Finger Lakes – Day 2

The team started arriving at breakfast before 7am…. But the forecast was bleak – what to do?!

Before we even had a plan in place, the group had their second flat… this time it was Steve E’s – on his drive over to the YMCA for an exercise class.  He changed it himself (how many CO2 cartridges does it take to fill a 205/55R16?), then dropped the car over at the Honda dealer, only a short walk from the hotel.

Concerned about the weather, Steve S ordered a trainer – rush delivery! The UPS truck showed up promptly at 8:46am.

After hours of contemplating our options for the day we broke into 3 groups that would take in the arts:

The first group (Jose, Peter, Rick & Gerry) decided to exercise their arm muscles – by doing some winetasting at American Wineries. On the way back they took  a sidetrip to Taughannock Falls State Park for a hike down to the gorge (after all the Ithaca Chamber of Commerce says, “Ithaca is gorges”!)

The second group (Fred, Eddie, Steve S, George & Bryan) went to see an afternoon movie – Fast & Furious 6, an extremely realistic flick, featuring several Yale Drama School-trained actors.

The third group (Rob, Steve E, Roger, Beth, Ray, Don & Barb) visited the Johnson Museum of Art, designed by I.M. Pei. The collections were noteworthy, as were the stunning views of Cayuga Lake and Ithaca. After the visit, the group visited Triphammer Falls and hiked down to Falls Creek, another of the many gorges in the area (2 down; 1061 to go). 

In order to get their fill of biking, they visited the local bike shop where the proprietor assured them that they’d have biking weather for the remainder of the visit. On the way back to the hotel, Steve E. requested to be dropped off at what sounded like “the condom dealer”…. Rob complied.

For dinner the plan was to meet in the lobby before 5:30 for an early dinner at Ithaca Beer. Andy and Ed M got into town in time to join the festivities. We were to be meeting up with the FLCC ride coordinator, Andrejs, to share a few beers, and biking stories. There was some confusion when we got over to Ithaca Beer as there were 2 large groups, but once we sorted it out, they were able to seat us comfortably at 2 tables. We enjoyed some great beer, pizza, sandwiches and conversation.

 

Some of the group made an after dinner ice cream stop – we hope to work off those calories tomorrow!

The last contingent of our team showed up at 9:30pm – John, Phil, King and Harald.

For more photos of our adventures, visit the club website.

We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures.