Macedon, NY

That was pretty long. Our rest day in Niagara Falls flew by. The day after? Not so much.

We spent the first few miles of our day looking for the Eerie Canalway, a recreational trail right alongside the canal. After some initial trouble, we found a sneaky little wooden stairwell that led right down to the edge of the canal. There, the journey began. We made our way down the steps with our bikes in hand, excited for the day. As soon as we reached the canalway, the surface troubled us. It was gravel, not exactly loose gravel, but tiny pebbles that at times made you feel as if you were riding on a beach.

We decided to cross the canal in order to reach a paved road on the other side. We encountered what Parker likes to call “off-road terrain.” Determined, we climbed through bushes and tall grass in order to reach the other side. Once we made it to the pavement, the road abruptly ended. It was quite a drag as we returned to the bridge, ready to take on the gravel.

Before long, it started raining. It was the first rain we had encountered in about two weeks. Personally, I was pretty excited to bike in the rain. I had missed the feeling you get when you’re biking in the pouring rain and people look at you on your bike like you’ve gone insane and you just think to yourself, “Yes, I am that extreme.”

The gravel canalway definitely had its obstacles. The main problem was that the canalway was dominated by animals. Not just any animals either. Very scary animals that wreak havoc on bikers. Canadian Geese. Besides the abundance of droppings they left all over the trail, these animals were very territorial, and very much dangerous. Mark and Angie learned that firsthand.

Poor Angie. He’d been riding with us for a few days now, a couple hundred miles under his belt. He was feeling good as he rode along the canal when all of a sudden, he saw Mark go down in front of him. There was no time for him to swerve and he landed right on top of Mark and his bike. We all heard the crash and stopped. As Mark picked himself up, we asked him, “What just happened?” With gravel stuck to his legs, and feathers all over his bike, he answered, “I’m pretty sure I just ran over a goose.”

The geese on this trail did not give up their land. Either they were too lazy to move out of the way, or they just wanted to give us bikers trouble. Even when they did scurry off of the trail, they would hiss at us as we rode by. I won’t forget that encounter anytime soon.

As a combination of rain, gravel, and geese slowed us down, we made it to lunch a bit late, and we left even later. It was 4:00 pm when we left our lunch spot with 40 miles left to ride in the rain. It was a drag to say the least.

Soon, Parker got a flat tire, naturally. Mark decided to stick around with me and him to make sure we didn’t mess things up too badly. In the end, he saved our lives. As the three of us rode together, miles behind the group in front, the directions got tricky, even for Mark, the map fiend.

We got lost a few times, but then just as we were rolling along, it was my turn to get a flat tire. Disappointed, we all moved quick to get it fixed. The mosquitoes however, bit us as if they hadn’t eaten in days. It was brutal. It was a complete disaster actually. I broke my CO2 canister valve for pumping up my tire, and I didn’t even have a spare tube to replace my flat one. As always though, Mark came through and got us moving before long.

As the day wore on, the sun set and it was getting later than ever. It was getting dark quick as we made it through our last few miles. The last stretch was especially memorable though. As I struggled through the last few miles, I remember gravel spraying my face from under my wheels. I remember getting some of it in my mouth and thinking how it felt like sand all in my mouth. I asked Parker, “Are you getting all this gravel in your face too?” He answered, “Um, yeah dude.”

Later, him and Mark let me in on the terrible news. It turned out the gravel was actually a hoard of gnats, and yes, I did eat a bunch of gnats. Oh man, what a day.