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Today’s bike journey is through the 6.7 miles of the Genesee Valley Greenway that starts in Letchworth state park (Portageville entrance, east side of the gorge). The trail starts out pretty flat, but later has a few more twists and turns. At 2.2 miles I had to take a detour on Williams Road that returns to the trail at Short Tract Road. This detour has been in place for a couple of years due to beaver dams that flooded the trail. The trail ends at Pentagass Road just after passing through Triple Creek Golf Course; the trail through the course is also used by the golf carts.

At this point I turned around to begin the return trip. I guess I should have looked over my shoulder on the outbound trip, because I got one hell of a surprise when I did turn around: a rather large thunderstorm heading my way. And now the adventure really began.

I put the pressure on and ramped up my speed to get back to the car as fast as possible. That managed to get me half way back before the deluge started. Next thing I knew I was biking through mud with lightening coming down on either side of me. I just kept biking, figuring I’d get just as wet, but closer to the car if I kept going. I could barely see through the steam accumulating on my glasses.

When I get back the first thing I’m going to do is buy some rain gear for the next bike trip.

On one final note, if you are looking for info on some of these trails pick up the Official Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Guidebook - New York. I think I’m going to have to pick up a new copy myself since the one I own got a little wet on this latest expedition.

Yesterday’s ride was pretty tiring, so I decided to just sit and relax today. That means lots and lots of reading. By the end of the day I have managed to complete “Code and other laws of cyberspace“, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who works in, or is concerned about the future of our internet culture.

After “Code” I decided to move to something a little more casual. The next target: “Traveling Music - The Soundtrack to My Life and Times” by Neil Peart. As usual his writing moves the reader easily through the book and I quickly got caught up in the tale, managing to polish off 3 chapters before evening’s end.

Tomorrow I will return to the bike trail.

Woke early this morning, somewhere around 6:30 am. Man that hurts when you’re on vacation. We had to get up this early because I needed to drive Karlyn to Batavia to meet her parents; they were going to the state fair. I opted out because I had been planning to bike as much as possible on this vacation.

After a small nap to recoup some of that lost sleep I headed out to find a starting point on the Genesee Valley Greenway. The Greenway is a multi-use trail (horses, bikes, hiking, etc…) that uses the old rail line/canal. The canal was opened in 1840, but went out of business by 1878. The land was then purchased by the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad Company. The Price: $100/mile. With the decline of the railroads this line was eventually put out of commision

After driving around a bit and scouting out different sections of the trail I chose a pull off where the trail and route 20 intersect. This turned out to be an ideal location to start from. I biked north along the trail bot sure what the landscape was going to be. The trail in this section is mostly flat, with only a few hills when the trail needed to rise to the road for a crossing. About 5 to 6 miles into the trail I can upon the intersection with the Lehigh Valley Trail. This trail is not usable at the moment, but they were in the process of building a new pedestrian bridge across the Genesee river using the old train trestle. Looks like it will be a good connecting trail once its completed. At about 8.3 miles I entered Canawaugus Park, and decided to start the return portion of my ride. There was still another 4.8 miles of trail north of the park, but I will check that out at a later date. I pushed my limits on the way back trying to keep a steady speed around 14 mph. I suceeded for about 85% of the ride. The total distance covered when I was done was 16.7 miles.

I enjoyed this ride tremendously and plan to do it again before the season ends. This trail is perfect for beginning mountain bikers and a relaxing ride for experienced bikers. I applaud NYS for it’s continued work on this trail, we need more of them.

Karlyn and I started some vacation time today (actually she started on Monday). We’re just going to hang out at my parents seasonal trailer through the weekend. I’m hoping to get some good biking in, especially since we’ll be in Warsaw, close to Letchworth state park. We’re getting a bit of a late start (around 3:00 pm) so I don’t expect to bike today. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.

Transparent Aluminum becomes a reality:

Glass breakthrough

Looks like we are getting closer to curing blindness everyday:

Demo: Artificial Retina

I will never look at the Labatt’s Blue bear the same way again:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/index.html

Always love to here a story like this one. Should I be concerned if I choose to read a role playing book the next time I ride on public transportation? And this is supposed to make me feel safer? Maybe tomorrow I should exercise my 2nd ammendment rights.

Ok, next time I complain about the price of a ticket to a Rush concert someone please smack me in the head to remind me why it’s worth it. Sunday nights concert is hands down, one of the best Rush shows I have ever been to. Not just because I was in the fourth row, but also because these guys still know how to put on a solid show.

While the show was great, the experience of getting into the place was less than exciting. I missed the first couple of songs because the security at Darien Lake thought it was sufficient to have only 3 single person entry points to go through. The line of people still outside at the start of the concert was quite large. Why must they hire such idiots to run security.

Now back to the show…

Rush played for approximately 3 hours, including a 15 minute intermission. I’m very pleased that they don’t bother with opening acts anymore. The more Rush the better.

Karlyn and I were in the 4th row. Let me tell you, the 4th row might as well have been the first row. I have never seen these guys this close, or had my eyebrows singed so badly(the pyro was a bit close, and hot). Watching them interact on stage it is very clear that this band is all about having fun. It must be the reason they have stayed together for 30 years; they just love what they do.

Now I know my review of Rush’s new album Feedback was not the best, but the show helped redeem some of my disappointment with that release. A live show is the best place to hear cover tunes; Rush did an incredible acoustic rendition of ‘Heart Full of Soul’. Their version of ‘Crossroads’ was also much better live. In this setting it was much more fun to watch them jam these songs. Personally, I think they should not have bothered with the album and simply performed the covers on the tour.

All-in-all, this was one tremendous show. I can’t wait for the next time they pass through town.

P.S. I’ve been giving Feedback a few more listens, and maybe it’s not quite as bad as I first thought. It’s starting to grow on me.