DAY 8 - The real #deflategate

Becca’s back tire is even squishier than yesterday. We’ve definitely got a slow leak on our hands. We will have to wait until our day off in Syracuse to permanently fix this. We top it off with air once again and hope for the best. Good thing we bought that new portable pump back in Yorktown.

For the first time we are really having trouble following the trail: going the wrong direction, several wrong turns, and second guessing correct turns.  Some patches of looser gravel slow us down on a day when we’re trying to make a dinner appointment.

It is another day without much cover from the brutal 90-degree heat, and we are unknowingly sunburning pretty badly. Wearing a tank top was a bad choice on Marty’s part; you’d think he would have remembered how poorly it went for Becca a few days earlier.

We stop for a water break/photo op on Martin St. in Rome, NY. It’s a good thing we brought our own snacks because Rail and Canal, the trailside restaurant we had hoped would have snacks and waters, turns out to be a sketchy-looking dive bar that isn’t even open yet. It looks even worse in person than on Google Maps. We eat our granola bars, check our tire pressures, and continue on for a few hours of on-street riding.

Upon rejoining the trail, we see more of the usual: canal locks, beautiful waterside vistas, and of course another duck fight. Today is a mixture of trail vs. street riding. As well-maintained and marked as the Empire State Trail is, there are inevitable road closures that neither the official website nor Google Maps is privy to, and therefore some detours are unavoidable. We hit one such detour in Oneida, NY. The first construction worker gives us directions to take a long on-road way around—and we’re about to reluctantly do what he says—when a second worker comes after us with better advice. He says if we go down a nearby dead-end street, we’ll find a closed bridge that is totally safe to just walk our bikes across. Lo and behold, the shortcut works, and when we reach the other side of the closed trail, we are able to impart our secret wisdom to some oncoming cyclists. The first construction worker sees us again and wonders how we got there so quickly? We simply say “someone gave us a tip” and continue on our way.

On a stretch of proper trail between Durhamville and Canastota, the dreaded rain returns. We’re pros at this by now, and quickly pull over to extract and deploy rain coats and saddlebag covers, all of which have been packed strategically for easy access. Becca thinks that’s the closest to lightning she’s ever been. You can hear her apprehension and frustration on the forthcoming GoPro footage. The trail is elevated a few feet from the residential street below, so pulling over isn’t really an option. We just have to get out of these trees as quickly and safely as we can. It’s a relief when we pull up to the big iron gate that marks the trail entrance in Canastota, NY. The rain is lightening up, but we’re drenched and need a break. We hobble over to Three Pines Restaurant down the street, chain our bikes to the bench out front, and head inside.

At least this time the TVs are all playing the same stupid game show, something about Americans and word association. We make use of all the emergency towels we have with us. We also change out our wet socks for dirty but dry ones. It’s gross, but it helps. The one lady working there even turns off the A/C to stop Becca from shivering. They make us “pizza” on a sliced baguette because they ran out of pizza “shells.” It hits the spot.

The rain truly begins to let up, so we head back out, but we are nonetheless running behind schedule. The approach into downtown Syracuse is lovely, with thoughtfully designed and well-maintained bike “islands” in the center of 4 lanes of traffic. We even have our own bicycle-shaped traffic lights to help us safely traverse from one island to the next. Alas, ignorant cars and trucks still manage to pull too far forward at red lights, blocking our lane and forcing us to waddle around. Becca gives them a piece of her mind, but they don’t hear over the sounds of their own egos. We take note of a few bike shops on the way. Might have to backtrack to one tomorrow.

At last we reach our Marriott, in the former Hotel Syracuse building. It’s very charming and we are immediately glad we splurged for this. No time to admire it now, though, we’ve got to clean up as quickly as we can so Kim or Tony can pick us up and bring us to their home to Cicero for a mini family reunion.

It is so nice to see Uncle Tony as he pulls up to the hotel.  Becca hasn’t gotten to see any of Marty’s extended family since his sister’s wedding in 2019, since of course they were virtual guests for ours. We pile in and eagerly start catching up on the drive back to the house.  Thankfully, Aunt Kim, Grandma, and Grandpa hadn’t waited for us to eat. Amazing taco bowls satiated our appetites and warmed our hearts. Plus Kim is kind enough to let us do a load of laundry while we eat, so that we don’t have to pay whatever insane amount the hotel probably charges. We can’t believe that on Sunday Kim, Tony, their sons Anthony and Ben, and their respective partners Kyle and Katie, are all running a 15k road race in Utica. They, on the other hand, can’t believe what we’re doing.

Upon being dropped back downtown, we wander into Shaughnessy’s, the pub attached to our hotel (recommended by Kim) for for a beer and to people watch. We get a sense of how many events this hotel can handle at once: to our left, folks attending a Warhammer convention; to our right, some well-dressed guests we suspect are attending one of the two or three weddings that the hotel will host this weekend.

A well-earned rest day awaits us.