The rain ride, the lake ride and the farm ride will be our warm-up for the Eastern Tandem Rally.

We met and rode with Debbie and Larry Linzer while at the Southwest Tandem Rally (SWTR) in April and due to the wonders of flexible scheduling we have reunited before the Eastern Tandem Rally (ETR) for a few miles and lots of smiles in western New York.

We meet on Monday morning in New Hartford, NY (close to Utica).  We are doing the “Taco Ride” a local loop which is 36 miles long followed by lunch at the Rio Grande Tex Mex Grill. It turns out to be a cloudy, threatening day and after checking radar we decide we have maybe 40 minutes before the rains come.

In this artsy selfie with Roger and me in the background you can see the threatening skies.

We are all dressed up and ready to ride so we use every available second and get 10 miles in.  During the first wave of rain we head to Utica and visit a coffee shop.

We get some clear skies and are able to go for a walk and have lunch in town.  Utica, a rust belt city that used to be a textiles powerhouse,  has some nicely preserved buildings and cute parks tucked between them.

Our next stop is Syracuse, NY.  We like to visit college towns and this one does not disappoint.  A beautiful campus and trendy restaurant and bar scene remind us of Athens, GA.

Empire brewery hits the spot and we really enjoy New York’s fourth most-populous metropolitan city.

Tuesday morning we meet the Linzers for a second try at a ride.  This time we plan to ride around Lake Oneida.

We spend the day riding and exploring the area.  An ice cream stop, several stops for fruit/veggie shopping and a road construction detour highlight the day.

60 miles on a beautiful summer day make all four of us very happy.

On to Rochester and a visit with the Glass family.  Bev is my sister from another mother and we always enjoy our time together.  On Wednesday we ride a 41 mile loop from her home in Pittsford.  It’s hilly, about 2000 feet of climbing.  After we leave the house we are almost immediately in the country where we see farm after farm and almost no cars.

We conclude the ride with a visit to the Erie Canal and lunch on the waterway.

Our first ETR in Geneva, NY is coming up this weekend and I’ll tell you all about it in my next entry.

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