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Northern Tier 2021
  • Chrysa Niewald
  • Chrysa Niewald

Northern Tier 2021

A 72-day adventure by Chrysa Read more
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  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald
    Courtesy Tom Coe

    Day 57 Niagara Falls to Albion, NY

    August 4, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    55.65 miles, 507 feet. Today we said goodbye to Niagara Falls and pushed onward across upstate New York. We encountered several bridge closures due to construction and had to detour around which added a few more miles to the route. We hit up another Tim Hortons for donuts and a restroom break. This is becoming a pattern!

    At Lockport, we picked up the Erie Canal Trail. The Erie Canal Trail is actually a towpath for the Erie Canal. It was once used by oxen to pull barges up the canal. Today the surface was mostly crushed stone. It was smoother and wider in some places and more narrow in others. While it is definitely rideable by bicycle, it is still not as smooth as the Katy Trail. Although there were small sections that were paved especially around the trailheads. There were many bridges crossing the canal and several locks. The only traffic on the canal were private boats and a few kayaks. At Middleport we stopped at a cute bakery for smoothies and cookies.

    We will continue on the trail until we reach Albany in a few days. Tonight we are in Albion, NY. Tomorrow is another short mileage day.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 58 Albion to Rochester, NY

    August 5, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    38.29 miles, 424 feet. We quickly turned once again onto the Erie Canal Trail this morning. We encountered a fair number of walkers and bikers. We stopped for a short coffee and orange juice at Brockport. The trail surface kept changing- first crushed rock, then nice pavement and then a narrow single track for a bit. We got to watch one of the bridges raise for a boat to go underneath.

    With around 15 miles to the end, we turned back to the road for a bi and crossed over the trail. Once we reached the outskirts of Rochester, we were back on urban trails and on the opposite side of the canal. At one point we crossed several bridges where the Erie Canal bisected the Genesee River.

    After lunch and showers, our Sag leader Steve drove us in the van to Lake Ontario. It was a treat to cross another Great Lake off our list! Only Lake Huron to go.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 59 Rochester to Weedsport, NY

    August 6, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F

    68.93 miles, 1423 feet. Another day on and off the Erie Canal trail. Actually, the Erie Canal Trail is part of the Empire State Trail. The canal trail often dead ends or becomes part of a roadway. Near towns or villages, the trail is often paved and wide. It then will turn into a crushed stone path and get narrower and then sometimes it becomes a single track dirt trail.

    Most of this morning was spent on the trail. After lunch on the village of Clyde, we returned to the road and had over 10 miles of hills. After several days of flat routes, that was work! It has also gotten much warmer. We have really been lucky to have had mostly good weather on this trip. Tomorrow we head to Canastota, home of the boxing hall of fame.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald
    2

    Day 60 Weedsport to Canastota, NY

    August 7, 2021 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 75 °F

    54.69 miles, 669 feet. Our route today turned us back onto the trail which looked more like a mowed strip of grass. The trail today was rough and the mosquitoes were huge. The trail paralleled aqueducts with stagnant and putrid water. There was a lovely paved bike trail around Lake Onondaga. Near Syracuse we were back on USBR 5 which is Hwy 31. The shoulders are wide and smooth for the most part.

    Most of our group went to a lovely lakeside restaurant on Lake Oneida for dinner. Not too many photos today.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 61 Canastota to Herkimer, NY

    August 8, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    47.99 miles, 898 Feet. I love riding on early Sunday mornings. There is generally little traffic and the quiet is very soothing. We once again started out on the Erie Canal Trail for the first 4-5 miles. After that we stayed mostly on USBR 5 as we rode through rural areas with a mix of corn fields and cattle pasture.

    As we approached Utica, NY we found ourselves on more urban trail that was paved. Yay! Once we reached the hear off Utica, we rode down Genesee Street and were impressed by the huge old mansions which were mostly in good shape.

    It was back to USBR 5 the rest of the way to Herkimer. A new rider Cathy joins us for the rest of the ride to Maine and another Cindy leaves us after the ride tomorrow to Troy (Albany). Tomorrow promises to be a challenging day of almost 90 miles. Tonight we celebrate Clark's birthday.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 62 Herkimer to Troy (Albany) NY

    August 9, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    89.4 miles, 1922 feet. Today is our 46th anniversary! We have had a lot of people tell us that 80-90 miles of the Erie Canal trail is paved. We have seen only very short sections of pavement. Well, today was the day! Most of the ride was on paved trail. Some sections were a bit rough due to tree roots causing raises in the pavement. But the rest was a welcome change to crushed rock and dirt. The scenery was beautiful.

    Lunch was in Schenectady. It is an old city and sadly at least where we were it was very run down. Our overnight town of Troy which is near Albany seems to be in the same condition. This is our last night in New York as we head to Vermont tomorrow. Hopefully Vermont drivers are nicer than New York drivers.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald
    Courtesy Tom Coe

    Day 63 Troy to Fair Haven, VT

    August 9, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    77.86 miles, 2329 feet. We said farewell to the Erie Canal and continued our journey northward. Our route today was USBR 9/Hwy 4. We followed both the Hudson River and the Champlain Canal off and on. We also rode through part of Saratoga National Historic Park. There were so many historic signs along the way that had we stopped at all of them it would have taken two days to get here.

    For a large part of the morning, the route was quiet with little traffic. Then all of a sudden the traffic got heavy and sometimes rude. There were places where the shoulder was non existent or unridable due to debris or rough pavement. We had several steep climbs, but most were fairly gentle. The wildflowers were beautiful.

    Tonight we are at Lake Bomoseen near Fair Haven, Vermont. We have our last rest day tomorrow and then four more days of riding and climbing to reach our final destination of Portland, Maine.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 64 Rest Day at Lake Bomoseen, VT

    August 11, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    After a rainy cloudy start to the day, the skies cleared and we spent a quiet restful day by the lake. We hitched a ride to town earlier this morning and did our last load of laundry of the trip. This time next week, we will be home. We have four more ride days that are not long mileage, but have some climb as we head towards New Hampshire and our final destination in Maine.Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 65 Bomoseen VT to Claremont, NH

    August 12, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    63.81 miles, 2874 feet. Everyone headed out early this morning to try to beat the heat. The route was through the Green Mountains of Vermont. Around mile 22, we crossed the Appalachian Trail. We stopped at the trailhead and took a short hike to a swinging bridge over the Black River.

    Later in the morning we saw a covered bridge through the trees and took another little detour to see it. The Black River could often be seen along the side of the highway. We crossed into New Hampshire just as we arrived at our overnight tonight - Claremont, NH. Tomorrow promises more climb through the mountains as we continue eastward.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 66 Claremont to Loudon, NH

    August 13, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    64.22 miles, 2666 feet. This morning was a foggy, muggy, gray start. The first half of the ride was lots of climb on mostly highway. There was a Dunkin Donut stop early on. However, most of of us have decided that Tim Horton's is better!

    At mile 30ish we arrived at the Northern Rail Trail. The railroad was built by Irish immigrants in the 1840's. Much of the now rail trail is built on a high berm with 50+ feet of drop off on either side. I am amazed at how much rock and fill must have been moved without modern machinery. We rode 24 miles of trail which had a good canopy and was relatively flat. It was hot and we were glad not to be on the highway in the sun and climbing hills.

    Just as we were leaving the trail to return to the highway we encountered a large number of tourists taking a ride on pedal carts on the tracks next to the trail. They were blocking the road where we needed to cross the tracks, so we chatted with them for a few minutes. It was a 6 mile out and back ride and it looked like a lot more work than our bicycles.

    Tonight we are in Loudon on the east side of Concord, the state capital. Two more days of riding! We are almost there!    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald
    12

    Day 67 Loudon, NH to Sanford , Maine

    August 14, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    51.93 miles, 2691 feet. Today's route was lots of slow climbs and some fast downhills. The traffic was heavy for Saturday. There were lots of pickups and trucks pulling trailers. The downhills were fast and sometimes steep - 9-14% grades. I rode my brakes in the center of the lane.

    We made a short stop for coffee cake and OJ in the small town of Rochester, NH. There was a comic book event going on and a lot of people were dressed up as comic book characters.

    About 18 miles from the end, we crossed into Maine, our last state on this journey. The road was newly paved with 8 foot wide shoulders. There was still more climb and then some downhill. We are in Sanford, Maine for the night and will celebrate at dinner tonight as we receive our Northern Tier jerseys. Tomorrow is a short day of 40 miles. We plan to gather at the ocean for photos and then start winding down from a Lon 68 day trip.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 68 Sanford to Portland, ME - THE END

    August 15, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    41.56 miles, 1059 feet. An afternoon rainstorm yesterday ushered in much cooler air this morning. Our route today was short, but we left early anyway. The first 15 miles had only 9 feet of climb. We rode part of the time USBR 1 for part of the way. We also rode on a rail trail that started out to be very nice packed dirt and then turned into several miles of rough gravel. Oh how we like our Katy Trail!

    About halfway we rode through the town of Saco and made a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts. Yes we are giving them up after today. In the end, we had a stiff east wind, rough roads, gravel, and hills just to remind us of our entire trip. We stopped a few miles from our hotel near the water for a photo op, but the tide was out, so there was no wheel dip - only mud. We still got some great photos.

    Some of our group has already left to head home. The rest will leave in the next few days. We have an early flight on Tuesday which will give us time to reorganize and pack up for home. In spite of the challenges, we have had a good time. The ride was hard, but the scenery and sites have been unbelievable.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald
    Chrysam Janet, Cathy, Amy, Gayle, Linda, Maggie
    Ethan, Steve, Dave - Alpaca SAGBikes Ready to Go HomeLobster Roll1

    Day 69 Bonus Day in Portland, ME

    August 16, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    We said our good byes to the great comrades we have spent the last 10 weeks with. Our wonderful Tour director Steve gave us a ride to a hotel near the airport. We were able to check in and then grab an Uber to the port area of Portland.

    The 50 minute wait was well worth it as we had a fantastic lunch which for me included a lobster roll. After lunch we took city tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. Portland has a lot to see and is definitely worth another visit.

    We have an early flight in the morning so we have to take the 4:00 am shuttle. Looking forward to seeing home.    Read more

  • Chrysa NiewaldNorthern Tier 2021Chrysa Niewald

    Day 70 Homeward Bound

    August 17, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Day 70 It was an early morning rising to catch our 6:10 am flight to Baltimore. We had a quick change of planes and landed in St. Louis before 10:00 am. Unfortunately, our bags did not make it, so we had to drive back to St. Louis the next day to retrieve our dirty laundry. It was a wonderful trip, but it is good to be back home.Read more

    Trip end
    August 15, 2021
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