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Saturday morning. When we left Little Falls, we had to climb for
several miles. The reward was this nice view of the Mohawk River
Valley.
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The morning rest stop was at the marina at St. Johnsville.
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St. Johnsville was glad to see us.
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The woman on the left is Suzanne, our tour director. The man in
the middle is the mayor who was having a birthday (89?) the next
Monday, so we all sang Happy Birthday.
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The marina. In this part of the state, the barge canal is the
"canalized" Mohawk River.
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There was also a campgrounds at the marina. This view is to the
east.
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Later we got to the town of Canajoharie which has a library and
art museum. The museum has several paintings by Winslow Homer.
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Canajoharie was to be a lunch stop and the site of a 12:15 event.
We had to kill time waiting for the event (some of us arrived
before 10:30) and Skye found the best way to do it! By the way,
that bike seat was her home for 9 days!
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The event was a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open a new
section of the path. (We had ridden over this section in order to
get to Canajoharie!) By the way, Canajoharie is an Indian name
which means "the pot that cleans itself." Apparently there's a
nearby whirlpool in the Mohawk where small rocks scour out a large
rock.
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Speeches before the ribbon cutting. The woman in the blue shirt is
Barbara Spraker who was the prime mover in getting the new
section of trailway built.
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The actual cutting of the ribbon. Cyclists lined up to ride
through are in the foreground and most of the photographers are
in the background.
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Speeches after the ribbon cutting.
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Riders coming up the hill on Highway 5S on the way to Amsterdam.
The thruway is behind.
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More riders climbing the hill.
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This rider has quite a load with front and rear panniers.
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Just after the bike path starts again, it goes over Schoharie
Creek. This view is to the south. That may be 5S on the near
bridge and the thruway on the far bridge.
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We cross the Mohawk into Amsterdam on Highway 30.
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Looking east along the Mohawk with Amsterdam to the left.
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Tent city at Lynch High School in Amsterdam. Note the drop off
just behind all the tents. There was a HUGE hill to climb to get
to the school and this field. I'm guessing not many kids ride
their bikes to school here! The consensus seemed to be that this
school had the best showers of the ride.
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Jane and I in front of our tent in Amsterdam.
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The Detail Man. He shines up bicycles for $13 per bike. Jane
first met him on the RAGBRAI
in 1998.
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Saturday evening, we had a ride banquet. Here are some of the
party favors at the banquet. The light level was pretty low in
the banquet room, and unfortunately, not all the pictures came
out.
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Jay and I enjoying the snacks at the banquet. Jay drove the
luggage truck all the way across New York and provided all sorts
of support on the ride.
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At the hors d'oeuvre table. That's Hallie in the middle and it
might be Richard behind.
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Bob and Joyce and ?. We've seen them on the Great
Finger Lakes Bike Tour in the past.
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The Cycling Seven: In front, Carol, Marian, and Patty, and in
back, Tammie, Mary, Bob, and Nancy.
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Donna, from Georgia, is on the right. She regularly does the
RAGBRAI
but decided to do the Canal ride this year. We think we
were camped next to her in Hawarden in 1998 as she was with team
Pickled Peddlers.
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More riders at the banquet.
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Barb and Delia, stoker and captain of a tandem team. We got lost
together somewhere near Tonawanda on the very first day!
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Wes bought me a beer at the banquet. He and his partner, Don,
had a bad crash the first day. I came by just after the crash and
stopped to help. I always try to stop and help when there is a
problem. In any case, even though it was a scary crash, there was
amazingly little damage to people or bikes, so after a short
recovery, both were able to keep riding!
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More riders at the banquet. The fellow on the right came from
Hungary right after the uprising in 1956. I don't know his name,
but I do know his nickname: The Roll Guy! He tried to take a
shortcut into the Chittenango Landing rest stop. It was up a
steep grassy embankment. His bike stopped and fell over and he
did a very elegant roll on the grass!
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Some of the youngsters got a little bored and invented a new
method for getting your bike up the hills.
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Josh and Joe, one of the younger riders on the tour. We met them
on the first day. When I asked Joe if he was worried about the
400 miles, he said, "Nah."
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Jannell, the assistant ride director, and Suzanne, the ride
director. I'll bet they're relieved that the ride is just about
over and nobody's fallen in the canal!
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One side of the banquet hall.
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And the other side.
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These two are fast riders who "stop a lot."
Just barely in the left side of the picture is Jim.
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In the food line. That's Ann in front of the pole and Stan in the
red shirt. To the left of Stan is Tom. Bob is seated at the end
of the table.
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The canal crooners provided some after dinner entertainment.
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A family trio also sang for the group.
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Josh leading the group in "When You Ride from Buffalo." I
apologize, especially to Josh, for the poor quality of this picture.
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