Great Ride(s) Report

[Ken Robb]

Leslie and I just got back from a week in the Finger Lakes Area. We stayed at Oliver Phelps B+B on Main St. in Canandaigua and recommend it highly: built in 1812, comfy, and the hosts couldn't do enough for us. The breakfasts were superb every day.

Les was on a Riv Romulus with 700x27 Ruffy Tuffy tires. I had a wonderful Richard Sachs cross bike with 700x37 Vittoria Randoneurs. The RS is a superb all-rounder with none of the drawbacks that I find in some other cross bikes.

We rode a couple of days on the Erie Canal tow path and another day on the Lehigh Valley gravel rail/trail out of Mendon. Most of the Canal path we rode was smooth gravel though there are paved sections too. You could do these on 700x23 tires but 700x27+ is better. It was neat riding through the historic towns and sites along the way. It would be cool to leave a car at your planned finish point and then take another to your start point to avoid the out/back route. OTOH, going out on the path and returning on the nice country roads is good too.

DBRK and I rode West Lake Rd. yesterday. It was hot and humid but Douglas let me set the pace so I didn't die. It's a great ride with views of the lake and lovely countryside. The Sachs has XT crank with 46-36-26 (I think) and RD and 12-26 9spd Centaur cassette and RD operated perfectly by Campy brifters. Paul canti brakes.

We never met anyone all week who wasn't nice and polite. We ate very well in many different restaurants. The roads are very well maintained. We will be back.

I got a Ford Freestyle from Hertz and was very impressed. It easily swalloed two bikes w/o removing any wheels, was comfy, handled fine, and got 24mpg. The cvt transmission works well. Rochester Airport is close and very easy for passengers to use.

If you think even a little that you might want to do the Ramble: GO!!

[catulle]

Sounds like a truly wonderful trip. Congratulations. Does the RS bike belong to Dr. D?

BTW, I also rented from Hertz a Freestyle a few weeks ago to take my daughter (and my wife and sister) to see colleges. I needed a big car and had asked for a Nissan Quest but got the Freestyle instead. Oh well, I thought, I'll jut go slow and be very patient with this junk. After two weeks on the road I must say the Freestyle is a fantastic car. What amazed me most was the aerodynamics of the body when on a fast highway. Even when passing or when being passed at high speed by a huge container truck the Freestyle would not rock at all. Winds would not move the car at all.

The seats are perfectly comfortable. They don't look like anything special at all but they are designed in a way that you can spend hours behind the wheel and not feel tired. The Freestyle is stable, it has enough power to handle itself on the highway perfectly well, and the controls are simple and perfectly functional. I never would have thought that a van would impress me the way the Freestyle did. Great car.

[Birddog]

OK great. lets hijack this thread. I went on a trip about a month ago and also rented a Freestyle. I'd agree with all the above and add that my wife commented on the "rubber band transmission" as we were driving. Neither of us knew it was a CVT, but it all makes sense now. Nice report there Ken, sounds like a great place to ride.

Birddog

[Too Tall]

Great ride Ken.
Spent the morning making sure my Lake Placid bound athlete didn't ride too hard....for 60 miles...ouch ouch ouch. He is very aero and is now riding smooth as butter. I'm feeling pretty darn proud of what he has accomplished since the wintertime. Got to enjoy sending him off for extra climbs while I "geezered" along at my own pace only to have him catch me in a few miles. It's "OK" being a little out of shape and a little old when you are in the company of good fellows. Can I hear an amen?

Tommorrow I ride 20 miles to meet my scull coach and go for a row...than ride 30 home :) Already looking forward to tommorrow :)

[Ken Robb]

yep, the RS was built for our late pal Dennis Cotcamp. He and DBRK were very close and Douglas has a couple of Dennis' bikes. Since I own the Hampsten Strada Bianca built for Dennis it made sense that the RS was a good fit for me too. With a +10 degree stem it would be right there. With the 90 degree stem on it it handled like a dream but in the drops I could only see 15 feet in front of me thanks to me stiff neck and thick glasses.

RE the Freestyle: I too was surprised at the lack of wind noise even though it had a roof rack. The seats were fine and it had no rattles. That's for a car with 2,000 miles so it will be interesting to see how they hold up, especially the CVT tranny.

For those who don't remember previous car conversations here we have a 1998 BMW M3 and a 2004 330i with the Performance Package so truck-like vehicles are not what I'm used to which made this Ford all the more remarkable. I had asked for a "C" class car which would have been like a Hyundai Sonata or Accord and Hertz gave me this so it isn't a very expensive car to rent or buy. I think MSRP is about $25,000 and I'll bet there are lots of incentives because it LOOKS like it would be a gas hog.

[pale scotsman]

If I'm not mistaken the freestyle is the same platform as the volvo xc90.

[Ken Robb]

I think PS may be right. I read lots of car magazines but don't pay much attention to trucks, vans, etc. Maybe I should because I really liked not fussing with racks and worrying about stolen bikes.

[scrooge]

I love riding in upstate New York. My wife is from DBRK's area (Palmyra/Newark) which makes visiting the in-laws a real joy (except I can never ride as much as I want)...