hotels between Dunkirk/Freedonia and Hamburg (south of Buffalo) so we had to ride a little farther than we wanted. Brian, the last driver of the SAG, found a Holiday Inn in Hamburg after an aborted attempt to get us to ride back west (against the strong wind) to a hotel in Freedonia. Dinner, though late, was well deserved. The weather report for Sunday is rainy and cool with a continued strong tailwind as we begin to make our way across New York.
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